Emerson (Emmy) Mertens
- Artistic Director & Co-Creative Director, City Ballet Theater Company, CBT II, and City Ballet Theater School
- Bachelors degree, Liberty University
- Certified Instructor, Progressing Ballet Technique (based in Australia, associated with Royal Academy of Dance)
Emerson (Emmy) has over twenty-five years of experience in the performing arts with extensive training in classical ballet, Progressing Ballet Technique, contemporary, modern, tap, jazz, ballroom & Latin dance styles, dramatic and comedic acting, improvisational acting, and mime technique.
She also has multiple years of personal cross-training in various kinds of physical fitness genres such as Pilates, Gyrotonic®, strength training, and dance-based workout classes.
– Teaching, Directing, & Adjudicator Credentials
– Choreography & Production Work
– Training & Performing History
– Instructors
– Featured Roles & Favorite Performances
– Fibromyalgia & hEDS
TEACHING, DIRECTING, & ADJUDICATOR CREDENTIALS
Emmy has been teaching for over a decade at a variety of schools throughout the Midwest and Florida, as well as through her own online dance school, Emerson Online Studio, where she teaches students from all across the country. Having taught a vast array of styles and techniques to all ages and skill levels from young children to professional dancers, she has always emphasized technical proficiency and performance within every class.
Emmy graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Biblical and Theological Studies from Liberty University and continues to enhance her education through ongoing study of a variety of interests, including the arts and anatomy, which has helped her with her own personal experience as a dancer with fibromyalgia and hEDS. Emmy is a Progressing Ballet Technique Certified Instructor (Junior, Senior, and Advanced), having trained in all levels of the program and successfully completed the PBT Certification Teachers Workshop under the direction of their Official Tutor of the USA, Robyn Segel Shifren.
Emmy has had the privilege of serving in top company positions over the years, including directing her own contemporary dance company, Anazao Dance, which she officially founded when she was only seventeen years old. At age nineteen, she became one of the youngest Ballet Mistresses of the Missouri Contemporary Ballet, teaching weekly company class for the professional company members.
Her other teaching credits include Missouri Contemporary Ballet School, Elevate Art in Kansas City, East Coast Ballet School in Florida, Muriel Battle High Arts Department, Heritage Academy, CoMotion Dance, and Studio B in Missouri. In the past Emmy has also been a teacher’s assistant to Bill Hotaling for his mini-jazz class at the 2009 Manhattan Dance Project workshop in Kansas City, as well as an instructor at East Coast Ballet Summer Intensive, Columbia Summer Ballet Intensive, and Dance for the Theater Arts Intensive.
Emmy has also served as a judge and consultant for both program and production auditions with several arts organizations, including Battle Arts Department, Columbia Summer Ballet Intensive, and Steps Dance Studio in Missouri.
CHOREOGRAPHY & PRODUCTION WORK
Alongside all of her work for City Ballet Theater Company and School, Emmy’s choreography has been featured in multiple productions throughout the years, including the Störling Dance Theater Artist Development Program Showcase, Reflections In a Puddle Arts Series, four of Columbia Summer Ballet Intensive’s showcases, two Dance for the Theater Arts Intensive showcases, Project Dance, and the Indiana University Intensive program at which her Sherlock Holmes-inspired piece, Discombobulate, was chosen by the Chair of the Jacobs School of Music and Professor of Ballet Michael Vernon as the only student-choreographed work to be presented at the intensive showcase that year. She has also served as the sole choreographer for entire musical productions of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Disney’s Tarzan for Battle Arts Department, and has choreographed for several church performances, including the Christmas production Arrest These Merry Gentlemen and an Easter production of The Whip, Hammer, and Cross.
Emmy’s experience as a choreographer began when she performed her first self-choreographed solo work at the Manhattan Dance Project weekend showcase at only ten years old for an audience that included world-renowned performers, instructors, and choreographers. She continued to create unique pieces both as a student and a professional from that point forward, and at fourteen Emmy had the honor of choreographing and dancing a very special Easter performance of the Revelation Song for Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky for five of their Easter services with a congregation of over 15,000.
