Artist Statement
I am interested in the evolution of moments, time. I am interested in people and how we move through the world together, the functions of language. I am interested in performativity; the intersection between disciplines, collaboration, and negotiation of space/s. I wonder about capacity and potential, physics, physical interaction, relationships. I am inspired by small things, details, body systems, subtlety, nuance and movement in 360 degrees. I am interested in form as a question. I am interested in how shifting perception changes how a person understands information and how this works inside of performance. I am interested in what constitutes performance in all its formality and casualty. I am interested in engaging dance making that serves to cultivate relationships between people and their environment in new and unexpected ways. I am interested in choreography and the many complex, faceted layers it offers. I am interested in theatricality. I am interested in work that transforms and takes me with it. I am interested in what bodies know and how they learn. I believe movement research is vital to the world we live in. I want to create a larger container for performance context; I am actively working to create more space in the world for this research.
bio
Emily Aust holds an MFA in Dance Theatre from the University of California San Diego, 2016. Her primary dance and performance studies include: Contemporary Dance techniques; Improvisation ensemble collaboration, Contact Improvisation, writing and Classical and Contemporary Theatre performance techniques. Her current research is linked through embodiment practices and community interaction. Dancing outside, dancing with the elements; she seeks engagement in dance making that serves to question and cultivate an embodied relationship between place, people and their environment in order to effect change in the ways we know the world. Emily’s movement & teaching practices are deeply influenced by her study of somatic modalities: Body Mind Centering, Alexander Technique, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and the Feldenkrais Method. Focus on awareness, the breath, alignment, sensation, and open hearted curiosity. Her practice is ever evolving and continues to be a place of nourishment, challenge, a place of introspection, stillness, expansion, transformation, action, and love.
I pursue opportunities to learn from folks who are working toward diverse and just systems of equality, from places of adversity, within queer theory, social justice work, from black folks, people of color, trans folks, women, allies, interdisciplinary and transnational artists……… I’m grateful for the in depth work embodying queer theory with Eric Geiger, Intensive Improvisational study with Simone Forti, Yolande Snaith, Liam Clancy and Mary Peterson. I am deeply moved by intensive workshops with Darrell Jones, Lucia Auchugar & Michale Klien. I am profoundly and humbly grateful to all of my teachers, mentors & collaborators known and unknown who have shared themselves, their knowledge, practices, and processes over the years.