Dancers Making Moves

Our last festival presenter is Emily Small!

You can catch her work on Sunday, June 15th! Ticket link in bio.

Emily Small holds a BFA in Dance and BS in Public Health from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2019). Emily spent four years performing as a company dancer with Resilience Dance Company and Ballet 314, both of St. Louis, MO. She has also performed with St. Louis Dance Theatre, Newport Contemporary Ballet, and Emily Duggins Dance Project. She’s had the pleasure of performing choreography by Shannon Gillen and Jason Cianciulli of VIM VIGOR, Rosanna Tavarez, David Dorfman, Maria Blanco & Yariana Baralt Torres, Mike Esperanza, Annie Rigney, Kia Smith, Rosanna Tavarez, Miki Ohlsen, Danielle Genest, Victoria Lynn Awkward, Cassie Wang, Emily Duggins Ehling, Emilia Sandoval, Thomas Vacanti, Barbie Diewald, Jen Pollins, Will Brighton, Goeff Alexander, Paul Dennis, Betsi Graves, Emily Duggins Ehling, Jackie Nowicki, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Staycee Pearl, Donna Salgado, and Ted Thomas & Francis Ortiz. In the spring of 2022, Emily choreographed a duet titled “Just Now” which premiered at the Chapel Venue. In February of 2024, Emily’s piece “Role Reversal” premiered on the St. Louis Dance Theatre trainees. Most recently, she premiered a new work “I don’t mean a lover” through Resilience Dance Company in February of 2025. She is also the social media coordinator at Resilience Dance Company, a certified STOTT Pilates instructor, and dance instructor for students ages three through 73.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Absolutely over the moon after this weekend’s “Living Gallery” exhibition! Thank you to everyone who made this experience so incredible 🫶🏻

Photos by .vanderheyden.photo

Today is the day!!! Thank you to every business, organization, and individual who got us here. Very limited tickets remain! Link in our bio 📲

ONE WEEK AWAY❗️ Get your tickets now for ✨Living Gallery✨ Advanced purchase strongly recommended!

Sunday, May 25, 2025
At from 2:00-4:00pm
Doors open at 1:30pm

Want to learn more about the artists before the performance? Check out the Dancers Making Moves Podcast! Plus, we’ll be adding more details to our website throughout the week 👀

www.dancersmakingmoves.com

Last podcast interview of Season 1 is now available! 🎙️ Hear more about Kyla’s passion for dance and the arts in St. Louis ⚜️

“Controlling the controllables. Let’s slow down and work on the things we can control.” -

LIVING GALLERY ✨
Sunday, May 25, 2025
2:00-4:00pm


Photos by .vanderheyden.photo

The final podcast interview of Season 1 drops tomorrow 5/16 at 9am 🎙️

Kyla Kikkawa ✨ Kyla Kikkawa (she/her) is a movement artist originally from Altadena, CA. A graduate from the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department at Washington University, Kyla is an interdisciplinary and lifelong learner. She lives for the healing power of movement, but her passions have also led her to play live music in hospitals in Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Managua, Nicaragua. Kyla is an educator of neurodiverse and neurotypical youth, adults, and older adults and cares deeply about intergenerational and intercultural healing and exchange.

Kyla is a fusion dancer who lives between the concert and street dance worlds. She directed her college team WUHHU to a first place win at Prelude New England in 2023, and she battles in the KRUMP and all-styles dance scenes in St. Louis where she’s often one of if not the only female on the floor. In STL, she goes by Princezz X/O and is so grateful to find depth and community in both improvisational and choreographic works and worlds.

She strives to be an active uplifter of the city and a player in the explosion of a more interconnected and truly passionate St. Louis dance and arts community. Kyla is a proud member of the St. Louis KRUMP community, Arch Maddnezz, Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective, and Kode Redd Dance Company. Kyla enjoys pouring directly into or empowering those around her to be uniquely themselves, and to move in the way that they prefer while doing it. She also recently graduated from RAC’s Community Arts Training, and she looks forward to further incorporating somatic education into her work as a community builder. In due time, Kyla hopes to build bridges between art, science, and community, particularly regarding the accessibility and definitions of distinct forms of knowledge of the body, mind, and soul.

Photos by .vanderheyden.photo