At the request of two separate producers for two different productions, Emmy has also performed her contemporary ballet piece, Slow Me Down, which she had originally choreographed at the age of sixteen for The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts’ Summer Stage showcase. She has also had the privilege of choreographing and performing multiple pieces at a charity fundraiser presented at Finke Opera House.
Emmy has also helped produce several performances over the years. She has also gained a wealth of knowledge as a backstage and prop coordinator for both school and professional productions, including Störling Dance Theater’s Underground.
TRAINING & PERFORMING HISTORY
Throughout the past twenty-five years, Emmy has had the honor of performing with The Minnesota Ballet, Moscow Ballet, Lexington Ballet Company, Störling Dance Theater, VidaDance Company, Infinity Youth Company, the Kansas City Ballet School, and The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts, among many others. She also had the pleasure of performing her own choreographic works with her past contemporary company, Anazao Dance.
Emmy has had the honor of training with instructors from all around the world, including London, Russia, France, China, Norway, South America, Mexico, Italy, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, San Fransisco, and New York City, many of whom have directly trained under or worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolph Nureyev, Robert Joffrey, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Gus Giordano, Eugene Louis “Luigi” Faccuito, Savion Glover, and Gregory Hines.
Her pre-professional and intensive training includes BalletMet, Indiana University, Kansas City Ballet School, Kansas School of Classical Ballet, Lexington Ballet School, The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts, Miller-Marley School of Dance and Voice, Coterie Theater, Allegro Ballroom, Manhattan Dance Project, Alanzo King Lines Ballet, and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, having been offered seven different scholarships for both year-round and intensive training over the years. Her training was also enhanced by taking numerous classes and workshops with a heavy emphasis in physical fitness and body conditioning taught by respected trainers of Progressing Ballet Technique, Gyrotonic®, Pilates, and the Franklin Method®.
After graduating high school at age sixteen, Emmy began her professional career with Störling Dance Theater in Kansas City as one of their youngest trainees. She completed the Störling Artist Development Program (now known as the Conservatory of the Arts Program), a daytime training program in which she studied performing, theatrical, and visual arts five days a week, taking daily classes with the company and performing in their professional and accompanying school productions.
Emmy also attended collegiate level ballet classes at the University of Missouri, Kansas City by invitation of Conservatory Dance Chair Paula Weber and trained with the Kansas City Contemporary Dance (Kacico) company as a summer apprentice. From there Emmy went on to become a full company member with VidaDance Company, East Coast Ballet Company, and Anazao Dance Company. She continues to perform as a freelance and guest artist alongside her teaching, performing, and choreography work for City Ballet Theater Company and School.
With City Ballet Theater, Emmy has performed the role of Mary in Unto Us, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker: Clara’s Dream, and numerous other pieces at various venues since City Ballet Theater’s founding and opening in July of 2022. In May 2023, she will perform the role of Violet/The Dark Fairy in Sleeping Beauty: A Fairy’s Tale, which is a role based on Carabosse (also known as Maleficent to some) that she specifically created for City Ballet Theater’s new take on this classical story.
