Dance is empowering for this Riverside dancer and teacher

Julie Simon had no plans to become a dancer. She was a 20-yearold journalism and English literature major at San Francisco State who had a paper due and found herself out of typing paper.

“I grabbed my keys and my wallet and ran out the door trying to get to Walgreens before they closed at midnight,” she said. “As I rounded the corner, I heard music coming from a tiny hole in the wall on lower Haight Street called Nickie’s BBQ. I was super intrigued.”

Although Simon was not yet 21, she was able to talk her way in. She ended up on the dance floor, where she said she discovered an entirely new means of self-expression.

“Maybe for the first time in my 20 years I felt completely alive,” she said. “At the end of the night, a saxophone player came to me, pointed finger in my face and said, ‘Little girl, you need to take a dance class.’ That was one of the most pivotal moments of my life. I did exactly that.”

Simon said her life became consumed with dance. Within six months she was dancing professionally in an Afro-Brazilian dance company that toured both nationally and internationally.

“My life was forever changed,” she said.

After graduating, Simon moved to Paris to dance with a Brazilian dance company.

“I thought I would only stay for six months but that six months turned into a career that spanned 14 countries performing, teaching and training and included living in some of the most magical, life-changing places in Africa,” she said.

Simon began teaching through the urging of her mentor Eneida Castro. She said that it is something she is thankful for, as teaching has become her greatest joy.

Born and raised in Riverside, Simon eventually returned, founding the Tropicaleiza Dance and Drum Company in 2006. In 2013, she partnered with fellow dancer April MacLean in creating a dance studio for adults in downtown Riverside. Now Simon is the sole proprietor of the Infuse Dance Studio, which offers both traditional and international forms of dance.

Tropicaleiza is very much part of Infuse. Simon described it as “a multidimensional, dynamic, magnanimous group of powerful, diverse women fully expressing themselves through the joyful acts of dancing, drumming and storytelling.”

“We exist to impart strength, vigor and joy into people’s lives, empowering them through compelling storytelling, movement workshops and audience interaction,” she said. “Our repertoire honors the complex, vital art of the divine feminine. Unique to Tropicaleiza, the dancers drum and the drummers dance simultaneously.”

The company will be performing on Mother’s Day weekend at The Box in downtown Riverside with their premier production of “She Her Us.” The show is choreographed by Simon in collaboration with the 10-member dance company. Marcus Santos is music director.

“It is an interactive experience that tells universal stories we all carry,” said Simon. “The end result is fulfillment and a deep knowing that you matter and have a purpose. You will experience a night of delectable sights, smells and sounds with an energy so palpable that every emotion will be touched and every sense activated.”

Simon said her greatest accomplishment as a dancer is learning to love herself. Her greatest accomplishment as a teacher, she said, is watching someone develop the capacity to look in the mirror and love what they see.

“She Her Us” runs May 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. at The Box, located on the second floor of the Fox Entertainment Plaza at 3635 Market St. in Riverside.

Tickets and information: www. juliesimondance.com.