Emily Yewell Volin
 Empowering people through dance.

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Link to EYV's LinkedIn profile

Emily Yewell Volin earned her MFA in Theatre Arts with a dance emphasis from the University of Arizona and her BS in Education from Loyola University Chicago.  Her extensive teaching credits include the Agnes Scott College Dance Studies Program, Emory University Dance Program (visiting instructor/fall 2010), the renowned USA International Ballet Competition Dance School in Jackson, Miss. (faculty member/June 2010), University of Nevada Las Vegas (Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Dance), and the Chicago-based groups the Lou Conte Dance Studio (home of Hubbard Street Dance Company) and the Giordano Dance Center (faculty member). She has also worked in adjunct positions at Brenau University, The University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, and the Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts at Pebblebrook High, and the Georgia Dance Conservatory.

Emily is a roster Teaching Artist with Young Audiences Woodruff Arts Center.  Additionally her commissioned K-6 dance assembly program entitled The Everyday Life of Dance was created in collaboration with Young Audiences Woodruff Arts Center with grant funding from MetLife and was added to the YAWAC roster in 2010.  In 2011 Emily participated in the Kennedy Center's Artists as Educator's Seminar, Laying a Foundation:  Defining Arts Integration and the eight-hour Artists as Educators Seminar, Anatomy of a Lesson:  Planning Instruction developed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Yewell Volin has performed throughout the United States, including stints with Gus Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago and River North Dance Chicago. She went on to become a company member of Sam Watson’s, Wats on Dance!, The University of Arizona Dance Ensemble, and Jazz Dance Theatre South. Yewell Volin’s choreography has been selected to compete in the Jazz Dance World Congress Leo’s Competitive Event on three occasions and has been featured at Brenau University, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the Gainesville Ballet, the Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre, and Kennesaw State University as well as in other venues, including national trade and industrial shows.

Yewell Volin is a currently a contributing journalist for the internationally distributed Dance Informa publication and has served as a Board Member for The D.A.I.R. Project, Refuge Dance, and the Jazz Dance World Congress.


Teaching Style & Philosophy
Emily strives to produce technically proficient and marketable purveyors of the art. Her studio classes and choreographic works utilize a creative philosophy based on the belief that all movement, regardless of technical origin, is linked. She has a compassionately rigorous yet energetic and fun teaching presence and demands a high rate of effort and progress from her students. Yewell Volin’s teaching philosophy is based on the understanding that great growth requires diligent planning and consistent dialogue between student and instructor. She is highly skilled at motivating students to set demanding but achievable goals. Students are capable of achieving these goals due to the challenging curriculum, high quality instruction, and attentive guidance. Students thrive in the environment Emily creates and take tremendous pride in their earned accomplishments.  

Yewell Volin’s lecture and theory courses are also marked by high standards of both personal and student achievement.  Students enjoy the straightforward and encouraging approach Emily employs in the classroom.  Theory courses benefit from her diverse experiences in and passions for dance. She delivers dynamic lectures supported by informed power point presentations and relevant footage to support her knowledge of and natural enthusiasm for the subject. Emily enjoys modifying course content to address contemporary world issues within an historical context. It is imperative that dancers become enlightened with these necessary tools to interpret and contribute to the form.