Education
University of Minnesota.
University of Minnesota.
She is based in Minneapolis, where she is artistic director of her performance company, Emily Johnson/Catalyst. Johnson also works part-time at Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore owned by author Louise Erdrich. Johnson has danced for Minneapolis-based choreographers Morgan Thorson, Hijack, and BodyCartography Project, and collaborated with New York-based playwright/ director Lisa Doctorate"Amour and music ensemble So Percussion, as well as Korean visual artist Minouk Lim.
Johnson founded her own dance company, Catalyst, in 1998, after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in dance.
Since then, she has created 22 original performance pieces, as well as several collaborative projects with other artists, the most recent being SHORE, the third part of a trilogy of works that began with The Thank-you Bar (2009) and Niicugni (2012), and which will premiere in June 2014 at Northrop Dance in Minneapolis. Johnson"s dances "..often function as installations", and her choreography "..considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance." In a presentation at the University of Minnesota in 2014, she talked about her choreographic practice as dance responding to the world.
Emily Johnson / Catalyst was awarded a 2012 Outstanding Production ("new art, dance and performance") Bessie Award for The Thank-you Bar, created and performed by Johnson with collaborators James Everest and Joel Pickard. Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, 2014 Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency, 2014 McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship for Choreographers, 2013 Creative Capital Award, 2013 Joyce Foundation Fellowship, 2013 The Doris Duke Residency to Build Demand for the Arts, 2013 Map Fund, lead artist, 2013 NPN Creation Fund, 2012 Map Fund, lead artist, 2012 New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie Award) for Outstanding Production, 2012 (The Thank-you Bar) Sage Award for Outstanding Performance, 2011 (The Thank-you Bar) National Dance Project Production Grant, 2011 New England Foundation for the Arts Native Artist Exchange, 2011 Artist of the Year, City Pages, 2010 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Artist Fellowship for Dance, 2011 Map Fund, 2010, lead artist Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Community Fund, 2009 National Dance Project Touring Grant, 2009 Map Fund, 2009, lead artist Loft, Native InRoads Writing Program, 2009 McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship for Choreographers, 2009 Seventh Generation Fund Grant, 2009 NPN Creation Fund, 2008 Forecast Public Artworks, Research and Development Grant, 2008 Smithsonian Institution Expressive Arts Award, with Rhiana Yazzie, 2008 The Puffin Foundation, 2005 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship, 2004 Jerome Foundation Artist Fellowship 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Fellowship 2001.
