Julia Lawton ’24 Went From Dance BFA to Dance Company Founder in Under a Year

As a senior, Julia Lawton ’24 studied how dance companies were born. Under the mentorship of Orion Duckstein, associate professor and chair of the Department of Dance, Lawton’s Honors research project explored the founding of dance companies in the mid-20th century. Her senior thesis earned her the prestigious Ruth St. Denis Award—named after a pioneer of dance and the founder of Adelphi’s dance department—given each year to one of the University’s most exceptional dance students.

And then, just four months after crossing the Commencement stage, Lawton had a dance company of her own. It is not a leap to see how her Adelphi education had a profound impact on what was to come.

“Julia’s path underscores the opportunities afforded to students in the Honors College at Adelphi University—she is a skilled interpreter of texts, an effective communicator and a young adult deeply engaged in continuous learning,” said Susan Dinan, PhD, dean of the Honors College. “Her work speaks to the interdisciplinary training she received, which has even transformed into the business and management skills needed to build an arts organization that serves the greater arts community with classes and workshops as well as collaborations with other creative groups.”

Adelphi Honors College students gather before attending the New York City performance of Evidence of Damage, presented by Julia Lawton ‘24’s Lawton Dance Academy.

Now, two years later, Lawton Dance Collective (LDC) has performed more than 30 times in New York City and beyond, and last month premiered its most ambitious work yet: Evidence of Damage, the women-led company’s third evening-length work, ran October 24–25 at Dixon Place on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Lawton, a dance and Honors College alumna, choreographed it in collaboration with the company’s dancers—many of whom are Adelphi alumnae themselves.

A Work Built on Poetry, Conversation and Music

Evidence of Damage was inspired by poet Adrienne Rich’s best-known works—a landmark in American poetry’s second-wave feminism—her 1973 collection Diving Into the Wreck.

“I was drawn to the poem’s central image of a shipwreck that had to be excavated to find the truth—and to what it suggests about the people left out of the narrative,” said Lawton. “The piece asks what happens when an artist goes deeper than simply noticing the world and begins to question why she is there and what she hopes to rebuild.”

The company developed the piece through research and dialogue. Rehearsals included sessions modeled on a Socratic seminar, in which the dancers read and discussed Rich’s poems together and shared what stood out to them. In studio, the dancers then drew on specific words and phrases from the poems to generate movement vocabulary, while recurring themes shaped the structure of the work and the relationships portrayed on stage.

“I am just always looking for things that inspire me—as I read or see artwork or observe the world around me I am always ready to let it become a choreography project,” Lawton said. “Before Evidence of Damage, we made a show inspired by the artwork of Hilma af Klint, and I took my company to MoMA to see her art exhibit. I am always looking to see what could lead to the next project.”

In addition to her dance training, Lawton grew up playing the violin, viola, trombone and some piano, and enjoys crafting the soundscape for an evening. She describes her deep love of music as “half the reason I create dance.”

“I think it is so crucial to the storytelling of dance to have music that supports the arc of the work.”

Before the performance begins, Julia Lawton ‘24 welcomes the audience and speaks about the meaning of Evidence of Damage at its New York City showing.

Building and Growing the Lawton Dance Collective

The cash prize that accompanies the Ruth St. Denis Award helped Lawton produce her first show—before the company even had a name—and pay her dancers. Just months after graduating, she began what would become Lawton Dance Collective alongside eight female dance artists: Adelphi dance BFA graduates Sarah Baghdadi ’23, Isabella Gamba ’24, Abby Garcia ’24, Katie Jaffie ’23, Casey Leyden ’24 and Emelia Sikorsky ’24, along with Erica Caruso and Alex St-Onge. Adelphi alumnae also supporting the Collective are administrative assistant Erin Morrisey ’24 and resident lighting designer Sarah (Gaetano) Baileigh ’25.

“That show featured my thesis cast, as well as Adelphi alumnae and dancers I’ve worked with at various intensives,” Lawton said. “In the process of putting together the show, we realized that our group dynamic meshed really well. We all were passionate about creating and about the environment we were building together. We ended up selling out both shows at Arts On Site, which was an amazing feeling, and we were also invited to two additional festivals later that month. The momentum was really building and I remember my dancers all saying, ‘So when are you starting a company? We want a name for what we are doing!’”

That’s how it happened, she said—organically, but by taking a chance and leaping in without fully knowing what exactly starting a company would mean. From there, she said, it has been a lot of “figuring out as we go.”

In addition to Evidence of Damage, Lawton has created Like Violets (2025) and Just As Much (2025) for the company, and her choreography has been presented at festivals including Forza Dance BLOOM: Emerging Artist Festival, Small Plates Choreography Festival NOVA, Hoboken Dance Festival, One Day Dance S.H.I.F.T., the Steffi Nossen Choreography Showcase and the MashUp Dance International Women’s Day Dance Film Festival. She also performed professionally with SHIFT Dance Arts and Media, Chutzpah Dance and the Taylor Outreach Ensemble, and is the education creative associate at the Taylor Center for Dance Education and a faculty member in the Taylor School Youth Program.

The company describes its mission as a creative practice rooted in community and care, built on the belief that art flourishes where kindness, generosity and love are at the forefront. As a women-led company, its work often draws on the writing and art of female artists and investigates a range of female experiences.

Keeping Momentum

Lawton’s work at the Taylor Center for Dance Education has shown her what established companies do to sustain themselves. “It has helped me understand all the things that go on behind the scenes of a dance company—especially the crucial role of development and marketing,” she said. She took a course in development to better understand methods of fundraising and building a community of support, and the company benefits from administrative assistant Erin Morrisey’s graduate studies in arts administration.

As a result of this development “homework,” Lawton Dance Collective is a fiscally sponsored artist of The Field, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization serving the arts community. The company also offers low-cost classes and workshops to the New York dance community and in 2025 launched LDC Curates, a community initiative designed to support and uplift the work of other emerging artists.

“Evidence of Damage represents a step of growth for Lawton Dance Collective,” Lawton said. “This show is the largest production we have done. It is our longest work, with the most sustained group sections, performed in the largest venue we have used. It has taken an unbelievable amount of love, energy, dedication and persistence to bring this show to life.”

She added, “It means the world to me to finally get to share what we have been building together. These beautiful artists have worked so hard. I am so lucky to create with them.”

Adelphi faculty and students were in the audience to support the production, including dance BFA and Honors College student Sarah Deluco.

“I always love going to see Julia’s shows in the city,” said Deluco. “Being able to talk to alumni who went through the same program as me and went on to create a successful professional company is so inspiring! It’s really exciting to see just how much someone can accomplish in a few short years after graduation, and I can’t wait to see them go on to do even more in the future.”