JULIE HUNT KNOWLES began her formal training as a young student dancer in the late 1970s with the Bischoff-Carroll Dance Centre and then the Memphis Ballet, under the direction of Michael and Judy Tevlin. At the age of 15, she was asked to join the professional company of the Memphis Ballet. During her studies with the Tevlins, Mrs. Knowles completed her Royal Academy of Dancing examinations and Dance Education Syllabus with Honours. It was also during this period that she began teaching dance classes, working with all ages of students, from pre-schoolers to adults.
As a part of the professional touring company with the Memphis Ballet, she performed throughout the Southeast region. She went on to perform with other classical ballet companies including Tennessee Ballet, Classical Ballet Memphis, Lafayette Festival Ballet, Huntsville Ballet, and the Birmingham Ballet among others. As a jazz dancer, her technical skill and her high-energy flair has landed her many roles in the entertainment industry and also afforded her a scholarship opportunity to study with legendary godfather of modern jazz dance, Gus Giordano.
While a student at the University of Memphis in the late 1980s, she completed her B.A. degree in Communications and during this time took a leadership role in concert production and stage management for campus programming. In this capacity, she planned concerts (both indoors and outdoors), negotiated contracts, managed venue logistics, and presented Richard Marx, REO Speedwagon, The Call, The Smithereens, Cheap Trick, Jay Leno, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael Winslow, Najee and Pat Metheny, among many other gifted artists.
Upon graduating in 1992, she and her fianceé, Tom, were married and subsequently opened their first business together, Stage Door Dancewear, a professional dance boutique in southeast Memphis. The boutique carried many professional lines of dancewear including 10 different brands of pointe shoes and produced its own mail order catalog long before the Internet and the Web were household words. A year later, Mrs. Knowles opened Crescent Dance Center, her very first school. She attracted over 75 students in her first six months and has continued to grow a successful student base each year.
As an instructor, Mrs. Knowles has a warm-hearted approach to her training for dancers. Her abilities to analyze a student's technical problem areas and then communicate effectively with the dancer not only refines their technique but helps them to understand the purpose in their performing art form. She has developed her own curriculum for dance training, blending the highly regarded Russian Vaganova method with the esteemed Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus.
Over the decades, she has trained thousands of students in the Mid-South. Many of her students have been accepted into some of the country's most prestigious classical summer study programs and company apprentice programs including Boston Ballet, Joffery Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, Virginia School for the Arts, Houston Ballet, and others. In addition to her students' classical successes, they have also excelled in the commercial markets as well. Many have appeared in local and regional theater productions at Theater Memphis, Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse. Nationally, her students have gone on to Disneyworld Theme Park, Broadway musicals (Fosse, Cats and West Side Story, among others), the music video industry, and have pursued careers in arts related business fields.
As a choreographer, Mrs. Knowles' work includes ballets such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Paquita, The Skaters, Peter & The Wolf, The Secret Garden, Les Sylphides, Coppelia, The Tarentella. Over the last 15 years, she has produced award-winning choreography for competitions, theme parks, fashion shows, television shows, commercials, and film - including being asked to become Assistant Director/Choreographer for the University of Memphis production of Don Giovanni in 2006.
More recently, Mrs. Knowles has turned her talents and skills to the fashion and modeling industries. Since the late 1990s, she competed, choreographed, and won many callbacks and awards at the annual Models of the South National modeling convention. Over the years, she has been called upon to act in a variety of commercials, training videos, and film work. Some of the work has been done for Kroger Stores, Toyota of Memphis, Perkins Restaurant, and many others.
The rise of reality-based television shows focusing on dancing, modeling, and the entertainment industry led Mrs. Knowles in 2009 to establish MOVES Models and Talent. With MOVES, she can properly train and prepare those who wish to aim for the stars. By guiding and helping to develop local talent, Mrs. Knowles' mission is to assist people in avoiding the perils and pitfalls of the fashion industry while deepening their skills and real world acting/modeling experience. In the fall of 2009, MOVES attended the Models of the South convention in Hilton Head, SC, with many of MOVES' models won awards and Mr and Mrs Knowles selected at the 2009 Models of the South Directors of the Year.
In keeping with her hands-on and caring approach to training students in the performing and fashion arts, Mrs. Knowles has also been deeply and personally involved in the fitness industry. Since 2003, she has worked with certified personal trainers and eventually became a certified personal trainer herself. Kickboxing, Pilates, weight training and nutrition guidance have become hallmarks of her fitness programs that get results for students and clients who wish to tone up, lose weight, gain strength, and reshape their bodies in a healthier condition.
Mrs. Knowles is a graduate of Lausanne Collegiate School and a graduate of Memphis State University with a degree in Communications. She lives in Collierville with her husband and four children and owns the Collierville Arts Academy and MOVES Models and Talent.