Deniz Emir

Deniz Emir is an internationally trained Principal Choreographer and Embodied Pedagogy Specialist at the Performing Arts Laboratory (PAL), where she integrates dance, movement-based learning, IB pedagogy, and Central Eurasian languages and cultures. Based between Bloomington, Indiana (USA) and Bursa & Bodrum, Türkiye, her work bridges arts, international education, and cultural sustainability.

She is a PhD researcher in Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University in International Comparative Education and Ballet, admitted with full assistantship following her appointment as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant (2023) at Hamilton Lugar School of Indiana University. She holds an MA in Educational Sciences from Bilkent University, where her research focused on critical thinking in curriculum design, and a BA in Turkish Language and Literature from the prestigious Boğaziçi University. Also, as a certified IB educator, Deniz worked three years as an IBDP Literature A teacher, guiding students to admission at distinguished universities worldwide.

At PAL, in addition to her role as principal choreographer, she leads embodied pedagogy initiatives that strengthen performer well-being, cross-cultural communication, creative cognition, and long-term sustainability across opera, orchestra, and ballet ecosystems.