Guild member Joe Bowie is a professional modern dancer-turned-baker who brings a unique blend of artistry and body-awareness to the baking world. Recently, Joe earned his MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied the interplay between physical movement and mental resilience. He recently joined the faculty at Northwestern as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department. His journey has taken him from New York City’s rigorous dance stages to the challenging heat of commercial kitchens, where he’s honed his craft as a baker with a profound understanding of the body’s needs.
Joe spoke with the Guild recently about his path into baking. His upcoming class, “The Baker’s Body,” reflects this commitment to helping bakers prioritize their health through mindful movement, breathwork, and practical body-awareness techniques. Drawing from both his dance expertise and hands-on baking experience, Joe offers bakers the chance to learn how small shifts in posture, stance, and awareness can make a world of difference in a field where repetitive motion and long hours are the norm.
Joe, you’re known as a unique figure in both the baking and dance worlds. How did your path lead you to bridge these two very different fields?
Joe Bowie: It was an interesting journey! I started as a professional modern dancer and spent decades dedicated to the craft. Dance gave me a deep awareness of the body’s mechanics and the demands of repetitive, precise movements. But baking was always a passion of mine, too. I grew up baking, and even as a dancer, I would bake for friends and colleagues, eventually finding myself increasingly drawn to breadmaking as a creative and physical outlet. Eventually, I transitioned from full-time dancing to bread baking, even opening a community-supported bakery, Cola Bread Club, in South Carolina.
Over time, I noticed similarities between the two worlds—both require intense, repetitive physical effort and have their own types of “muscle memory.” After finishing my MFA and collaborating with an Alexander Technique professor, I started to see how dance principles could benefit bakers and began integrating body awareness practices into baking. And that’s how “The Baker’s Body” was born.
So, the idea of merging your experience in dance and baking inspired this class?
Yes, absolutely. As I transitioned from the dance world into professional baking, I saw the wear and tear bakers experience. Bakeries can be highly demanding environments; long hours, repetitive movements, and fast-paced work take a toll. This isn’t unlike the demands dancers face, but in dance, you’re taught to be mindful of your body to prevent injuries. For some reason, that mindfulness isn’t emphasized in baking, even though it’s just as physical. The class focuses on simple ways bakers can preserve their bodies through awareness, balance, and gentle techniques. We work to prevent strain, focusing on habits like shifting weight, adjusting stance, and finding moments for breathwork to support stamina. These can make a huge difference in a baker’s quality of life and career longevity.
You have an extensive background in baking now, including time working in high-end bakeries. How has that influenced your approach to teaching this class?
Working in high-profile kitchens in New York City and beyond has shown me both the joy and the challenges of baking. I’ve had experiences where I’ve been hyper-focused on perfection, often at the expense of my own well-being, and I’ve seen how it can affect other bakers. In one role, I recall being critiqued over the smallest details, and while that level of precision can elevate the product, it often comes at the expense of the people creating it. I think the baking community is slowly starting to shift away from these “sacrifice everything for perfection” mindsets, but we still have a long way to go. In “The Baker’s Body,” I want to help bakers create healthier habits that help them thrive physically, even in these high-demand environments.
What specific techniques will you cover in the class to help bakers stay mindful and reduce strain?
We’ll be working on very practical techniques that bakers can easily integrate into their routines. One of these is footwork—learning to distribute weight evenly, shift stances, and ground oneself, which helps to relieve the strain that builds up over long hours on your feet. Another is breathwork, which is essential for resetting the mind and reducing tension. I’ll also introduce some body-awareness practices from the Alexander Technique, which encourage bakers to notice how they move and make small adjustments to prevent discomfort and fatigue. Even tiny shifts, like adjusting your stance or consciously engaging your core, can transform how you feel at the end of a shift.
You’ve spoken about the importance of a supportive workplace culture in bakeries. How does this tie into your philosophy on well-being?
The work culture in a bakery is so critical to how bakers experience their work. In some bakeries, the product is valued more than the person, and that wears people down. I’ve seen this firsthand in many of the bakeries I’ve worked in, where bakers are often expected to give up personal well-being for production goals. My belief is that when bakers feel respected, safe, and supported, they do better work and make better bread. This isn’t just about physical well-being but also about mental and emotional health, which often gets overlooked. “The Baker’s Body” isn’t only about individual techniques but also aims to foster a culture where bakers feel empowered to prioritize their bodies.
What do you hope bakers gain from taking “The Baker’s Body”?
My hope is that bakers will leave with practical tools they can use every day and a renewed sense of ownership over their physical and mental health. Bakers are artists and athletes, and I want them to understand that both their craft and their bodies deserve respect. This class isn’t about big changes; it’s about small, sustainable habits. When bakers understand how their bodies are integral to the craft, they’re able to bring even more energy and creativity to their work. It’s about making baking sustainable in every sense of the word.
Register for Joe's class here. Follow Joe on Instagram here.
