Emily Elliot has been dancing since age nine when a friend brought her to watch a dance class near her home in Merrimack, NH. It was love at first sight. She immediately started studying ballet, then jazz, and modern until she graduated from high school. At Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, she continued studying ballet, jazz, modern, yoga, tai chi, social, and square dance. She also worked for the Allegheny Dance Department, working in marketing and as a stage manager, participated in two summer adult dance intensives and the Children’s Creative Arts program. Emily was a member and performer of the Allegheny Repertory Dance Company. Janyce Hyatt, Director of Dance and former New York Ballet Company dancer, and James Reedy, Artist-In-Residence and former Erick Hawkins Dance Company member, had a profound impact on the evolution of the dance within her. She learned and practiced the elements of choreography in addition to music (voice) and theater arts. As part of her education credits, she created and implemented an after school movement program for children who had severe ADHD. The teacher was so impressed with its effectiveness that she adopted many of the movement techniques Emily did with the children. After Allegheny, Emily became a member of a small dance company in Boston, MA.

In the winter of 2005, Emily and her family moved to Yellow Springs, OH. Since moving to YS, Emily has become an active member and volunteer of the Yellow Springs Arts Council, choreographed and danced at a variety of YS events including the yearly Community Dance Concert. She has performed with Mockingbird Theatre Company of Clifton, OH, and was the guest choreographer on two productions for a musical theater company in Ashland, OH. Emily has taught adult and children movement classes in the YS community, including a Creative Movement program she developed for The Antioch School. She was an after school teacher at The Antioch School, provided child care in her home, and piloted a 2010 summer school readiness program for first graders. Emily endeavors to simultaneously learn, teach and perform the movement arts in Yellow Springs and expand artistic opportunities for its community members.