Emily Jane Gumal

Biography

Ms Emily Gumal is a Malaysian professional dancer, choreographer and teacher. She has trained and danced professionally in Malaysia, Singapore, Scotland and the United States, having been in the corps de ballet of The Tallahassee Ballet and a trainee at Virginia National Ballet, and was invited to be a company artist with Lexington Ballet for the 2025-26 season. She has performed professionally in various renditions of The Nutcracker, Snow White, Swan Lake, Giselle and excerpts of Divertimento No. 15, restaged by Ms Suzanne Farrell. She has worked with professional choreographers Ms Suzanne Farrell, Mr Rafik Hegab, Ms Kathryn Cashin, Mr Tyrone Brooks and more.

Back in Malaysia, Ms Emily Gumal taught the RAD Pre-Primary through Grade 5 syllabus at the Ballet Dance House Kuching, where she first learned to dance. In the United States, she taught Levels 2 through 5 (the highest level), Pre-Pointe, Pointe, Variations and Adult Ballet at the University of Iowa Youth Ballet for four years, taught Beginner Ballet I to non-major university-level students at Florida State University and trained in Classical Ballet partnering for pas de deux. She also guest-taught lyrical, contemporary and ballet to pop music to university-level dance majors at Florida State University, and to students at The Dance Academy Kuching, the dance school that gave her her first opportunity to dance and train in the United States. She has had students go on to become dancers at pre-professional dance schools in the United States and professional dance teachers, educating newer generations of dancers.

Her professional education includes her Masters in Studio and Studio-Related Studies (Dance) from Florida State University, and her B.F.A. in Dance with Honors, and her B.A. in English and Creative Writing with a Publishing Track from the University of Iowa. She is a published writer and editor in addition to being a professional dancer and has worked at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography for two and a half years as a technician specialist, working as a copywriter, copy editor, social media editor, intern organizer, video captioner and website coder.

Since coming to Dancepointe Academy, Ms Emily Gumal has choreographed for and performed in The Nutcracker 2026 and choreographed for Breath 2027. In addition to preparing her ballet and contemporary students for their RAD Ballet and Rambert Contemporary exams, she has personally competed in Canaan Dance Competition 2026, where she won 2nd place for both Ballet and Contemporary, and also qualified for dance scholarships to Hong Kong Asia Dance Academy and Miami International Ballet Competition Open Asia Malaysia 2027. She hopes to help educate her students about the universal world of dance, sharing her knowledge and experiences to help broaden their dance experiences.

Some of her personal dance achievements include attaining:

• Canaan Dance Competition 2026 SA1 2nd Place in Ballet Gold Division

• Canaan Dance Competition 2026 SB1 2nd Place in Contemporary Gold Division

• 25% Scholarship to Hong Kong Asia Dance Academy

• 100% Competition Scholarship to Miami International Ballet Competition Open Asia Malaysia 2027

• RAD Advanced 1 Ballet with Merit

• CSTD Advance Ballet with Highly Commended

• CSTD Grade 8 Modern Jazz with Honors Plus