INSTRUCTORS:
BALLET, MODERN, and CONTEMPORARY:
(Ballet emphasis in Russian (Vaganova), Italian (Cecchetti), & RAD)
(Modern emphasis in Limón, Horton, & Graham)
Michael Vernon –
- Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Professor of Music (Ballet)
- Youth America Grand Prix judge
- Former dancer: Royal Ballet, Royal Opera Ballet, London Festival Ballet
- Instructor: New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Steps on Broadway, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, The Juilliard School, National Ballet of China, Hong Kong Ballet
William Whitener –
- Former Artistic Director of Kansas City Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal
- Principle roles in ballets by Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp
- Original Broadway cast of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
- Former leading dancer with the Twyla Tharp Dance Company
Dmitri Suslov –
- BalletMet Associate Director of Trainees and Performance Ensemble
- Former soloist with Bolshoi Ballet
- Former principle dancer with Renaissance Ballet Theater, the Sacramento Ballet and BalletMet
- Guest adjudicator for Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s annual exams
Hisham Omardien –
- Former dancer with Cape Town City Ballet, State Theatre Ballet, BalletMet
- Former Ballet Master with BalletMet
- Two-time recipient of the South African Balletomanes Award
Charmaine Hunter –
- Former Ballet Mistress with Dance Theatre of Harlem
- Former casting director and talent scout for Cirque du Soleil
- Former dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem for 25 years
- Instructor: Texas Ballet Theater, Orlando Ballet
Jenny Siu-kan Chiang –
- Former prima ballerina with Northern Ballet Theatre
- Former soloist with China National Ballet
- Instructor: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Juilliard School
Luis Dominguez –
- Artistic Director of Lexington Ballet Company
- Former soloist with Dance Theatre of Harlem for 18 years
Nancy Dominguez –
- Director of Lexington Ballet School
- Former dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, Atlanta Ballet, State Ballet of Missouri, Ballet New England
Mona Störling-Enna –
- Artistic Director and Founder of Störling Dance Theater
- Co-founder of The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts
- Former Ballet Mistress and soloist with Eternia Dance Theater
Tobin James –
- Adjunct Professor for The University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance
- Former Associate Artistic Director of Störling Dance Theater
- Former dancer with The Martha Graham Ensemble (Graham 2) and Philadelphia Dance Company
Jennifer Owen –
- Artistic Director and Co-founder of Owen/Cox Dance Group
- Recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Honorarium
- Former dancer with Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, National Ballet of Turkmenistan
Juan Pablo Trujillo –
- Director of Kansas School of Classical Ballet
- Former dancer with Ballet de Cali, Ballet Nacional de Caracas, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas, Hartford Ballet, Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, BalletMet, Kansas City Ballet
- Guest Ballet Master with National Ballet of Colombia/INCOLBALLET
Ken Braso –
- Ballet Master and Rehearsal Director for Missouri Contemporary Ballet
- Former dancer with Louisville Ballet, Southern Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet Austin, Boca Ballet, Cincinnati Opera Ballet, Walt Disney Productions
- Film credits: The Magic of Christmas and Flash Dance
- Instructor: Louisville Ballet School, Governor’s School for the Arts, Missouri Contemporary Ballet
TAP, JAZZ, HIP HOP, MUSICAL THEATER, and ACTING:
Christine Colby-Jacques –
- Principle in the original cast of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’
- Worked with Bob Fosse and performed in the Broadway revival and First National Tour of Sweet Charity
- Former Radio City Music Hall Rockette
- Film appearances in Annie and A Chorus Line
Chet Walker –
- Originally conceived the 1999 Tony-Award-winning musical Fosse
