BIO
Ariel Scott is a dancer, choreographer, and certified Countertechnique teacher with a deep belief in dance as a tool for connection and community. She holds a BFA in Dance Choreography from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and an AA in Dance from Santa Monica College (SMC). Ariel’s choreography has been presented across LA, including by SMC, Stomping Ground LA’s “VOICES,” and The Electric Lodge’s “High Voltage.” Her screendance work “All a Blur” has been presented in multiple festivals, including ScreenDance RoadShow and Black Lives Rising Virtual Dance Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Experimental Film. As a dancer, Ariel performs with Kybele Dance Theater, a contemporary dance company under Artistic Director/Choreographer Seda Aybay. As a certified Countertechnique teacher, Ariel holds frequent open classes, and has guest taught for institutions including California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), UCI, MashUp Contemporary Dance Company, and Choreographer Collection LA (ChoCoLA).
Photo by Kim Doeleman
ARTIST STATEMENT
Dance has the power to transport the psyche, delight the mind, and tickle the senses. Dance can also embody and express the depth of human emotion and lived experiences and to mirror, escape, comment on, or challenge the cultural landscape in which it is created. My goal is to create work that explores the complexity of human experience and honors the importance of physicality in processing and (re)constructing the world around us.
Within my choreography, I am particularly interested in the ebb and flow between power and gracefulness, a lively interplay between sudden and sustained movement, a nonchalant or pedestrian approach to phrase work, and the embodiment of sonic elements. While strongly grounded in contemporary dance vocabulary and sensibilities, my choreography is shaped by a multitude of movement disciplines, including my background in Wushu (Chinese martial arts), and experience in the dance techniques contemporary/modern, ballet, jazz, Bollywood, Sundanese, Javanese, Hula, Tahitian, and West African. By pulling from a wide base of physical knowledge and individual experience, my work aims to explore and present experiences that are deeply personal yet widely shared.
