Faculty Bio - Emily Berry
Emily Berry (she/her)
Phone: 718-281-5277
Email: [email protected]
Office: RFK 216
Emily Berry (Associate Professor) teaches Improvisation, Contact Improvisation, Choreography, Foundations of Dance Movement, African and Afro-Caribbean Dance, Dance Workshop and all levels of Ballet and Modern Dance. Berry began pursuing her own choreographic endeavors in 1995 and established B3W Performance Group (B3W) in 2006. Since then, B3W has been presented at Henry Street Settlement, Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, 92nd Street Y, Irondale Center as part of FLICFest, International Dance Festival NYC, DUMBO Dance Festival, Manhattan Movement Arts Center, and Cool New York Dance Festival, in addition to films in Maryland and Switzerland. Internationally Berry has performed in Mexico, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Japan, and Thailand. The Forgiveness Project took Emily around the world to 11 countries and 6 continents facilitating Community Workshops on Forgiveness. Tribeca Performing Arts Center presented the premiere of Forgiveness Part I: Forgiving the Personal in May 2016. Look out for Part II: Resisting Racism and Part III: Self-Forgiveness in the future. Eva Yaa Asantewaa (InfiniteBody) describes Berry’s work as “Memorable, intelligent, strong”. “Violent but engaging” are the words attached to Berry’s work by Clare Croft in the Washington Post. Maura Donahue (Culturbot) writes about Confined as, “Clear expression of idea in movement”.
Awards /commissions include Dixon Place’s Mondo Cane Commission, Ann Arbor Dance Works, A Queens Arts Fund Recipient for Spin Art in 2014 and for Forgiveness in 2017, and was an Artist Fellow of the Field’s Field Leadership Fund 2015-17. B3W Performance Group is also the recipient of the New Music USA grant for Forgiveness Part II: Resisting Racism.
As a performer, Emily has worked with danceTactics Performance Group/Keith Thompson, Boris Willis Moves, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh & Company, Restless Native Dance/Tamieca McCloud, Lesole’s Dance Project, and Ashe Moyubba/Alafia Afro-Cuban Folkloric Dance Ensemble.
Berry is a Certified Movement Analyst, and has a MFA in Dance from George Mason University. She also holds Bachelor degrees in Dance Arts, as well as Women’s Studies and Political Science from the University of Michigan. She has taught at Oakland University, George Mason University, Coppin State University, Montgomery College, and Community College of Baltimore County. Master classes include American College Dance Association, Goucher College, College of William and Mary, University of Michigan, and many dance intensives.