POGO Dance Projects was established by Emily Kessler as a container for her endeavors in choreography and collaboration. She utilizes a background in art history as a line of inquiry into the shaping of spatial architecture with movement. Additionally, she is interested in exploring how dance without a direct narrative structure can act as a vehicle for shared experience through performers and audience members alike. In tandem with creatives of other mediums, Kessler works intensely to build perceived worlds that invite curiosity and compassion from viewers. In her work human folly and linear clarity are juxtaposed and explored through shared movement, seeking to carve out connection and community in dance space. Dancers quest to relate with each other and their surroundings, bringing clarity to themes of isolation, division, and emotional strength through abstracted means. 

Emily has completed residencies at Chapman Steamer Arts (2021), Sky Hill Farm Studio (2021), Utica Dance (2021), Mount Tremper Arts (2021), Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center (2020), Peaceable Barn (2019, 2018), and the Neuberger Museum of Art (2017). Her choreographic work has been performed in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and internationally in Singapore and Vietnam. She holds a BFA in Performance and Composition from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, and a Minor in Art History.

Additionally, her choreographic work has been presented in venues such as Triskelion Arts (NY), The Performance Garage (PA), Queens Theatre (NY), Chapman Steamer Arts (NY), Dixon Place (NY), The Mes Hall (NY), Austin Ventures Studio Theater (TX), The Trust Performing Arts Center (PA), Manhattan Movement and Arts Center (NY), Access Theater Soho (NY), Westbeth Center for the Arts (NY), The Vista (Vietnam), and Lee Foundation Theater (Singapore), among others.