teaching.

Brinson Leigh Kresge is an intentional and dedicated instructor, who teaches: Creative Writing, Movement Arts (yoga, contact improvisation, and authentic movement), Introspective Practices (meditation, visualization, and breathwork), and Somatic Artfulness (art as informed through embodied awareness, such as writing from the body, performance art, or mobile making). She integrates experience and training, pedagogically grounded methods, compassion, and curiosity into all she does, bringing these elements into the classroom, studio, private sessions, workshops, and retreats.

Regardless of modality, Kresge encourages the conscious cultivation of self-reliance, self-discipline, and practices of self-reflection. She endeavors to inspire students to wonder and tap into their unique creative spirit, which manifests as balance, energy, and participation as engaged citizens.

teaching writing.

Kresge has taught creative writing for three years at the university level and as a writing coach, working one-on-one with individuals eager to elevate their craft and manifest their creative vision. She strives to draw people back to their bodies, to notice themselves and the world around them as a foundation for informing whatever genre they are writing within.

She is a publishing writer and freelance editor who previously worked as a co-fiction editor at Ecotone and taught English in Osaka, Japan, for three years. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English from Virginia Commonwealth University.

University Courses: Introduction to Creative Writing (CRW201), Evolution of Creative Writing (CRW203), Explorations in the Creative Process (FNA102), Fiction I (CRW207)

For more information about upcoming classes, workshops, and retreats visit: events & offerings.

Education & Experience

Revise and Submit Group, Wilmington, NC – 2024 - current
Purple Pen Workshop, Wilmington, NC – 2025 - current
MFA in Creative Writing, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC – 2022 - 2025
Ecotone Literary Magazine, co-fiction editor (2023 - 2025); reader and fact-checker (2022 - 2023)
Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference (3 days), Los Angeles, CA – Mar. 2025
UNCW’s Writers Week (5 days), Wilmington, NC – 2022, 2023, & 2024
AWP Conference (3 days), Kansas City, Kansas – February 2023
North Carolina Writers’ Network (NCWN) Conference (3 days), Wilmington, NC – Fall 2022
Post-undergrad Writing Classes at VCU, CNF Form & Theory with Jessica Nelson (F 2021);
Graduate Poetry and Advanced Poetry Workshops with Greg Donovan (S 2018 & F 2006)
Other Classes, Fiction/CNF Workshop and Exploring Fiction with Elizabeth Ferris (F 2021 & S
2021); Short Story Fiction Writing with James Fueglein (S 2021)
English Teacher at ECC Foreign Language Institute and Aim Corporation, Osaka, Japan – 2008 - 2011
BA, English, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA – 2000 - 2006

teaching movement arts & introspective practices.

Kresge’s practice and teaching experience in the movement arts are grounded in being an interdisciplinary artist/dancer/choreographer, and her past roles as a senior Mysore Ashtanga instructor at Ashtanga Yoga Richmond, a Mindfulness Instructor at Richmond’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and a Thai Bodywork and Ayurvedic Massage practitioner. In addition to teaching in studios, Kresge taught yoga, self-care, movement exploration, and introspective practices as an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. She offers private sessions as a Wellness Consultant and uses her training as a death doula to bring death into a more holistic conversation about living.

Kresge began dance training at four and, as an adult, has maintained a twenty-four-year yoga/movement practice. She's taught for the past eighteen years, including thirteen years at the university level. Kresge has participated in six, five and ten-day silent meditation retreats and has gone on six multiple-month trips to India to immerse herself in Ayurvedic and yogic study. She has organized and led retreats in Samara, Costa Rica, and Taos, NM, and has taught classes, workshops, and teacher trainings in Boston, MA; Floyd, VA; Richmond, VA; Wilmington, NC; and Osaka, Japan.

Kresge currently resides in Wilmington, NC—writing, teaching, surfing, contact improving, and making art. She continues to study directly under her meditation teacher, Pat Buxton.

For more information about upcoming classes, workshops, and retreats, visit: events & offerings.

Leigh%20yoga%20shot-%20train%20padmasana.jpg

Training and Certification:

Professional Dancer & Choreographer, 2006 - 2025

Alban Elved Dance Co., Karola Lüttringhaus, Wilmington, NC - 2024 - 2025
Independent/Collaborations/Movement Research, Richmond, VA – 2013 -2020
Independent/Collaborative Projects, Osaka, Japan, 2008 - 2011
Amaranth Company, Scott Putman, Richmond, VA, 2006 - 2008
Lost WaxDance Productions, Jamie Jewett, Boston, MA, 2007 – 2008

Dance, Contact Improvisation, & Authentic Movement, 2004 – 2025

Contact Jams & Authentic Movement with Alban Elved Dance Company, Wilmington, NC – 2024 - current
Contact Jams through the Living Arts Collective, Durham, NC – 2023 - current
East Coast Contact Improv Jam (5 days), WV – May 2025
CI Fundamentals at Dreaming Stone (4 days) with Toni Craige & CJ O’Reilly, NC – September 2024
Kyoto Dance Festival (6 days), Kyoto, Japan – March 2009
Real Contact Workshop: Element of BUDO for Dance with Kazuko Hino, Osaka, Japan – April 2009
Modern Classes at Osaka Dance Studio, Osaka, Japan – 2008 - 2009
East Coast Contact Improv Jam (3 days), WV – October 2013
Janice Garrett Dance Intensive (5 days), San Francisco, CA – July 2006
BA in Dance & Choreography, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA – 2000 - 2006
East Coast Contact Improv Jam (5 days), WV – October 2005
Various Contact Jams, Richmond, VA – 2005-2007 & 2012-2014
Contact Improv Intensive (2 weeks) with Cheryl Pallant – Summer 2004
Richmond Ballet, Richmond, VA – 1983 - 1998
Boston Ballet Summer Intensive (3 weeks), Boston, MA – Summer 1993
Suzanne Farrell Intensive (1 week), Washington, DC– Summer 1992 & 1994

Yoga & Introspective Practices

Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) - 2019
Ashtanga, Pranayama, Yoga Philosophy, Mantra Training, India - 2009 - 2018
- Authorized to teach Ashtanga Yoga by Rolf Naujokat, 2013
- Rolf and Marci Naujokat, Goa, India - 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2018
- Sharath Jois, Mysore, India, 2010 and 2016
- Lino Miele, Kerala, India, 2009
Various Yoga Workshops and Intensives in the US and Japan – 2007 - 2019
Yoga Teacher Training, Boston, MA - 2006 - 2007
200-hour YTT Certification through O2 Yoga, under Mimi Loureiro

Ayurveda, Bodywork, and Other Modalities

End-of-Life Death Doula Training, Atlanta, Georgia - 2018
- Certified End-of-Life Death Doula through International End of Life Doula Association – INELDA
Advanced Yoga and Ayurveda - 2010-2014; Ayurvedic Healing Course - 2014 - 2015
- Certified Ayurveda Wellness Counselor through the American Institute of Vedic Studies under David Frawley
Thai Yoga Bodywork Training - 2014 & 2010
- Level 1 Certified 2010; Level 2 Certified 2014; Herbal Compress 2015. Certified through Woven Body Healing Arts under Damion Bond
Ayurveda Training, Goa, India - 2013 with Dr. Alakananda Puri (Gangotri)
Ayurvedic Massage, Goa, India - 2011
- Certified Ayurvedic Masseuse Seed Massage School, under Sw. Anand Subuddha (Alan Butler) and Ma Antar Sangeeta (Merav Ben Abraham)

teaching.

teaching writing.

Education & Experience

teaching movement arts & introspective practices.​

Training and Certification:

teaching movement arts & introspective practices.