Emily Cargill & Dancers (ECD) is a professional, contemporary dance company based in Richmond, VA. Our mission is to cultivate and ignite a collaborative environment both in the rehearsal process and in our community, working with and being inspired by artists of all disciplines. We also are dedicated to heightening the caliber of concert dance in the city of Richmond and beyond. Each season, ECD engages in several local performance opportunities, including producing the annual event The Women Arts Exchange, sustains a regional and national touring calendar, and offers the only professional level contemporary dance class in the city. We value innovation, curiosity and collaboration within our dance-making process and strive to create work that is daring, authentic, humanistic and bold. Together, we are committed to pushing the boundaries of dance-making and creating a meaningful impact in the world of performing arts.
Meet our Founder: Emily Cargill
Emily Cargill is the Founder and Artistic Director of Emily Cargill & Dancers. Her work has been presented at venues and festivals all across the East Coast, including the High Museum of Art, the Mint Museum, Art on the Atlanta Beltline, Richmond’s 15th Annual Mid-Atlantic Choreographic Showcase, North Carolina Dance Festival, LadyfestCLT, Skwhirlhaus Theatre, Richmond’s Dogtown Dance Theatre’s Touring Artist Series, Emory University’s Performing Arts Studio, Dance Canvas’ Emerging Choreographer Initiative, New Grounds Dance Festival, New Seeds Festival, OneSpark Festival, Modern Atlanta Dance Festival, Richmond Dance Festival, Detroit Dance City Festival, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, NYC10 Dance Festival, Versatility Dance Festival, Charlotte Dance Festival, Moving the Margins/The Jessie, WhiteWave Dance Festival and the Women Arts Exchange. Emily has also been commissioned to set work by Staibdance, Jacksonville Dance Theatre, Braided Light Dance Project, Kennesaw State University, Georgia College and State University, James Madison University, Washington and Lee University, Belmont Abbey College and Winthrop University.
Emily is the Founder and the Artistic + Executive Director of the Women Arts Exchange, an annual festival celebrating and presenting female creatives in the visual and performing arts. This exciting exchange features over 40 artists each year from all across the Southeastern region, working in artistic mediums such as contemporary dance, painting, sculpture, spoken word, art installation, performance art and acting.
Emily is one of 60 Jacksonville artists who has recently been awarded the inaugural 2024-2025 Individual Artist Grant from the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. This historic new grant program aims to serve local individual working artists in Duval County. This grant is city-funded through the Cultural Council, is a first of its kind in Jacksonville, and comes with the full support of Jacksonville’s mayor, Donna Deegan, a true advocate for the arts.
Emily is also a 2023 recipient of the Community Foundation of Jacksonville’s Art Ventures Individual Artist Grant. This grant assisted in the creation process of bone memory, which premiered at the 2nd Annual Women Arts Exchange in April 2024.
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Emily was a founding member of the Atlanta-based modern dance company, Staibdance, as well as dancing in works by Gregory Catellier, Corian Ellisor, Kathleen Wessel, David Dorfman, Jacksonville Dance Theatre and Braided Light Dance Project. Emily has her MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Florida State University and her BA in Dance from James Madison University.
In 2011, Emily traveled to Sorrento, Italy as a company member and teaching artist with Staibdance, both performing and teaching abroad during the two-week summer dance intensive. In 2013, Emily was a choreographer-in-residence at the Florida Dance Festival in Tampa, FL. In 2015, Emily was featured as a Small Plates Artist, a teaching residency sponsored by the Atlanta Ballet and Zoetic Dance Ensemble. In 2019, Emily was commissioned to create a new dance installation at the Mint Museum-Uptown Charlotte, as their featured artist for the city-wide Connect with Culture Day.
Emily has taught modern, ballet and jazz technique, improvisation, dance history, and choreography courses at Winthrop University, Spelman College, Kennesaw State University and Georgia College and State University. Emily has also been on faculty at the Atlanta Ballet, Georgia Ballet, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, and the Performing Arts Center of Tallahassee.
Emily is currently an adjunct professor of dance at Jacksonville University, teaching all levels of contemporary technique within the dance department.
She loves being surrounded by her two adorable and energetic daughters, her dance-enthusiast husband, her family & awesome friends, nature, the ocean, delicious desserts and art-makers of all disciplines.
“Emily Cargill & Dancers is continually and constantly evolving, discovering, playing, seeking, work-shopping & digging deep to offer immersive, exploratory and engaging experiences for our dancers and audience members alike.”
Now in it’s 14th season, the RICHMOND-based, women-led company is thrilled once again to create innovative, new dance works, offer professional-level contemporary class open to the Richmond community, sustain a touring season, and produce several Richmond-based performances, including the 5th Annual Women Arts Exchange.
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In the last 10 years, ECD has presented work all over the nation, in cities such as Atlanta, NYC, Detroit, Richmond, Boston, Tampa, Charlotte, Boulder, and Jax. ECD has been presented at Richmond’s Dogtown Dance Theatre, Art on the Atlanta Beltline, High Museum of Art, Mint Museum of Art, Skwirlhaus Theatre, Emory University's Performing Arts Studio, Dance Canvas’ Emerging Choreographer Initiative, New Grounds Dance Festival, New Seeds Festival, OneSpark Festival, Modern Atlanta Dance Festival, Richmond Choreographic Initiative, Detroit Dance City Festival, North Carolina Dance Festival (2018 & 2020), Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Ladyfest CLT, Versatility Dance Festival, Charlotte Dance Festival, White Wave’s Solo/Duo Festival and the NYC10 Dance Festival.
Emily Cargill and Dancers produced the first annual Women Arts Exchange in March 2023, which boasted an incredible roster of some of the most innovative and unique female creatives in the visual and performing arts genres. This curated evening was a celebration of women in the arts and honored the local and regional artists that make the Jacksonville and NE Florida arts landscape so vibrant.
Emily Cargill & Dancers is continually and constantly evolving, discovering, playing, seeking, work-shopping & digging deep to offer immersive, exploratory and engaging experiences for our dancers and audience members alike. The company explores situations, memories and personal circumstances of the human experience, which are reflected and rooted in the movements and dancer relationships of each work. By doing so, our intention is to connect with our audiences in an intimate, human and personal way.
Read About ECD in the Press
“I learned to experiment, to not play it safe, to try out ideas without any fear of failure.”