Emily Aslin

I am a Seattle-born freelance dance artist and choreographer with an appetite for movement and creation. 

As the youngest-turned-middle child in an expansive family, I grew up attuned to small interactions between individuals around me. I became captivated by their relationships and questioned their motives. As a dancer and choreographer I remain curious. Movement is how I research. More specifically, I dive into moments that can be felt but perhaps not sufficiently articulated – the tickle in your nose from a freshly doused candlewick, opening your eyes on a blustery day, grazing the shoulder of a sleeping partner. I question emotional fluidity, strategy, violence, and intimacy as my curiosity drives me toward ideas that incite extreme emotion within me. 

As I create, I find myself guided by feeling and shaped upon examination. More often than not, verbal language is insufficient. I strive to capture a sliver of the internal so we may one day find some contentment with being.

In terms of my dance education, I studied with Ensemble Ballet Theatre before training in the Academy program at Spectrum Dance Theater under Donald Byrd. Through my training and beyond I have worked with choreographers such as Donald Byrd, Jamar Roberts, Cameron McKinney, Lane Gifford, Marion Sparber, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Alexander Anderson, Natalie Lo'Monte, Jaclyn Wheatley, Eva Stone, and Felix Landerer. I have spent summers at b12, the Donald Byrd Workshop, the Ailey Intensive, the Kizuna Dance Intensive, and the VIM VIGOR Intensive among others. In May of 2022, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Ailey/Fordham BFA program with majors in Dance and Political Science.

Currently, I am a company dancer with LaneCoArts with whom I recently performed at the Spring to Dance Festival in St. Louis, Palm Desert Choreography Festival in California, and Battery Dance Festival in New York. I also dance with Terre Collective, have performed with Kizuna Dance, and danced with Buglisi Dance Theater. I was an artist in residence at Carroll Hall in Brooklyn, NY  February 2024 and in August I traveled to Japan with Kizuna Dance for a residency and performance project between Cameron McKinney and Toru Shimazaki. 

I am a collaborator with Synchronous, a creative lab and performance group founded by Stephanie Shin united by a shared desire to collaborate and perform. In November 2023, Synchronous premiered a work of my creation entitled "Recognition". Stephanie and I co-choreographed UTILITY in collaboration with Emissary Quartet for an interactive performance at the Blue Building, NY in April 2024. Most recently, Synchronous attended our first residency in Provincetown, MA at TwentySummers, May 2024.

Photo: Yejin Lee (@yejin0lee)