Emma Murray is a dancer/choreographer living in Bern, Switzerland. She danced as a soloist with the Royal New Zealand Ballet from the age of 19 before moving to Europe in 1997. She then danced with the Konzert Theater Bern for 8 years, leaving in 2008 to establish herself as a Swiss based choreographer and performer. As well as performing and producing her own work she continues to teach, act and assist in choreographic and theater projects throughout Switzerland.
She was appointed Associated Artist at the Dampfzentrale Bern from 2013-2015 where her work is regularly co-produced. Since 2013, and in recognition of her emerging presence in both national and international settings, she has been the recipient of support from the City of Bern and ProHelvetia Switzerland, to aid in the distribution and artistic development of her work.
Murray’s interest in creative practices led to the launch of WORKING SESSIONS in 2014, an exchange based research platform which facilitates the collaboration and curation of artists, working across disciplines in performance, choreography, writing and music. It has seen her work alongside diverse artists such as Wendy Houstoun, Simone Aughterlongy, Martin Schick, Jacob Wren, Nicole Seiler, Marie-Caroline Hominal, Jessica Huber, Julian Satorius, Marysia Stoklosa and Simon Lenski.
As a result, Murray sees artistic process as a practice that archives at the same time as doing, and can be seen, not separate to, but interwoven into performance itself. Her performance work includes; My Body is an Island (2008), You Should Have Seen Me (2009), naturalcauses (2010), MADE TO ORDER (2011), This is the Beginning (2012), the way you look tonight (2014). The works endeavors to find physical translations that embody and expose the more absurd contradictions of being human.