Emma Andres is a dancer, choreographer, photographer and studio artist based in Southern California. She graduated Cum Laude from the University of California, Irvine with her BFA in Dance Choreography. Andres is an experimental concert choreographer who creates dance works for proscenium theaters, art galleries, intimate black box spaces and film/screen dance. One of her current projects is a site-specific ballet based on the characters and their stories in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. It is performed in the rooms of various Victorian houses at Heritage Square Museum with dancers of varying ages in a partnership with the Pasadena Civic Ballet. The piece is performed in four different seasons of the year, each season being a setting for these story excerpts. Andres's dynamic and abstract choreography is aimed at those who appreciate concert dance with experimental elements. As a resident choreographer with the Pasadena Civic Ballet, she also teaches ballet, improvisation, choreography and lyrical dance.
Andres creates works exploring movement patterns with ballet elements and modern dance techniques. Coming from a background in studio art, she experiments with patterns developed from improvisation, bringing these multimedia projects to life for the stage. These elements are adapted for her work in schools with all grade levels. Students are be introduced to the basic ballet positions, movements and patterns and explore multiple ways to create using dance and movement vocabulary. Students are encouraged to find multiple ways to create their own movement patterns and combine them in various ways. Ballet history is also presented in a way that makes history come to life and connect art to historical events, literature and ideas. For example, in her Little Women ballet, four young sisters live in a world of war, poverty, love and loss. Through their challenges, they learn resilience, the value of family, and see how how people develop different perspectives and strategies to deal with challenges in life.