The Hartt School is excited to welcome two new dance faculty members. The new faculty include: Ambre Emory-Maier, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance and Interim Division Director of Dance, and Catherine Meredith, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance.
Ambre Emory-Maier succeeds former Director of Dance (and now Professor Emeritus) Stephen Pier, who retired in June after 17 years of leadership at Hartt. Another long-time member of the dance faculty Katie Stevinson-Nollet (now Professor Emeritus as well) also recently retired. Both Ambre Emory-Maier and Catherine Meredith will join four other new faculty members to Hartt (in the music and theatre divisions) this Fall.
About Ambre Emory-Maier:
Ambre Emory-Maier is a respected professional in the dance field, recognized for her broad expertise and leadership. She has served as Assistant Professor of Dance at Kent State University and Assistant Chair of the Dance Division and faculty at the Hartt School/School of the Hartford Ballet. Ms. Emory-Maier earned an MFA in Choreography and Performance from The Ohio State University and an MA in Dance Reconstruction and Directing from CUNY. She uses Labanotation to re-stage historic works and explores topics related to sociability, protest, memory, and human relationships. She serves as a consultant for The George Balanchine Foundation.
Emory-Maier also brings expertise in yoga, meditation, eating disorders, and mental wellness, integrating these practices into her artistic projects and teaching. She is the régisseur for Michael Uthoff’s choreography and has contributed to leadership and innovation in dance education and community engagement as Former Director of Education for North Carolina Dance Theatre (Charlotte Ballet) and BalletMet.
Emory-Maier co-founded BalletMet 2 and served as Associate Director for six years, helping to train future dancers and professionals. Her work has been presented at both national and international conferences, including the Early Oxford Dance Symposium, NDEO, 19th Century Women's Critical Health at the Sorbonne, ICKL, and Dance Studies Association, and she has contributed to www.digitens.org.
Her recently co-authored book chapter with Professor Valarie Williams in Dance and Sociability in the Long Eighteenth Century was published in February 2026. Ms. Emory-Maier is also a Fulbright Specialist, reflecting her commitment to the global advancement of dance and community.
About Catherine Meredith:
Catherine Meredith’s extensive career as a performing artist, choreographer, writer, and dance educator has garnered her critical acclaim both nationally and internationally. Her work has been commissioned by New Dance Partners Project (Kansas City), The Ashley Bouder Project, The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Santa Monica College, Kent State University, Mercyhurst University, Ohio Northern University, Verb Ballets, Dancing Wheels Company and Störling Dance Theatre and presented at Lincoln Center (NYC), The Kennedy Center, AVAYAVA Festival (India), SOLOCOREOGRAFICO (Frankfurt), Festival Internacional De Danza Contemporánea De La Ciudad De México, Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, León, Mexico, American Dance Guild (NYC), Women in Dance Leadership Conference (Philadelphia), White Wave DUMBO Dance Festival, TED Talks, Dance St. Louis, HATCH Series at Jennifer Muller/The Works, Playhouse Square, Cain Park, Cleveland Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pavilion-Nautica, and at The American Dance Festival. Her collective, Catherine Meredith & Artists, features a revolving door of invited guests from all over and in different stages of their careers. Past performers have hailed from companies such as Paul Taylor Dance Company, Lucinda Childs Dance Company, Dancing Wheels Company, and American Ballet Theater. Since its inception in 2010, the group has toured throughout the U.S. and beyond. Additionally, she was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in Choreography for FY 2022 and was the recipient of the See Chicago Dance Critical Dance Writing Fellowship.
As a performer, Ms. Meredith has worked in television, film, musical theater and on the concert dance stage touring nationally/internationally with such companies as Cortez & Co. Contemporary/Ballet, Verb Ballets, Karen Reedy Dance Company and most recently with The Glue Factory (Corningworks). She has performed in works by Alvin Ailey, Talley Beatty, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, David Rousseve, David Parsons, Shapiro & Smith, Beth Corning, and Hernando Cortez, with principal roles in Heinz Poll’s Bolero, Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring & Lamentation, Ulysses Dove’s Vespers, and Dianne McIntyre’s In the Groove and Over the Top. She has been on faculty at Slippery Rock University, Joffrey Ballet (NYC), Brooklyn Music School, Pineapple Studios (UK) and Cuyahoga Community College.
She began her BFA in dance at S.U.N.Y. Purchase and received her Master of Fine Arts from Hollins University. For over ten years, Ms. Meredith was the Rehearsal Director and Resident Choreographer for the Dancing Wheels Company, the nation’s first professional physically integrated dance company. She successfully translated the Horton technique for wheelchair users and helped develop their teacher certification program. Most recently, she was an Associate Professor of Dance at Kent State University for the past seven years where she continues to pursue her doctorate in educational leadership/cultural foundations.