- Tony nominated choreographer for a revival of Pippin
- Broadway performer in On the Town, The Pajama Game, Dancin’, Sweet Charity, Pippin
Joshua Bergasse –
- Emmy-Award-winning choreographer for television; Tony nominated choreographer for Broadway
- Choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance
- Broadway performer in Movin Out, Hairspray, and West Side Story
- Instructor: Broadway Dance Center, Manhattan Dance Project
Bill Hotaling –
- Founder and Director of Manhattan Dance Project
- Performed at Radio City Music Hall and the World Design Expo in Japan
- Instructor: Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Central Park Dance Studio, Dance Masters of America, Disney American College, Centre International de Danse Jazz in Paris
Eugene Fleming –
- Broadway performer in fifteen productions including A Chorus Line, The Wiz, and Fosse
- Featured in multiple commercials, sitcoms, and films, including Catch Me If You Can
Shannon Durig –
- Starred on Broadway as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray (longest running in over 1,000 shows)
- Film, television, and voice-over actress, including the Disney Channel
OTHER ESTEEMED INSTRUCTORS:
– Shirley Marley
– Todd Shanks
– Kristin Sudeikis
– James “SugEasy” Singleton
– Constance Ramos
– Daniel Boothe
– Susan Dromisky
– Stefani Schrimpf
– Suzanne Ryanstrati
– Elizabeth Hartwell
– Van Ibsen
– Paula Weber
FEATURED ROLES & FAVORITE PERFORMANCES:
– Spring Showcase (Columbia Performing Arts Centre – Guest Artist)
- Swanhilda (Lead, Featured Soloist – Excerpt from Coppelia; ballet)
- “Dream of Dreams” (Soloist, Ensemble; contemporary ballet)
– Spring Showcase (Columbia Dance Academy – Guest Artist)
- “Moonlight Sonata” (Duo, Ensemble; contemporary ballet)
– Spring Performance (Steps Dance Studio – Guest Artist)
- “Slow Me Down” (Soloist; contemporary dance)
– Into the Night (VidaDance Company)
- “Beginning Again” (Soloist, Ensemble; contemporary dance)
- “Sweet Sorrow” (Ensemble; contemporary ballet)
– Project Dance (Anazao Dance Company)
- “Learning to Fly” (Soloist; neoclassical ballet/contemporary dance)
- “Something Beautiful” (Ensemble; contemporary dance)
– Transitions (Reflections In a Puddle Arts Series)
- “Clair de Lune” (Ensemble – one of five dancers chosen by choreographer; ballet)
- “Improv” (Ensemble – one of eight dancers chosen by choreographer; contemporary/modern/hip hop dance)
- “Carry Me” (Trio; contemporary dance)
- “Janjara” (Trio; modern dance)
- “Deep Cries Out” (Ensemble; modern/contemporary dance)
- “The Prayer” (Ensemble; modern dance)
– Butterfly (Störling Dance Theater)
- City Scene (Ensemble; contemporary/modern dance)
- Wedding Scene (Ensemble; contemporary/modern dance)
– DANCE Showcase (Störling Dance Theater)
- “Slow Me Down” (Soloist; contemporary dance)
- “The Fairies” (Soloist, Pas de Deux; ballet)
- “Carry Me” (Trio; contemporary dance)
- “Janjara” (Trio; modern dance)
- “Deep Cries Out” (Ensemble; modern/contemporary dance)
- “The Prayer” (Ensemble; modern dance)
– Fundraiser Performance (Finke Opera House)
- Raymonda (Soloist – Excerpt from Raymonda; ballet)
- Lilac Fairy (Soloist – Excerpt from Sleeping Beauty; ballet)
- Arabian (Soloist – Excerpt from The Nutcracker; ballet)
- Angel (Soloist; ballet)
- “Over the Rainbow” (Soloist; ballet)
– The Nutcracker (The Minnesota Ballet Company)
- Clara (Lead, Featured Soloist; ballet, acting)
- Party Guest (ballet)
- Shepherdess (Pas de Trois; ballet)
– The Nutcracker (Moscow Ballet Company)
- Butterfly (Pas de Deux; ballet)
– The Tales of Beatrix Potter (Lexington Ballet Company)
- “Jeremy Fisher” (Corps de ballet; neoclassical ballet)
– The Nutcracker (Lexington Ballet Company)
- Russian (Corps de ballet; traditional Russian dance)
- Flower (Corps de ballet)
– Conservatory Showcase (Infinity Youth Company)
- “Way Over Yonder” (Featured Soloist; modern/contemporary dance)
- “Little Serenade Suite: Corps Piece” (Featured Soloist, Corps de ballet)
- “Little Serenade Suite: Allegro Solo” (Featured Soloist de ballet)
