Bianca Johnson (she/her) is a director, choreographer, performer, scholar, and dance educator whose work centers inclusive artistic practice and dance education as a site of liberation. A native New Yorker, Johnson began her dance training at the Joffrey Ballet School, Steps on Broadway, and National Dance Institute (NDI). She is a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and holds a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, as well as an MA from NYU Steinhardt with a concentration in Dances of the African Diaspora. 

Johnson’s performance repertoire includes works by Pat Catterson, Mark Dendy, Elisa King, Igal Perry, Dušan Týnek, and Doug Varone, among others. Her choreography has been presented at the Apollo Theater, CBS Morning Show, Symphony Space, The Kitchen, Jacob’s Pillow, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Johnson has an extensive career in dance education and community-based arts programming. She has taught for Homes for the Homeless and the Fall for Dance Festival and has led residencies and workshops nationally and internationally with The Misty Copeland Foundation (NYC), Arts in Action (NC), Celebrate the Beat (CO), ConArte (Mexico), Momentum (OH), NDI New Mexico (NM), and Prairie Dance Theater (OK). She has also created original works for organizations including LaGuardia High School, Youth Pride Chorus, and House of the Roses. 

A longtime NDI Teaching Artist (2001–2023), Johnson taught more than 500 children weekly through NDI programs and served as NDI’s Rehearsal Director from 2018 to 2023. She also directed several large-scale NDI productions, including Inner Visions: A Celebration of Stevie Wonder (2012), Harlem Night Song (2017), and Rise: A Celebration of Dr. Maya Angelou (2023), each featuring over 200 young performers. 

In 2012, Johnson founded Bianca Johnson & Dancers (BJ&D), an inclusive dance company dedicated to creative exploration across age, gender expression, culture, and body type. Since the premiere of BJ&D’s first evening-length work, The Woodman Project (2013), the company has participated in the Field Artist Residency Program, Dancenow Silo, the DUMBO Dance Festival, and an Artist-in-Residence program at the University of Saint Joseph (CT). BJ&D has presented BLEUE (2014) and The Sound of His Living (2016) at the Actors Fund Arts Center in New York City. 

Johnson is currently pursuing a PhD in Dance Studies at The Ohio State University, where her research focuses on Black women’s liberation, affect, and anti-racist dance pedagogy in higher education. She also serves as Associate Artistic Director of Momentum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing students’ lives through high-quality dance education in Central Ohio public schools.