HOT HONEY
HOT HONEY explores the feeling of love and heartbreak in a comedic and extravagant way. Taking us through the love of Ritchie Valens “We Belong Together,” the manic head over heels love struck of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love On Me," the heartbreak of “Break It To Me Gently” Brenda Lee, into the vengeful “You’re So Vain” Carly Simmons. HOT HONEY is campy story of love, heartbreak, and vengeance.
Premiered at 26th Annual Dance in the Park
Invitation by City in Motion Dance Theater
Presented Under CLOUDS Dance Company
Performed by Amiyah Torres, Nicole Norman, and Anna Bohem
FOR GEORGIA
For Georgia was made to honor retiring ballerina, Georgia Fuller. Georgia Fuller is a forever friend. We worked together in many creations and in many studios. This piece was made to honor our friendship, our creative partnership and to honor the career she had. Dance is weathering. It sees us in all times. We give dance pieces of ourselves we may never get back, but dance gives us pieces we may have never had. Our beautiful friend and collaborator, Jacob Ross Thomas composed a new score for this work.
Premiered at CLOUDS Company Debut
with Charlotte Street Foundation Open Studios
Made For Georgia Fuller
Music Composed by Jacob Ross Thomas
Photo Captured By Lilah Powers
MISGUIDED CONVERSATIONS
MISGUIDED CONVERSATIONS is a trio of women fighting with the urges to dominate. The three compete, showing off like peacocks, and battling for a main voice in the ring. Throughout the 13 minutes, they turn from aggressive warriors to tired weathered humans. Their humanity shows. They start to share space instead of fighting for it, creating a beautiful coexistence beginning to support each other. However, in the end their selfishness shows ending the piece at the beginning fight once more.
Creative Intersections 2025
Artistic/Executive Direction by Olivia Emert
Presented with Owen/Cox Dance Group and Kansas City Ballet
Performed by Sarah McGuyer, Mei McArtor, and Amelia Messiner
Leave the light on…
LEAVE THE LIGHT ON… explores a shamefulness and hiding within queerness. As a queer woman, my own coming out was full of shame and ridicule by my family members and close loved ones. I felt a sense of shame and hiding before, during, and even now in my queerness. Exploring and honoring this hidden sense of self and becoming gives space to celebrate and treasure love and identity.
Premiered with NoDivide QNF 2025
& CLOUDS Dance Company
Performed by Katie Brennan and Oscar Trujilo
Photo Captured By Jorden Durkee
it’s A Fine LIne
"it's a fine line..." is about the performative nature we are expected to have as artists. The piece centers around the feeling of needing to be performative and prestigious to be acknowledged and accepted. The pressure to exist as a perfect artist who checks every box. The piece searches for the feeling of moving through these performative moments in time. It tries to explain how this attitude and expectation hurts our authenticity and our souls are creators/makers/movers. How can we create without selling our souls? This masking hides us from the genuine and human expression of self. It in turn makes us shut off our sense of self and ability for connection. It was made from audio clips from my personal interview outtakes and presentation practices, layered with music from found artists.
Open Studios 2025/ CLOUDS Dance Company
Presented by Charlotte Street Foundation
Performed by Amiyah Torres, Anna Boehm, and Kaitlyn Gardner
Photo by: Andrew Schwartz
WAY OF WAVES was created around the sensation of water. It dives into creating an environment similar to diving in the ocean for the first time. In process, the movement examined how waves impact and affect each other. Using this movement to showcase how we as human influence and affect one another. The ten dancers rippled and carved through each other and within each other.
Premiered with Kansas City Youth Ballet November 2024
Under direction of Kim Cowen and Devon Carney
Photo Captured: Brett Pruitt & East Market Studios
WAY OF WAVES
SOMEDAY YOU’LL WANT ME
“SOMEDAY YOU’LL WANT ME” is a reflection of the struggles and celebration of a queer love through the lens of a female identified person. As a queer woman in the Midwest, I reflected how my environment affects how I love, how I share in connection, how I’ve loved in the past and how I want to love in the future. The piece moves with yearning for a deep sense of connection while coping with internal trepidation and sudden sense of withdrawals. The desire and connection in this presented love becomes undeniable. The piece morphs from apprehensive to a sense of calm resilient unity. The dance becomes a presentation of honor for authentic deep love. Celebrating soft femininity and supportive caring relationships, what an honor it is to be a queer female. What an honor it is to be loved and to love so deeply.
Commissioned for Queer Narratives Festival 2024
with NoDivide founded by Stacy Busch
Dancers Pictured: Anna Boehm & Joliana Canaan
Photo by: Jorden Durkee
TAG
TAG is a playful western landscape of dance. The piece makes commentary on the loss of play in adulthood. Expectations which forces us to lose our childlike joy and sense of play. TAG uses cowboys as an analogy for adults suppressing their camaraderie and comedy.
Premiered at Open Studios April 2024 with Charlotte Street Foundation
Supported through awarded Studio Residency
Presented at Invitation Only: Dance in the Park
Hosted by City in Motion Dance Theater
Movement Artists Pictured: Anna Boehm, Regina Lombardo, Alexandra Smith
GAMEPLAY
GAMEPLAY showcases our internal and external competitive drive. It dives into our need for validation… our human nature to desire being wanted, seeking approval, and fighting to be seen. The piece turns from a competitive drive to a vulnerable act. At the end of the day, we are left with ourselves and our humanity.