- “Little Serenade Suite: Finale” (Featured Soloist, Corps de ballet)
– St. Joseph Charity Performance (Infinity Youth Company)
- “Way Over Yonder” (Soloist; modern/contemporary dance)
– New Year’s Eve Ball (Infinity Youth Company)
- “Masquerade” (Ensemble; contemporary ballet)
– Cinderella (The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts)
- Molly Mouse (Lead, Featured Soloist; ballet, acting)
- Princess of Norway (Lead, Featured Soloist, Pas de Deux; ballet, acting)
- Fairy (Corps de ballet)
– La Vie de Cosette/Les Miserables (The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts)
- Sister Simplice (Lead, Featured Soloist; ballet, acting)
- Valjean’s Emotion (Featured Soloist; ballet, acting)
- Revolutionary (Featured Dancer, Pas de Deux, Ensemble; ballet, acting)
- Bridesmaid (Featured Soloist, Corps de ballet)
– Studio Red LIVE! (The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts)
- Comedic Improv Group: Storytelling (Ensemble; vocal acting)
- Comedic Improv Group: Audience Participation (Duo, Trio, Ensemble; vocal acting)
- “Slow Me Down” (Soloist; contemporary dance)
– Summer Stage (The Culture House Conservatory of the Arts)
- “I Gotta Feeling” (Ensemble; hip hop dance)
- “C’mon Everybody” (Featured Dancer, Ensemble; dance, singing)
- “Man In the Mirror” (Ensemble; singing)
- “Slow Me Down” (Soloist; contemporary dance)
- “Firework” (Soloist, Ensemble; singing)
– Alice In Wonderland (Ibsen Dance Theater)
- Garden Flower (Ensemble; vocal acting)
- The Queen of Heart’s Pawn (Ensemble; vocal acting, singing)
– Spring Showcase (Kansas City Ballet School)
- “Les Sylphides” (Pas de Deux, Corps de ballet)
- “The Disappeared” (Ensemble; modern dance)
- “Character Polka” (Ensemble; traditional Russian dance)
- “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Ensemble; jazz/ballet dance)
– Spring Recital (Mid Missouri Dance Theatre)
- Duo (chosen by H. Perlman, ballet)
- Trio (chosen by H. Perlman, ballet)
- Ensemble (ballet)
– Intensive Showcase (Indiana University)
- “Entrance of the Shades” (Corps de ballet – excerpt from La Bayadère, staged by Hisham Omardien)
- Classical Ballet Piece (Pas de Quatre, Corps de ballet; choreographed by Michael Vernon)
- Neoclassical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet – choreographed by Michael Vernon)
- Classical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet – choreographed by Jenny Siu-kan Chiang)
- Classical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet – choreographed by G. Wang)
- Classical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet – staged by Michael Vernon)
- Classical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet)
- Modern Piece (Ensemble; dance)
– Intensive Showcase (BalletMet)
- “Swanhilda’s Friends” (Corps de ballet – one of twelve dancers selected by Dmitri Suslov; ballet)
- “Jai Ho” (Ensemble; jazz dance)
- “Modern Suite” (Ensemble; dance)
– Intensive Showcase (Kansas City Ballet School)
- Neoclassical Ballet Piece (Corps de ballet – choreography by Todd Bolender, staged by James Jordan)
- Character Piece (Ensemble; traditional Russian dance)
- Modern Piece (Ensemble; dance)
- Jazz/Contemporary Ballet Piece (Ensemble; dance)
Fibromyalgia and hEDS
In her early twenties, it was discovered that Emerson has a physical condition called hEDS (hypermobile type Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) which had caused an unusual amount of pain and fatigue in her muscles and joints throughout her life. Several years later, she was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a disorder that affects the entire body – particularly the central nervous system – which developed into additional physical issues that can progress over time, including an even greater level of chronic widespread pain and fatigue than she already experiences with hEDS.
Despite these challenges, however, she still thoroughly enjoys teaching and choreographing workshops, summer intensives, and private lessons, as well as performing with City Ballet Theater Professional Company and teaching her students at City Ballet Theater School.
City Ballet Theater 