KENYON HALL PRESENTS
For You, For Me, For Us
A production by Emi Aiken
Seated
General Admission: $10
Senior/Student Admission: $5
Sunday, August 30 2026 (All Ages encouraged)***
Doors: 12:30pm
Show: 1:00pm
***For You, For Me, For Us - Kid's Program showcases an abbreviated version of Emi’s work, emphasizing the more whimsical and creative aspects of the piece and excluding the more mature themes, for an age 10 and under appropriate version of the storyline.
While we do ask that grownups be active in the process of their child’s viewership, this showing will specifically cater to potential needs to be in and out of the space, sit in chairs/stand/or be on the floor, and will not have expectation for silence, etc.
Before the show, Emi will introduce themselves and lead a brief talk about “audience-ing” to clarify boundaries in the space as we practice the balance of being responsible observers and tending to self. The audience will then be led through Anne Green Gilbert’s, “Brain Dance” to prepare the body and mind before settling to observe the work.
At the end of the program, the audience will be invited to watch a dance-for-camera piece created in the All-ages Community Arts Workshop the day prior, and performed by the workshop attendees!
For You, For Me, For Us explores themes of identity in relation to the construction and experiences of personhood through the multiple lenses of self, interpersonal and community viewpoints. The narrator of the work, named “The Witness”, travels through an abstracted plot of mundane and fantasy, attempting to remain a bystander to the perceptions and events occurring in the life of its assigned muse. Fated to observe, hold, and perform decision making, “The Witness” crosses paths with energies “You”, “Me”, and “Us”, attempting to remain its own representative vessel of collective wisdom without being reduced to a character in the life of the muse it watches.
About the Artist:
Emily (Emi) Aiken holds a BFA in Dance and a MFA in Choreography from UNCGreensboro studying dance, writing, pedagogy, and performance art. Emi additionally holds a Certificate in Counseling from NC State University, a Certificate in Integrative Health Coaching from Duke University, a Certificate in Herbal Medicine from Trillium Herbal Medicine trade school, and is a final stage trainee of Kinetic Awareness- a mindful movement technique developed by Elaine Summers of Judson Dance Theater. Emi has performed nationally and internationally for COMPANY by Justin Tornow (Durham, NC), Valerie Green Dance Entropy (Queens, New York), Thea Little Productions (Brooklyn, New York), and was an original collective member of Collapss: Collective of Happy Sounds (Greensboro, NC). Emi has also been a member of the Royal House of LaBeija, the first national and international Vogue house, since 2016.
Emi has taught and performed Creative Dance, Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Contemporary, Acrobatics, Somatics, and Vocal Performance for over 19 years in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Bolivia, and Seattle. Emi is a lifelong student of Luigi and Francis of Luigi’s Jazz Centre NYC, and is heavily influenced by the specificity, calmness, and emotion of Luigi’s engaging style. Much like Luigi, Emi believes that every person is creative and capable at their core, having the ability to understand their bodies in space, how to exist peacefully with others, and how to implement practice toward personal and collective goals.
Emi has been teaching and performing in the Seattle area since 2024, previously living in New York for 8 years, and originally from the mountains of North Carolina. In Seattle, Emi is a freelance performer and teaches children- instructing Improvisation, Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Acrobatics, and American Ballroom Dance. Emi practices liberatory and hierarchically aware methodologies- seeing teaching, performing, and creating as a responsibility toward heartfelt awareness and equitable presentation. Emi treats themself, also, to this heartfelt awareness when creating and improvising- seeing every score, ritual, or performance as a way to explore, express, and continue learning with loving presence.