Creative Partnership
Drawing from dance as an embodied discipline, I help translate curiosity into creative process, allowing meaning, interaction, and transformation to emerge in ways that can’t always be reached through words alone.
My Process
-
Curiosity + Inquiry
You bring a question, an impulse, or a situation. I bring an embodied way of seeing—rooted in dance—that helps surface what’s really asking to be explored.
Through one or two initial visioning sessions, we will explore possibilities. Rather than starting with a predetermined outcome, we allow the direction of the work to emerge through shared inquiry.
-
Shaping the Container
As clarity begins to form, we identify the shape the work wants to take. This may lead toward a performance, film, participatory experience, leadership activation, site-responsive work, or something in between.
At this stage, we define scope, timeline, and budget, and I formalize the container through a clear agreement.
-
Making + Emergence
This is where the work comes into being through iterative creation, collaboration, and responsiveness. While the process is intentional and structured, the outcome remains open to discovery.
Often, what emerges carries a life of its own and insight, connection, or resonance are revealed beyond what was initially imagined.
-
While every partnership is unique, past and potential contexts include:
Creative commissions or interdisciplinary collaborations
Site-responsive or community-centered work
Performances, films, or installations
Leadership or team-based experiences
Public or private gatherings seeking embodied engagement
The form follows the inquiry.
-
This work is well-suited for:
Artists and cultural producers
Organizations activating story, space, or community
Institutions seeking embodied approaches to engagement
Teams interested in exploring new ways of thinking and working together
It may not be the right fit if you’re looking for a transactional service or a predetermined outcome.
-
While outcomes vary, partners often leave with:
A deeper sense of connection and shared meaning
New insight into people, place, or purpose
An experience rooted in the body, not just the intellect
Work that continues to resonate beyond its initial moment
project samples and inspiration!
A selection of past projects that emerged through collaborative inquiry, movement, and embodied storytelling.
We Need a Bridge
Storytelling Through Movement
My role: Creative Direction, Process Design, Film Editing
Created during the height of the pandemic, We Need a Bridge was a storytelling project developed to bring visibility and support to the Portland dance community.
While serving as Executive Director of Dance Wire, I designed and led a rapid, trust-based creative process that invited dancers to participate without rehearsal or prior coordination.
Over six weeks, the project moved from idea to execution, ultimately bringing together 80 dancers in a single, unrehearsed shoot. Collaboration with the videographer during editing was integral to shaping the narrative arc and emotional resonance of the piece.
The result was not only a successful fundraising tool, but a shared act of visibility and connection during a period of profound disruption.
Parkinson’s Expression
Embodied Storytelling & Social Impact
My role: Performance and Choreographic Direction
Parkinson’s Expression is a multidisciplinary performance exploring the evolving relationship between Parkinson’s Disease and the human body. Using dance, spoken word, music, and motion graphics, the work translates a complex medical and emotional reality into an embodied experience.
Originally created as a live performance for Shake It ’Til We Make It, a gala hosted by the Brian Grant Foundation, the piece was developed to communicate what often remains unseen: how Parkinson’s reshapes movement, identity, and daily life. Rather than illustrating the disease, the work invites audiences to feel its rhythms, disruptions, and resilience through the body.
The response to the live performance was so resonant that the project later evolved into a film, extending its reach and allowing the story to be experienced beyond the original event.
Community Building
My role: Creative Director + Film Co-Editor
As Executive Director of Dance Wire, I was always trying to find ways to gather, connect, and uplift the dance community.
This was a simple project about celebrating the diversity of dance in Portland and highlighting some of the brilliant talent creating work in our city!
Tapping into my extensive network of dance artists, I recruited 8 dancers to participate in a cypher-style
“Circles”
The following films have an important backstory which you can read on my
Substack posts “A Reimagining” and “A Reimagining: Part 2”
“I Know I am Here”
ARTIST FEATURE - STORYTELLING (inspirational/reflective)
My Role: Creative Collaborator + Director + Producer
Laura is a site-specific artist, meaning she works in a variety of locations, and the place itself is the central feature and inspiration for the art she creates there. This film highlights her philosophy as an artist and showcases the range of places she creates work, ultimately illustrating her unique artistic voice.
ARTIST FEATURE - STORYTELLING (comedic/playful)
My role: Creative Collaborator + Director
Andrea Parson is a wildly talented multidisciplinary artist and solo performer. She is especially entertaining when she turns her personal experiences into a performance. This delightful film captures Andrea’s skills as a comedian, dancer, performer, and storyteller.
“So, What Do You Do?”
“My Unprecious Practice”
ARTIST FEATURE - STORYTELLING (introspective/storytelling)
My Role: Creative Collaborator + Director + Producer
Barbara Lima is a master of presence, improvisation, and allowing the creative process to lead the way. This film features an improvised performance that reveals insight into her creative process—a captivating ride through vulnerability that ultimately arrives at possibility.
"Seasoned Professional... And so gracious. Watching Emily Running work, I experienced her enveloping passion. There is no corner of Choreography, Dance, Stage, that Emily does not OWN. From building relationships to crossing every T in the business/logistics end, to the Show itself, Emily leaves no detail to chance. Her preparation is tireless. She can do it ALL."
— Barry Yee, Striven Media