Emily Stratton is a multi-disciplinary aerialist and modern dancer who fuses modalities to create choreography, films, unique performances and specialized classes. Aerial dance that emphasizes full use of the floor, air, and spaces between is a core part of what makes Emily who she is. Emily’s current favorite dance partners include vertical dance/free harness, aerial fabric, and her invented apparatus, Ring Trapeze. Much like a spider monkey in a forest, she just wants to explore and discover. She cordially invites you to join her.
General
Relevant Training
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* BA in Theater/Dance, Westmont College, 2013
* Pre-professional program, Santa Barbara Center for Aerial Dance, 2015-2019
* Fidget Feet's Creation Intensive, 2022
*Audacity Project with Rachel Strickland, 2022
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(condensed, not including general classes, several workshops or festivals)
​*Sky Contact with Amelia Rudolph and Scott Wells, 2023
*Bandaloop's Intermediate Training Intensive, 2024
* Teacher training and private instruction by Constance Palmer
(Circus Echo), 2020 & 2023
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The Long Version
Though born and raised in Asheville NC, Emily’s journey has pinballed her throughout the country and on occasion, over the pond. Once this lifelong theater kid/dancer graduated high school in 2009, she attended college in Santa Barbara CA to obtain her degree in just that. Shortly after returning to her beloved Blue Ridge mountains in 2013, she began working in an after school program that enabled her to take her paychecks and essentially throw them at Aerial Space studio saying “teach me everything and let me show up every day”. You see, ever since watching a VHS of Cirque Du Soliel’s Quidam as a young girl she had been determined to train in aerial arts.
A couple of years later, in 2015, Emily returned to Santa Barbara CA where she entered into The Santa Barbara Center for Aerial Dance’s intensive training program. This led to her joining their professional aerial dance company, The Paloma Project who gave her the opportunity to perform in a variety of evening length aerial dance shows, dance festivals and corporate gigs. Her favorite one was when Carol Burnett had the joy of witnessing a costume malfunction that added an unintentionally sexy edge to what would have been a very classy affair involving live opera.
In 2019, Emily and her partner were suddenly relocated to Fargo ND. A place with no aerial studio or aerial community. This loss paired with the pandemic led for a period of intense loneliness that was eventually alleviated by the vivacious Yvette Reyes who offered partnership in launching the first dedicated aerial studio/program in North Dakota at FM Aerial and Movement Arts. Fargo not only provided an amount of snow that Emily didn’t think possible, it gave her many opportunities to perform, create, teach aerial arts full time and delve further into the professional world.
In January 2022, Emily and her partner abandoned the tundra and made their way south to Atlanta GA. While teaching aerial fabric and lyra to youth at Akrosphere Aerial and Circus Arts took the helm, after attending Fidget Feet’s Creation Intensive in Limerick Ireland did Emily felt empowered to continue pursuing her own art. At that time, on her invented apparatus, Ring Trapeze. This is also when she first fell in love with vertical dance. Who knew dancing on walls could create such joy? She continues to balance coaching with personal growth by collaborating with her partner and friends to make short films, training in harness/vertical dance and coaching some truly incredible humans in aerial arts.
Check out the page for details on her creative endeavors!