Babatunji Johnson and Marusya Madubuko, company dancers with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, will perform an improvisational duet within Celeste's site responsive gallery installation.
Thursday, 12 June, 2025 at 6:00pm
Free and open to the public
Performer Bios
Babatunji Johnson was born in Portland, Oregon and grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii. Though never formally trained as a child, Babatunji was always moving his body to the beat. At the age of 15, he discovered the art of hip hop. Following over a decade of self-taught street performance, he has developed a unique approach to various styles of hip hop such as breaking, popping, and krump. While cultivating his own movement language, Babatunji simultaneously trained in ballet, modern, and contemporary. Babatunji has performed with LINES Ballet, Post Ballet, SFDanceworks, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Misty Copeland. In 2015 Babatunji was given a Princess Grace Award, as well as a Chris Hellman Award for his outstanding achievements and promise in the world of dance, and in 2024 he was given the Gerbode Dance Award. He is immensely grateful to his mom for providing him with every opportunity and the guidance of her wisdom along the way.
Originally from New York, NY, Marusya Madubuko began her pre-professional training at age 15 with Premiere Division Ballet under the tutelage of Nadege Hottier. In 2019, Madubuko competed at the Royal Grand Prix in Italy, winning second place for her contemporary and classical solo. She has trained with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, the Royal Ballet School, and at the San Francisco Ballet School where she had the opportunity to dance repertoire including Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker and Cinderella as as well as George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2021, she participated in BalletUnleashed’s first creative project, Switchback, working with choreographer Cathy Marston to create a solo. Madubuko joined LINES Ballet in 2021.
