Ballet Embody Academy was founded in 2021, by Emily Runkle in order to provide the greater Baltimore area with conservatory-quality ballet instruction.

Here at BEA, we teach primarily Vaganova technique in order to equip our students with a foundation of classical ballet which can than assist them into becoming mature and strong artists in their field.

BEA strives to bring out the most honest artist inside each student, by way of a structured and challenging dance education. Our environment is disciplined, out of respect for the art as well as the safety of our bodies, but is always intended to showcase the JOY of studying classical ballet.

Born in Baltimore, MD, Emily Runkle first began studying ballet at Ballet with Cindee Velle, intensively studying with Caryl Maxwell. In high school she attended The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia and received coaching by former dancers of New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Hungarian National Ballet, Ballet Nacional De Caracas, and the Bolshoi Ballet. From 2008-2009 Emily danced as a trainee with Ballet Magnificat, America’s premiere professional Christian ballet company in Mississippi. Her professional repertoire includes soloist roles with Ballet Chesapeake, Misako Ballet Company, Merge Dance Company, and New York State Ballet, and she has performed works by Balanchine, Edward Stewart, and Eva Anderson, as well as the full length classics.

Emily choreographs for both contemporary and classical companies and schools and has taught at Misako Ballet School, EMC Studios and Baltimore Ballet, as well as directed the ballet program at Project C studios for four years. In 2021, Emily founded the Ballet Embody Academy in order to cultivate a conservatory-quality training program for pre-professional ballet dancers. Her choreography has been showcased at the Maryland Dance Festival, The Maryland Dance Alliance, the Howard County Dance Festival, and most recently was invited to bring her ballet The Telltale Heart to the 2021 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival. Since 2019 she has choreographed three original evening length programs for Ballet Embody and is currently working on the 2021 world premiere of Ballet Embody’s newest interpretation of a great classic, The Maryland Nutcracker , along with an original full length story ballet set to premiere May of 2022.