Emma/Emma Jayne/EJ has been called a dancer, theatre-maker, collaborator, facilitator, movement director, dramaturg, intimacy co-ordinator, activist, organiser, and occasional drag king. They’re not fussed about definitions. They research, think, make, and do - preferably in collaboration.
From a rural, working class background Emma grew up with no connection to the creative industries*, leading to a non-linear work history that is better defined through its approach than as a list of productions. It is a series of overlapping explorations of failure, belonging, intimacy, and euphoria that always begin in the body but manifest in various forms, aiming to be hyper-contextual and inviting audiences to participate in a way that is most meaningful to them. Sometimes watching, sometimes playing, sometimes in conversation.
Emma learns by doing, believes in open source practices and has no interest in selling themselves in response to the demands of neoliberalism.
They are driven by everyday pleasure, building meaningful relationships, finding generative way of working and a hunger for liveness.
*Recommended Reading: Culture Is Not An Industry, Justin O’Connor.
A Creative Practice for Social Change
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
A Citizen then an artist
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
Process-Led/ Iterative/ Messy
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
An expanded definition of choreography
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
Not interested in awards
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
Interested in how meaning is made…..
A Creative Practice for Social Change
Emma rarely make works ‘about’ things. Instead their work is an ongoing experiment in modes of resistance: direct, indirect and in between.
This includes creating performance works and intimate spaces that imagine the world we hope to move towards, balancing explorations of refusal with embodying the practices of more positive futures, recognising that our muscles memory is the most powerful tool we have.
EJ’s work always begins in the body but manifests in various forms; including but not limited to site-responsive, intimate or durational performance, movement direction, intimacy co-ordination, curated conversation spaces, visual scribing, cartography, writing, design, drag, policy and strategy consultation, collective organising for change and community dance parties.
Formally trained in contemporary dance, they are curious about interrupting conventional ideas of movement and aspire to use the tools of embodiment to close the gaps between ideologies and everyday actions. Their work is a series of looping and overlapping explorations of failure, belonging, intimacy and power. Emma has no intention of finding a consistent aesthetic or simple explanation for what they do. They are process led and responsive, aiming to spend time in meaningful exchanges with people to share a felt sense of their values, lives and work. They appreciate that this can appear chaotic in a world that demands easily replicated, evaluated and compared linear approaches. EJ’s main intention is to undo such fixed and oversimplified thinking.
Through their current research Perverse Incentives, they are actively pursuing a more honest distribution of their time that prioritises energy spent on practice and the work they believe has impact. This means that websites, branding and print materials are only updated when doing do progresses the thinking or the craft. As a result, anything you find in online may appear unfinished or unrefined because Emma's work is first and foremost live, responsive and in the body - not a concept developed with selling in mind.
Emma is currently an Associate Artist with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival. They currently sit on the board of The Work Room (joined February 2019), Puppet Animation Scotland (joined March 2019) and Federation of Scottish Theatre (joined November 2021). Emma is also Co-chair of Equity’s Dance Committee 2023-2025. Although these are voluntary positions, they offer access to knowledge and increased social capital in the traditional structures of the sector.