Interview with HBC’s Amazing Julian Morimoto
Today we had the opportunity to talk with Julian Morimoto, a wonderfully insightful member of HBC! He shared his thoughts about law school, his experience with ballet, stereotypes about ballet, and some special moments from his time with HBC so far. We really appreciated Julian’s insights and wisdom and hope you enjoy his responses to these 15 questions as much as we did!
❤️Audrey and Amy
1. What is your name?
Julian: My name is Julian Morimoto.
2. Where do you currently study?
Julian: I'm a student at Harvard Law School. I'm studying physically in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
3. What year of Harvard Law School are you in?
Julian: I'm in my third and final year.
4. What are some areas of the law you are most interested in?
Julian: I'd say that most of my time and focus in law school so far has been on international human rights, specifically the right to life and issues concerning law enforcement, but recently I've been taking a lot of classes on financial regulation and international financial regulation. Maybe I'll try to find a way to blend that in somewhere, but for the most part human rights.
5. How has the remote platform translated into the Law School classroom?
Julian: I think a lot of stuff has stayed the same in terms of the professor asking questions and people contributing their thoughts. I guess the differences lie in when's a good time to start speaking up and when's a good time to interrupt someone. Certain etiquette factors would be easier to grasp in a physical setting and are harder to deal with in a virtual setting.
6. What led you to pursue a law degree?
Julian: I think I was led to pursue a law degree for the same reasons or for similar reasons to what motivated me to do ballet and to study mathematics in college. I'm really fascinated by rules, how even the simplest rules can lead to some of the most complex creations, how different people interpret the rules differently, and what different sorts of creations result from that process. I was interested in studying that further in a way that would allow me to have a super close to home and direct impact for daily life. When it comes to law enforcement, I want to study the rules surrounding law enforcement and how to reform them to uphold human rights and ensure that human life is protected.
7. How many years have you danced ballet and what inspired you to start ballet?
Julian: I actually started pretty late. I started when I was around 15 or 16, and I'm 23 now, so that's about seven or eight years. In terms of what got me into it, I started dancing before I went into ballet. I started at a hip hop studio, and then when I joined their company, they said you have to do ballet classes as part of our company. At first, I thought it was the dumbest thing and I thought it was ridiculous. I didn't see why I needed it. Then over the years, it just kind of grew on me, and it really reminded me a lot of when I was first getting into upper level math. You learn about all these simple rules that you think make no sense and are really stupid, but the more that you spend time with them and get acquainted with them, you get to see their true power and you know just how cool that can be.
8. Can you tell us about some of the challenges, if any, you encountered as a male ballet dancer?
Julian: I guess one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the stereotypes surrounding male ballet dancers. I think a lot of the general public really underestimates the amount of men who go into ballet, certainly for the art, but also because of the athleticism involved. In many ways ballet is like a sport, and it requires extreme discipline. It requires you to really push your body to limits and levels of exhaustion that you had no idea were possible. I think a lot of the general public fails to really appreciate this athletic side of ballet. I think that for male dancers, especially, it can lead to a misconception of what it is that we do, who we are as people, and why we're motivated to do this kind of thing. But I think that as more and more male dancers, or more boys and men, are being encouraged to enter the field, those stereotypes slowly start to diminish.
9. What is your best advice to boys who wish to engage in ballet but are afraid of the stigma that is sometimes still attached to it?
Julian: One of the best pieces of advice you can give is just push forward, be yourself, and don't care what everyone else thinks, but that's easier said than done, and I acknowledge that. It's important to keep up a fight on that front. I think maybe one less obvious and more achievable thing that one can do as a male dancer seeking to pursue this field is to find role models. It doesn't have to be someone that you meet physically, it could be someone that you see on social media. I think that for me, this is sort of a different context, but there is this stereotype of Asian men being emasculated or weak, but through me seeing many Asian male ballet dancers on Instagram and on YouTube doing amazing powerful things, it made me feel like I had a community, that I wasn't alone, and that it was possible for me to become someone like that. Eventually I realized that I am someone like that. That gave me a lot of confidence to keep pushing and keep doing what I wanted to do, regardless of what people said. This brings me back to what I said in the beginning, to keep pushing. Then when it gets hard, try to look in places like social media and the Internet, and you'll realize that you're not alone. That can give you just enough encouragement to keep going.
10. What is your favorite ballet?
Julian: I really like Don Quixote. I love the energy and the flare, especially the pas de trois. It's so lively, and it just has a kick.
