Artist. Educator. Creative Director. Cultural Storyteller.

Creating spaces where movement, memory, and cultural identity are woven together.

Johanna Kepler

Johanna Kepler is a Guatemalan American interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, educator, creative director, and cultural storyteller whose work explores cultural memory, identity, and belonging through movement, visual art, and community engagement. As a Guatemalan adoptee and Maya descendant, her creative practice is deeply informed by questions of migration, ancestry, and what it means to live between worlds.

Working across dance, visual art, research, and education, Kepler creates performances, installations, and participatory experiences that invite audiences to reconnect with themselves, their histories, and one another. Her work is grounded in Weaving, an interdisciplinary methodology that combines movement, drawing, writing, oral history, and cultural research to investigate how memory and identity are carried within the body and across generations.

Her recent work includes Weaving Dreams, an evening-length dance performance exploring cultural memory and adoption through movement and oral histories, and Woven Between Worlds, an immersive exhibition dedicated to the experiences of immigrants, adoptees, and individuals navigating multiple identities. Her ethnographic research with Maya textile weavers in Guatemala continues to shape and deepen her artistic practice, informing new ways of understanding weaving as both a material tradition and a framework for storytelling, collective remembering, and community building.

In addition to her artistic practice, Kepler brings extensive experience in arts administration, communications, and creative leadership. Prior to pursuing her MFA, she worked in Marketing and Communications at American Ballet Theatre, where she led social media initiatives, developed digital campaigns, and helped connect new audiences to one of the world's leading dance institutions. Her professional experience spans the performing arts, higher education, and nonprofit sectors, with work across marketing, producing, community engagement, and creative direction.

She has held positions and collaborated with organizations including American Ballet Theatre, Duke Arts, the University Musical Society at the University of Michigan, the American Dance Festival, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She also contributed to Jazz Island with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Matthew Rushing's Sacred Places: Decoding the Spiritual at Duke University, experiences that further deepened her commitment to interdisciplinary, community-centered, and socially engaged artistic practice.

Beyond traditional arts administration, Kepler is the co-founder of Digital Drip, a creative platform that connects artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders through innovative programming and events. Through Digital Drip's Art Basel Miami event, she helped raise nearly $100,000 to support emerging creatives and foster cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Kepler is also an emerging digital storyteller and content creator, having built an engaged online community of more than 11,000 followers by sharing stories of creativity, cultural identity, Guatemala, and the experience of living between worlds. Through both institutional and personal platforms, she has developed expertise in digital strategy, community building, and audience engagement, using storytelling to connect diverse communities and expand access to the arts.

Kepler holds an MFA in Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis and a Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Duke University and a BFA in Dance with a minor in Latino/a Studies from the University of Michigan. She has taught movement, creativity, and interdisciplinary arts workshops for youth, university students, and professional artists throughout the United States and Guatemala, believing deeply in the power of art to foster connection, reflection, and belonging.

Artistic Practice

Research

My artistic practice is grounded in ethnographic and community-based research exploring cultural memory, identity, and belonging. Through multiple research trips to Guatemala, I have studied with Maya textile weavers and community leaders, including the 13 B'atz' Weaving Cooperative in Santiago Atitlán. These experiences have profoundly shaped my understanding of weaving as a practice of storytelling, cultural preservation, and intergenerational knowledge sharing, and continue to inform my choreography, visual art, and community-engaged work.

Methodology

At the center of my practice is Weaving, an interdisciplinary methodology that combines movement, drawing, writing, oral history, and cultural research. Inspired by Maya textile traditions, I approach weaving as both a material practice and a framework for understanding how memory, identity, and lived experience are woven into who we are. Through this process, creative practice becomes a tool for inquiry, reflection, and connection.

Teaching & Community Practice

My teaching practice extends directly from my research and methodology. Through workshops, university courses, artist residencies, and community programs, I invite participants to explore identity, belonging, and storytelling through movement and interdisciplinary art-making. I believe creativity is a powerful catalyst for connection and that everyone carries stories worth sharing.