Biography

Dance educator, choreographer, and entrepreneur Emily Gray has a heart for the art and study of dance. She received training at The Florida Ballet, Mark Spivak’s Institute, Art of Dance, Broadway Dance Center, and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with her B.S. in Communications and Public Relations with a minor in Professional Education from the University of North Florida and her MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University.  Her thesis work is entitled The Influential Force of Light: A Choreographic Response to the Effect of Lighting on Human Movement.  Emily is also an ABT® Certified Teacher and has successfully completed the ABT® National Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 5.   She is currently working on her Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning at Vanderbilt University.

 

As an experienced artist, Emily spent many years performing professionally with JamCo and Soundstage Company and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. She has also spent time choreographing, lecturing, and teaching for the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus, the Institute of Classical and Modern Dance, Camp Musical Theatre Stars, Infinity Allstars Cheerleading, the Alachua County public schools, The Bridge of Northeast Florida, the Children's Home Society of Florida, various organizations within the University of North Florida, and within the schools of Negril, Jamaica.  Emily was also one of the founding directors for the annual musical theatre summer program Camp Spotlight, which has successfully been in existence since 2006 and caters to north Florida students ages 7-15.

 

In 2005, Emily created and developed the dance program at Jacksonville Country Day School and worked as the Dance Department Director until 2017.  Emily is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) and the International Dance Entrepreneurs Association (IDEA).  She also invented and designed the patent for the choreographic and pedagogical tool The Dance Dots, which has been presented at the North Florida Orff Chapter and is used within the public and private dance sectors throughout northeast Florida.  Most recently, Emily founded Campus Dance Academy, an auxiliary and school curriculum supporting dance and cheerleading program, and is currently the Owner and Artistic Director.  Emily also teaches as a part of the dance faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.