It was almost a year ago I came across Emily on Instagram, mesmerised by her seamless flow as I watched her choreograph her own dance videos. Once I saw her dance I knew I wanted to reach out and collaborate. 

Last week I sat down with Emily to discuss her background in dance and her formula for making the best moves. 

 

How did you get into dancing?       

Emily: I feel like I’ve been dancing forever.  I grew up in a large bedroom with lots of floor space to dance. One whole wall was full of mirrors so I grew up dancing in front of mirrors and then I went into classes and started doing jazz and tap. Until about year 9 and then I remember going to exams and getting really nervous, eventually I stopped because the exams were too stressful. Then I went and did some hip hop classes. I think I have been dancing forever however it’s the way I’ve been doing it has kind of changed and now, it’s just more for fun. Then I found hip hop online classes, started doing some pole.

 

Ema: How long have you been doing pole for? 

Emily: I started doing it 2 years ago. I wanted to do it for so long. I just couldn’t find a place to do it but then I started doing it 2 years ago. Got private lessons in Margaret River and then I bought my own pole and set it up. That was so fun and then during lockdown last year I moved into a house with a bunch of friends. I set up the pole in our garage and that’s when I really started to practice daily.

Ema: How did you learn the other forms of dance? Was that something you taught yourself or I know you had lessons earlier but how did you teach yourself all these different dance? 

 Emily: Youtube and also just by having a mirror. Just like dancing in front of a mirror and watching myself always and seeing what I like or what moves well.  That was probably the biggest thing that I learned a lot from and whenever anyone else is like, “Oh. how can I get into dancing?” I would be like, “ Just get a mirror and dance to yourself and for yourself. 

 

Ema: Yup. That’s some good advise. I guess, you could also record yourself. Do you record yourself? 

 

Emily: Yeah, I only actually started recording myself maybe like 2, 3 years ago and I remember when I started doing that it was so nervous. Not about recording myself, that was fine it was more about sharing on Instagram,  that was so scary. 

 

Ema: What is your favourite music to dance to? Any favourite artists that you could recommend to people?

Emily: Miley Cyrus. She’s my favourite artist but to dance to I guess Missy Elliot is my original favourite to dance to. I love her-- she’s so fun but it changes with my mood, if I’m sad and I want to tap into those emotions and move them through my body then I’ll listen to something a bit more heartfelt or slow. Some music takes me back to a time when I was down, It’s easy to tap into those emotions and dance.

 

Ema: That’s really interesting that you use music as something almost like a trigger to get back to a state of emotion or a mental state and I guess through dance it’s therapeutic to channel that energy out through movement.

 Ema: What are the best things about expressing yourself through movements? 

 Emily: That’s definitely one of them. To move through emotions, for example when I’m feeling rage or anger I just put on rigorous music. Stuff I wouldn’t usually listen to and just dance. Stomp my feet and have a little scream. It’s so good that I can express whatever emotions I’m moving through dance. Others might use Surf or singing, I guess you can think of it as a type of meditation.

     

 

Ema: So people who are interested and wanna learn more, do you have any suggestions like places to go in Melbourne?

 Emily: Stacey. It’s really good. It’s online--I think you get your first month free and it’s an online website and there are so many dance classes, dance tutorials and things on there.

 

Ema: Cool. What’s on for you next with dance like do you have anything on the works or working on your style at home? What have you got planned? 

 

Emily: Not so much. I don’t have anything planned with dance, to be honest. I just moved and started studying Psychology online. 

 

Ema: Oh, that’s exciting. How could people find out about your classes? Do they just DM you or? 

 

Emily: Yeah, DM me. I don’t have any at the moment but definitely, when I do, I’ll post them on my Instagram at @emi.maeve where I post whatever I’m doing. 

 

Ema: Just a little bit of background, for those who don’t know. I came across you on instagram and reached out to you to choreograph a dance movie.

On the day you came into this space and and it was one of the first time you had listen to the track. It was right there on the spot that you came us with the entire routine. Is there a formula? How did you work out exactly what you are going to do or is it just like a matter of feeling the music in your body?    

     

 

Emily: Thank you. I believe feeling it in my body is best, I love to do classes to learn new moves however, when I’m doing something like this I feel is more real when it’s just flowing through  improv like that. Even just closing my eyes, feeling the beat, and doing what wants to come. Letting the music move me instead of having restrictions on my mind that I need to do to hit the beat.

Ema: Yeah, I know what you mean, sometimes having to keep in time can take away from the experience. I just want to say that and I was also impressed.  The other two we collaborated with are Oli and Dirty Versachi. Two talented human beings. It’s so easy to produce something of this  level when you’re working with highly talented individuals like yourself.

Thank you for checking out this post! To check out the film click the link below...