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Emma Portner is a Canadian professional dancer and choreographer. She is known for being the former wife of the Hollywood and Canadian actor Elliot Page.
Wiki/Biography
Emma Dior Portner was born on Saturday, November 26, 1994 (age 26 years; as of 2020), in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her zodiac sign is Sagittarius. At the age of three, she began dancing at a competitive studio in Ottawa. She also spent her two summers with The National Ballet of Canada in Toronto. She attended Canterbury High School and studied under a specialized arts program in their dance stream. In her teens, she trained at Leeming Danceworks, where she learned her passion for moving and creating in all styles. At Leeming Danceworks, she worked with choreographers Teddy Forance, Nathan Makolandra, Matt Luck, Eryn Waltman, and David Norsworthy, to name a few. At the age of 17, she moved from Ottawa to New York City to study dance at The Ailey School. Before Ailey, she tried at The Juilliard School but was rejected. After studying for a few years at The Ailey School, she dropped out of school due to mental health issues. In 2013, she studied tap dance at Michelle Dorrance’s class in NYC’s Broadway Dance Center. In 2014, she trained with the Canadian dance company RUBBERBANDance. In 2015, she attended Springboard Danse Montreal, an arts organization in Canada. After staying four years in New York City, she moved to Los Angeles. She is a queer.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 3″
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Brown (dyed pink, brown, and blonde)
Family & Ethnicity
Not much is known about her parents. Her mother worked at a museum. In 2017, Emma and Elliot Page came into a relationship with each other; Elliot connected to Emma through Instagram. In January 2018, Elliot announced that he was married to Emma.
Emma Portner with Elliot Page
In the summer of 2020, they both separated and Elliot filed for divorce in January 2021.
Career
As a Choreographer & Dancer
Emma started her career as a dance assistant. While studying at the Leeming Artworks, she met the Los Angeles-based dancer Matt Luck with whom she choreographed and recorded ‘Dancing In the Dark’ and posted it on YouTube; she was just sixteen at that time.
The video received thousands of views and likes and also caught the attention of Parris Goebel, the New Zealand-based choreographer tasked with Justin Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ visual album. Parris reached out to Emma and asked her to collaborate on the music video of Justin Bieber’s song ‘Life is Worth Living,’ which was choreographed by Emma.
After the video was out, the creative director of Justin’s Purpose World Tour Nick DeMoura contacted Emma and asked her to choreograph a piece of the tour. In 2015, she worked with Michelle Dorrance in her company’s work ‘Myelination.’ In 2017, she created choreography for Jim Steinman’s musical ‘Bat Out of Hell.’ The show premiered in Manchester, England in 2017, and then in London, Canada, and Broadway.
She also appeared in the American singer and songwriter BANKS music videos of Till Now (2019), Gimme (2019), and Contaminated (2019). She has movement directed American music artists such as Maggie Rogers, BANKS, and Dev Hynes, and has performed in venues like The Guggenheim Museum, Jacob’s Pillow, the Oslo Opera House, and New York City Center. As of 2020, her work has been displayed on a variety of platforms such as Apple, Netflix, Vogue, Sony Pictures. She also produces short dance videos and films. Some of them are Lavender, Slack Jaw, and Sit Bones. Her full-length works include A Primitive Cinema (2016) and Femme Debout (2018).
Emma Portner in A Primitive Cinema (2016)
As a Teacher
Portner started her dance company called ‘Flock’d,’ now Emma Portner and Artists, in New York City. She has taught classes in New York, Los Angeles, and Canada. She has been a member of Dorrance Dance, a New York-based tap dance company. She teaches contemporary and jazz at Broadway Dance Center in New York. Apart from it, she had also taught at Intrigue Dance Intensive and Peridance Center in New York City.
Awards & Achievements
- Named one of 13 young choreographers who are “changing the dance world”
- Named 2012’s Young Choreographer of the Year in the American Dance Awards
- A top placement at the Capezio A.C.E. Awards in 2014
- Listed in Paper Magazine’s ‘ PAPER Predictions’ 100 People to Watch in 2019′
Controversy
In June 2019, American media proprietor Scooter Braun’s label acquired Big Machine Records, which gave Braun’s label the ownership of the American singer Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums. In November 2019, Taylor accused Braun and her former label CEO Scott Borchetta of barring her from performing her old hits. Many American artists came out in support of Taylor, while Justin Bieber defended his manager Scooter Braun and accused Taylor of using her loyal fanbase to bully Braun. Emma, who supported Taylor, said that she regretted working with Justin and accused him of degrading women. In her tweet, she wrote,
I gave your universe my naive body, creativity, time, and effort. Twice. For content that you made millions off of. While I made zilch. Natta (sic). Barely anything. Less than minimum wage for the hours I invested. I couldn’t afford to eat. I was sweeping studio floors to be able to practice my craft. I will gladly purchase and send you some books that will change the way your traumatized brain thinks. You depend on proper guidance to move forward. I BEG that you find it. A straight white pastor/manager can’t be your only major source of world view. I have so much to say but mostly … I really hope you educate yourself beyond your bible. You have IMMENSE power. Use it to STOP DEGRADING WOMEN. We should all be ‘checking on you’ and Chris Brown because you both need to be held accountable.”
Favorite Things
- Hockey Team: Los Angesles Kings
- Snack: Popchips Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
- Dancer(s): Pina Bausch, Michael Jackson
Facts/Trivia
- When she is not dancing, she goes out hiking or traveling to her favorite destination, and watch hockey. If she finds free time, she learns piano and about neuroscience.
- Growing up, she was always mute and was always finding it hard to convey her message. It was the dance that brought her out of her silence. According to her,
When I realized dance could help people hear what I had to say in a clear way, that’s when I started to love it.”
- As a child, she used to love dirt, skateboarding, road hockey, and Nintendo 64. Her grandmother used to take her opera, which exposed her to high art. According to her, her style is the intersection of dirt and high art.
- Since she was twelve, she had been recording herself dancing. According to her,
I started recording myself when I was 12. I used to spend three hours a night watching the day’s footage forward and in reverse, not out of a narcissistic impulse, but as a tool to improve her improvisational technique. I use it to break patterns. If I start to develop a go-to movement, that means I’m stale.”
- Her fluid movements are inspired by mainly choreographers like Crystal Pite and Pina Bausch, artists like Marcel Dzama, and Michael Jackson.
- When she was twelve, she watched a film of Elliot Page for the first time and one of her friends told her that she was like Elliot. Talking about Elliot, she said,
I knew we’d cross paths someday — I just wasn’t quite sure when or how.”
- In 2020, she appeared in the TV series documentary short ‘Figures.’
Emma Portner in Figures (2020)
- Emma has also collaborated with Elliot for YouTube and Instagram videos.
- She has also been featured on the cover of magazines such as Dance Spirit, Elle, and Dance Magazine.
Emma Portner on the cover of Dance Magazine
- Emma also has a self-titled YouTube channel in which she posts her dance videos and collaborations. She has more than 20K people subscribed to her channel.