Emily Haussler

Emily Haussler is the Artistic and Executive Director of RESILIENCE Dance Company (RDC). Since founding RDC in 2019, Emily has directed and choreographed four full-length premieres, the most recent being Come With Me (2023). She has furthermore curated three repertory concerts for the company and helped create unique programs including dance film projects, walk through performances, lecture demos, and community collaborations. 

Overall, her work centers on building healthier, more sustainable dance communities by equipping dancers with resources for their mental health, physical wellbeing, and artistic success. She believes in the power of collaboration and in challenging the toxic norms of the dance world, seeking to create high quality, insightful dance works inside of healthy dance spaces.

As a teacher, Emily has lead master classes at St. Louis University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Washington University in St. Louis, American College Dance Conference, and Southeastern Missouri University (SEMO). She was furthermore commissioned by SEMO to set an original work, while the company has been commissioned to perform at SEMO, Missouri Dance Organization's Conference and Washington University as the recipients of the Marcus Residency in 2022.

Emily holds a B.A. in Dance and Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, and has trained in Ballet, Modern, Improvisation, and Countertechnique. Prior to founding RDC, Emily danced professionally as a Trainee for Nashville Ballet (2018-19), as a Trainee for The Big Muddy Dance Company (2019-20), and as a freelance artist for Emily Duggins Ehling (2020) and Jennifer Medina (2017). Her choreographic repertoire consists of over a dozen works, including her first ever full-length concert, fine lines between, which debuted in Nashville, TN in April 2019. Emily continues to work as a freelance choreographer outside of RDC and teaches at St. Louis Academy of Dance.