Interview with Choreographer Nikki Johnston

Nikki Johnston is a Dancer/Choreographer originally from the Chicago area but was brought to Texas at the age of 15. That's when she began dancing with her High School Dance Team. She then went on to study Dance at Texas State and Austin Community College from 2001-2008. Before long, Austin Community College became like home to her. She developed a love for choreography on top of her love of Modern Dance. She has always been fascinated with the idea of movement as a form of communication. Studying under Darla Johnson amongst the other amazing faculty at ACC has always been one of the biggest sources of inspiration for Nikki.

She eventually moved on to become a Licensed Massage Therapist. 10 years later after not studying dance regularly, she felt something pulling her back to her second home at ACC. Three semesters ago Nikki returned to Choreography with Darla and loves being back. She plans on continuing her massage and dance education by enrolling in the Somatic Dance Educator Program at ACC in the future.

The journey this semester for Nikki has been a wild one like it has been for most under the circumstances of COVID 19. She drew an amazing connection to her fellow dancers and had to find ways to adapt without their physical presence. She took this slowed down pace of life as a way to connect to the spaces outside. She would walk and explore looking for vacant spaces to move in. Never intending on doing a solo she would use these spaces, various objects and editing to create other pieces to the choreographic puzzle.

This puzzle all came together to become a piece called Rebirth. This piece explores the ideas of new beginnings, change, how we evolve, how energy transfers, how we heal, and the process of being born. When we feel broke down and hindered, how do we move on? What is it likes to become new? What is it like to exist in different places in time and space? She invites you to ponder these ideas while you watch her piece in the upcoming ACC's Choreography Showcase on Film.