Emily Cross

Emily Cross (2010) moved to Los Angeles in 2011. Two weeks after moving to LA she was involved in a traumatic accident when she was hit head on by a drunk driver while riding her bike home. She suffered multiple fractures, broken bones, and spent the better part of the year in a wheelchair. However, even in the hospital Emily was determined to express what had happened to her the only way she knew how, creatively. Since then, Emily has used her experience as a platform to educate and inspire others. She is a dancer and choreographer for the non-profit dance company LA Unbound, and in November 2015 presented a workshop version of "Life is a Bicycle", a contemporary dance piece based on this life-changing event. She is so grateful her piece has resonated with others and was recently chosen as the guest artist for the Riverside City College Summer Intensive, where she will teach and expand this movement piece for selected students of the dance department. She is expanding this piece with the hope to transform it into an immersive, multimedia, full length evening performance. She thanks her mentor and former professor Barbara Damashek for her viewpoints training and encouraging her to "spin gold from tragedy."