11. Given how busy your schedule is, why do you still make space for ballet? And do you think ballet will still be a part of your life after graduation?
Julian: I've really questioned this because I train six days a week. I wake up at five, have a small breakfast, and then I train in for at least an hour or two. It takes up a lot of time. I feel like this sort of brings me back to what I said earlier in the interview about what drew me to law school, ballet, and math. I really have a love for rules and analyzing them. I think that the exercise that I get analyzing balletic rules, playing with them, and acquainting myself with them on a daily basis does improve my capacity as a lawyer. It gives me the ability to view legal rules and legal norms from a different angle. The other day I was talking with someone who said artsy people are just so up in the air, and they just do whatever they want with rules. This person was a law student, and I was thrown off by that because balletic rules have been passed down since at least the 16th century, and they’re older than the US Constitution. I feel like most times in ballet, you know whether what you're doing is within the rules or not. In law, there are so many cases in which you have no idea whether what you're doing is within the rules provided. That's just an aside, but the lesson is that ballet gives me this opportunity to analyze and understand rules from a different angle. That is not only beneficial to my growth and development as a person, but it makes me a better lawyer.
Ballet will definitely be something I will continue even after I graduate from law school. I think I'm gonna definitely try to devote as much time as I can to it while I'm young. I think it was Martha Graham who said that a dancer dies twice. The dance lifespan is much shorter than a normal person's life span, so I definitely do want to keep ballet in my life for as long as possible.
12. What are some of your favorite places to take dance classes in the Boston area?
Julian: Obviously Mount Auburn Street for Harvard Ballet Company class. Aside from that, Jose Mateo Ballet Theater is a really fun place to take classes, as well as classes at the Harvard Dance Center. Last semester I also took open classes at the Boston Ballet, which are really fun and challenging. Those are probably the three main ones that I would go to if it weren't for COVID-19. They're all super fun.
13. You gave one of our first company classes this year -- what do you want dancers who take your class to come away with?
Julian: I'd say I'd want them to come away with three things. Perhaps I should take a survey of the people who did take my class and ask if they did leave with these things. I'd say the first thing I'd want is for them to have felt adequately challenged. When I give combinations I encourage people to modify them to whatever extent they need, especially now when circumstances are so different for everyone. I understand that not everyone can train six times a week, but I still like to go at a pretty decently fast pace and ensure that people have the opportunity to push themselves. I think a lot of people, especially people who make it to the Harvard Ballet Company, have that desire to push themselves and exert themselves, and I want to be able to give them that.
The second thing is I want them to feel a sense of accomplishment. When you're at the last exercise of the class, and you have to do all these big jumps, and you're super out of breath, you feel like your lungs are going to explode. But you make it, and then afterwards, you think, wow, I did that, and I jumped really high, and I made it through that whole class. So, you know, a sense of accomplishment.
And the third thing I'd want them to leave with is a sense of camaraderie. I want people who take my class and have experienced a decent amount of exhaustion and exertion during that class to bond over that. What brings a lot of people to ballet, generally, is the opportunity to push yourself, exert yourself, and go beyond your physical and mental limits. I think that that's something that really helps students bond. So that would be the third thing that I would want them to come away with. If people are watching this part of the interview and my class, please let me know if you came away with these things, so that I can alter accordingly.
14. What is one of your favorite HBC moments?
Julian: There are so many! This isn't a single moment, but one of my favorite times is when you're in the studio before company class just warming up with your friends, and you're chatting about what’s happening with life. You’re casually talking about this random coffee shop you went to while you're in your split or while you're doing push ups. Something about that is so peaceful and relaxing, and I really, really miss it because you can't get that sort of same experience over zoom. Generally, those were some of my favorite company moments when I was at the barre stretching my feet or doing push ups, and just catching up with my fellow company members.
15. How would you describe HBC in one word?
Julian: I’d say community. There's something really fulfilling and gratifying for me about finding an artistic community and people to laugh with about things that are really niche to ballet. Like, oh, I flopped and did only like three turns instead of four, and I'm just thinking, okay, yeah, you know, oh wow, what a flop, you know things like that. Ballet is a really unique thing, you have to devote a lot of time to it, and sometimes it can get so complex that it's hard for people who don't do ballet to understand you. I feel like what HBC has given to me is this sense of community and group of people who do understand how hard ballet is and how complex but gratifying it can be.