Introducing Jolie Blanchard

Mover, poet, picture-taker, & dreamer, Jolie Blanchard is a Lafayette native who's engaged in formal dance training from ages five to twenty-two, three of those years spent at the University of Louisiana as an undergraduate in the School of Dance and Theatre. They’ve choreographed for An Evening of Dance (2023), multiple performances for UL’s Spring and Fall showcases at the Hilliard Art Museum (2023-2025), and will be presenting new choreographic work titled "An Ode to This Moving Body" in GroCo_llective’s premiere showcase this upcoming spring (2026). Jolie has had the pleasure of performing under the direction of Sarah Lass (2021) and Alex McBride (2022) while studying dance at UL and independently for Paige Barnett Kulbeth in 4-Letter Word (2022), and most recently, Drake Hardy’s Before the Day Takes Us (2026).

Jolie has also been published for their poetry in two student-led writing projects before attending college: Rambling Perceptions: A Collection of Student Writing (2020) and Epiphanies Everywhere: A Chronicling from the Hallways of Lafayette Parish GEAR UP (2021). In the last six months, after taking a step back from the collegiate dance world,  Jolie has decided to pick up a camera and venture into photography as a means of expanding their artistic expression.

Brutally honest to a default, Jolie uses their multidisciplinary art as a means of revealing the ever-changing self, finding beauty and moments for gratitude in even the most unconventional places.

Who makes up your art circle?

I have friends who are tattoo artists, friends I’ve danced with since middle school, friends who do drag, and friends I’ve met within the last week who want to start taking pictures but are scared. My art circle is made up of any and every creative person I’ve ever crossed paths with. Even the ones I may no longer have a personal relationship with, or the ones who I only met in passing and haven’t seen or spoken to since, these connections influence and shape my art, in all its forms, every single time I set out to create something new.

How do you expand your art circle?

This was very hard for me, for a very long time. The expanding of my art circle really started when I set aside that pesky worry of all the ways I could possibly be perceived by the world and just started talking to people freely and giving myself permission to say “I am an artist”, without any shame or doubt in my voice. Recently, I’ve been taking my camera out with me into the wild – whether it be dance rehearsals or to go do karaoke on a chill Tuesday night. I find that when I walk into a room confidently, camera in hand, welcoming, possibly, people respond so well to it. I’ve met so many people over the last few months who have enriched my love for the arts in a way I would’ve never been able to experience had I not just started showing up and putting myself out there. I’ve found that usually the hardest part is literally (and figuratively) getting yourself to open the door and walk through it.

What value do you see in having a creative community?

Our art doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it becomes real and undeniable when we swallow the lump in our throats and actually share it with others. I could line the walls of my home with all the pictures I’ve taken and all the poems I’ve written, just hoarding it all to myself, but ultimately none of it would amount to anything until I invited friends or family over for dinner and got to witness them seeing it all and feeling something about it. Having a creative community lets you feel things deeply with others who may not know the exact details of the inspiration, but will be able to look and just say, “You know what? I get it. I feel this,” and I think that’s the most powerful part of the pillar that is community – understanding.

How does your artistic approach contribute to your community?

I feel like all of my art and all of who I am as a person, in general, is nothing but a beautiful mosaic of all the people I’ve ever loved, connected with, or been inspired by. I could only hope and pray to be one of a million tiles in someone else’s grand masterpiece. The biggest and fastest way to conquer this feat, I’ve found, is to be the most unapologetically authentic version of myself in every room I step into. Embodying this philosophy has attracted some of the most talented, beautifully flawed creatives and people I’ve ever met. As a collective, I think we need to see more authenticity in real time. It sort of gives you the unspoken permission to be weird and true, as well - that's what I'm striving to do with my art, above all else.