About
Emma is based in Atlanta GA.
Emma has worked with Yoshito Sakuraba, Christian Denise, Mark Caserta, Jillian Mitchell, Bryan Arias, Rubén Julliard, Thaddeus Davis,
Tanya Wideman Davis
and many more.
Emma Morris is a dancer, choreographer and artist who creates work that asks audiences to reexamine their relationship to home. Her work explores themes of identity and home via an environmental lens. Highly influenced by her passion and education in environmental science, she draws on personal experiences in nature as well as academic writings to generate personal essays and then movement. Who are we because of our
environment? What is the environment that we've crafted for ourselves?
She combines gestural material with expansive, impulse driven
movement that seeks to push the limits of physicality. Her highly
physical choreography pairs with original texts and sound scores
to generate worlds that explore the surrealism that exists within reality.
EMMA DANCES WITH KIT MODUS
she joined the company in 2019 for Mark Caserta's prettyend. Since, Emma has premiered leading roles in Jillian Mitchell's Figment, Yoshito Sakuraba's Murder Party, Ruben Julliard's Outsider, Christian Denise's Elapsed, and Alexander Espinoza's Ikebana. Through Kit Modus, Emma has worked to coach and guide choreographic process with students at UNCSA, University of Georgia, and Decatur School of Ballet, and at Kit Modus workshops. In 2023, Emma created Anthology for Dreamers for the company, which has been accepted into the company repertoire.
Career highlights include:
dancing the lead role in Jillian Mitchell's Figment, an evening-length work created in collaboration with Composer Philip G Anderson (2019 & 2021)
performing Shaun Boyle's Honor and Ash at the Kennedy Center (2018)
Emma has danced in several independent projects throughout Atlanta appearing at Fall for Fall (2021,2022,2023), Dance Canvas (2021 & 2022), Modern Atlanta Dance Festival (2019 & 2021), Excuse the Art (2020), Mixtape (2019 and 2020) and in dance films.
She has danced for choreographers Catherine Messina, Leo Briggs, Liz Stillerman, Patsy Collins, Loren McFalls, and Samantha Spriggs. She has formerly worked with Full Radius Dance and Zoetic Dance.
Emma's choreography has been presented in New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Columbia, Detroit, and Sarasota. Recognition includes
2024 Meli Kaye Artist in Residence
2023 artist residency at the Hambidge Center for Arts and Cultural Sciences
2020 Atlanta Mayor's office of Cultural Affairs Pandemic grant recipient
2019 MIXTAPE artist
2019 Luminarium 24hr ChoreoFest choreographer
2018 Emerging Choreographer for Sarasota Contemporary Dance
Her films have been shown by Jacob Jonas Company Digital Film Fest 2020, Zoetic Dance Distance Disco, and at the 2021 Alabama Screendance Festival.
Emma is currently creating her new work
I hope we never Land
supported by Decatur School of Ballet and
the Hambidge Center for Arts and Cultural Science.
TRAINING
Emma began her studies after being selected for training at Northwest Florida Ballet Académie, and continued to study ballet through her high school years, culminating with Andrea Hill and Nina Danilova at City Ballet of Wilmington. During her youth training she spent summers with ABT, Ballet Academy of Texas, Ballet Hawaii, University of Oklahoma, and UNCSA.
She received her Bachelors of Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography as well as her Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science from the University of South Carolina in 2018.
At U of SC she studied with Tanya Wideman Davis, Thaddeus Davis, Stacey Calvert, and Shannon Ludlum. Emma performed ballets by George Balanchine and Petipa. She also created roles in works by Bryan Arias, Shaun Boyle, Tanya Wideman Davis, Thaddeus Davis, Madeline Jazz Harvey, and more. She has spent time with Axis Connect, New Dialect, Staibdance, NW Dance Project, and Whim W'him.
Latest Projects
I hope we never Land
a dance work choreographed by Emma Morris starring Aryanna Allen, Maia Charanis, and Meg Gourley. Through the lens of nature, this work will explore how our past selves, our memories, and the stories that we surround ourselves by impact our present. Nostalgic music and personal essays are woven together to create a world where time becomes blurred and reality is suspect.
SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS WORK
Anthology for Dreamers
Created for Kit Modus in spring 2023, Anthology for dreamers is being remounted for the company's 2024 season closing Mixed Rep performance.
Arts ATL's preview of the work
SEE WHAT ELSE EMMA IS UP TO