 DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 35

P

rofessional dancer and activist Johanna Kepler 
has made it her mission to use the creative arts as 
a tool to inspire social change.
The recent University of Michigan graduate who 
majored in dance with a minor in Latino studies has used 
her platform to spark discussions about 
racial injustice, immigration reform and 
most recently, the impact that the COVID-
19 pandemic has had on the performing arts 
community.
Kepler, 23, who originally hails from 
Boston and is now based in New York City, 
has witnessed firsthand the devastation 
that the pandemic has had on artists, many of whom are 
without work or turning to virtual platforms to reach 
their audiences. She graduated in the class of 2020, so her 
dream of auditioning for Broadway and Off-Broadway 
shows is temporarily on hold.
Instead, Kepler, who has been dancing since age 6, 
has used her time to interview more than 200 perform-
ing artists, dancers, choreographers and directors from 
around the world about how the pandemic has person-
ally impacted their lives and careers. Her hope is that 
creating a collective community focused on rebuilding 
the performing arts industry will generate awareness for 
the struggles artists have faced and steps they’re taking to 
move forward.
“It’s continuing to share the story of the artists, not 
just the art we make,
” Kepler explains. About a week 
before she graduated from U-M, she wrote to the college 
inquiring about 12 potential grants to pay 
other recently graduated students 
who were also out of work due to 
the pandemic, and successfully 
received a few. These grants 
also helped her build “The 
Power of the Performing 
Arts: Uniting Artists While 
Apart” and the website 
platform needed to make 
the interview project a 
reality (thepoweroftheper-
formingarts.com).
Kepler conducts inter-
views via Zoom. When she 
first started the platform, she was 
completing up to 10 interviews a day. 
While at the University of Michigan, she 
also founded Arts in Color, a student organization com-
mitted to diversity, equity and inclusion within the arts, 
an endeavor Kepler received the Martin Luther King Jr. 
Spirit Award for in 2019.
“Being an adopted Latina woman in the U.S., my own 
identity drives me forward,
” says Kepler, who was adopt-
ed from Guatemala and grew up in a Jewish household. 

ARTS&LIFE
DANCE

continued on page 36

Recent University of 
Michigan graduate 
uses dance to inspire 
social change.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Dancing 
 
Forward

Johanna 

Kepler

“THE PERFORMING 
ARTS NEED A LOT OF 
LOVE AND ATTENTION 
RIGHT NOW.”

— JOHANNA KEPLER

PHOTOS BY MICKY WEST