Commissioned for Creative Intersections in Hyde Park 2024
In partnership with Kansas City Ballet, University of Missouri Kansas City, and Owen Cox Dance Group
Founded and Directed by Cameron Thomas
Performed by Georgia Fuller, Elliot Rogers, Max Nelson Steinhoff
Video by Nick Lombardo
Photo Captured by Ryan Andrew Bruce
OUR BODIES ARE VESSELS. HOW DO WE CONVERSE WITH OUR BODIES? HOW DOES THAT NURTURE US?
VESSEL is an evening length work produced and choreographed by Olivia Emert; to spread conversation and awareness on mental health highlighting body dysmorphia.
Movement Artists: Anna Boehm, Troy Gardner, & Tessa McNeil
Mesh Garments: Sarah Watts & Olivia Emert
Hosted: Rochester Brewing Company
Supported: KCTherapy, Research Psychiatric Center, PsychPros Kansas City, Ed Care, City in Motion, Fractured Atlas
VESSEL
leeches
LEECHES puts into movement our internal battle of calming our anxieties versus feeding into them. Trying to discover how to find an equilibrium to survive.
Commissioned for Creative Intersections in Hyde Park 2023
In partnership with Kansas City Ballet and Owen Cox Dance Group
Founded and Directed by Cameron Thomas
Performed by Georgia Fuller, Isaac Allen, Charlie Cronenwett
Photos Captured by Ryan Andrew Bruce
‘CLAY’ is a work expressing the pursuit as humans to search for intentional connections. The work begins with a commentary on self awareness to present how knowing and sense of self affects our relationships. We then dive into the process of getting to know someone, opening up to vulnerability, and letting people see the depth and complexities of inner self through partnership. 'CLAY' finds both parallels and juxtapositions of intersecting relationships. Vulnerability is the intimacy of genuine human connection.
Performed by Anna Boehm, Ashleah England, Troy Gardner, Max Nelson Steinhoff, Lauren Thompson
presented at Making Moves Festival 2023, funded by Charlotte Street Foundation, Curated by Jeramy Zimmerman
CLAY
An evening length work produced, choreographed, and directed by Olivia Emert, supported and funded by Charlotte Street Foundation. In this new work, Emert explores conceptions of comfortability and challenge through sanctuaries of womb, dirt, and sky. If you never challenge your comfort zone, you will never evolve. The performance took place June, 2022 Charlotte Street Foundation’s Stern Theater.
Lighting Design: Austin VanWinkle
Photos Captured: Ian VanDusen
WOMB.Dirt.SKY.
ever | lost is an observation on romantic relationships, containing two juxtaposing pas de deuxs that overlap both presenting different textures and commentary on love/lust and falling out of love. The intention was to research and explore partner work and proximity. As well as make observations somatically and cognitively on personal relationships and the loss in relationships.
presented at Modern Night at the GEM 2023
ever | lost
A commentary on loneliness and absence.
Created 2022 for Creative Intersections in Hyde Park
In partnership with Kansas City Ballet and Owen Cox Dance Group
Founded and Directed by Cameron Thomas
Performed by Roma Catania, Georgia Fuller, Naomi Tanioka, and Ashlan Zay
Photo Captured by Ryan Andrew Bruce
Intangible…
RuMINATING SPASMS
An anxiety disorder has a deep effect on the brain and the cognition that occurs. These movers represent what the cognition feels like within panic attacks and the attempts to use coping mechanisms. Highlighting a dissociative anxiety attack, a 4-7-8 breathing coping mechanism, overstimulating panic attack, a 5 sense check and lastly a panic attack where no control is able to be obtained, the stage is presented as the amygdala and the dancers as overwhelming and constant anxiety.
Featured at Modern Night at GEM 2022
Original Composition: Tim J. Harte
Lighting Design: Ian VanDusen
I SEE YOU.
An observation on relationships: romance, heartbreak, structuring a conversation, struggling with self, dealing and healing with the trauma left from a past relation, and overall understanding when walking down the street everyone you pass has their own relationships and can be impacted by a simple glance.
Costume Construction by Sarah Watts and Olivia Emert
Lighting Designer: Austin VanWinkle
Photos Captured by Ryan Andrew Bruce
VENNA visually encompasses denial that may come before the acceptance of one's own sexuality. It highlights a struggle with vulnerability and comfort in queer relationships, the movers ponder if queer yearning is acceptable within a primary heterosexual community. VENN A expresses the desire and hesitation that comes with that acceptance. Internalized homophobia results in the refusal to love and be loved the way everyone deserves, even with a conflicted desire to understand and accept.
Dancers Captured: Victoria Knox and Simone Davis
Lighting Design & Cinematography: Ian VanDusen
VENN.A
Numb, and yet…
Some times you are stuck on the cusp.
Dancer: Anna Boehm
Lighting Design: Austin VanWinkle
Cinematography: Ian VanDusen
