MISSION & PURPOSE
Always site-inspired and interdisciplinary
BODYART projects create new visual dialogues that invite conversation and community discourse. BODYART is a women-led organization that is dedicated to serving the global community and increasing accessibility in the arts.
BODYART believes interdisciplinary collaboration provides us the opportunity to interrogate Eurocentric dance practices that have historically excluded those with differing aesthetic and/or cultural values. Multi-platform collaboration across geography, community, and medium creates space for us to deconstruct hierarchical artmaking practices that have led to divisive narratives and limited accessibility in the arts. BODYART believes storytelling is powerful if not pervasive, and the narratives we create together can inform new perspectives that ultimately change our relationship with each other and ourselves.
It’s what we do.
BODYART creates work that is site-inspired and specific, believing that space and architecture should act as co-author. BODYART believes in presenting work in non-traditional spaces as a means to increase access and equity in the arts. Traditional venues among the European disciplinary arts have historically excluded those based on gender, sexuality, race, and socioeconomic status. In an effort to continue our practice of interdisciplinary and inclusive artmaking, BODYART is committed to creating work in non-traditional spaces that encourage inclusion and accessibility.
CULTURAL INCLUSION & DIVERSITY
BODYART is committed to serving the global community to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and access to the arts. We believe that art is a human right, and that every person should have the opportunity to make and experience it.
BODYART defines diversity as those belonging to any community and/or culture that has been systematically barred or limited access to resources. Including (but not limited to) those marginalized due to class, socioeconomic and/or geographic background, ability, age, gender, sexuality, faith, and/or race.
BODYART believes that cultural pluralism is not only an asset to the arts, but imperative to its survival. BODYART values inclusive art making, collaboration, and performance practices and strives to devise work that reflects this.
BODYART is committed to incorporating new strategies to increase cultural pluralism and dismantle barriers that limit accessibility in the arts. Most recently the company has adopted a commitment to providing more artistic and leadership opportunities for those who identify as women or non-binary. In addition we have committed to increasing LatinX engagement (artistically and within our audiences) and have begun collaborating with LatinX artists/collectives. We look forward to learning more about our LatinX communities and how to better serve them.
BODYART believes in diverse, multi-platform collaboration. In order to address our audience/community needs BODYART always begins with establishing partnerships with other organizations and key-stakeholders to help us strategize programming and services.
RACIAL EQUITY
BODYART is committed to racial equity in how we create, teach, hire, and conduct ourselves on and off-stage. Every collaboration should reflect the highest principles of equity and justice.
Leadership is committed to interrogating critical issues of implicit bias and discrimination and bring it into the creative process. The Board has determined Board limits for current officers and has begun implementing new recruitment strategies to increase BIPOC representation on the Board level.
We believe that incorporating collaborators with different backgrounds and life experiences will enhance our art-making making us both better artists and better citizens.
We have committed to restructuring our programming, marketing, and collaborations in an effort to deconstruct the barriers that have limited BIPOC community’s access to contemporary dance. We have launched 'Placeholder' an extension of The Decay Project that specifically serves low-income BIPOC communities. BODYART expects to begin the first 'Placeholder' project summer 2022.
BODYART believes in financial equity and has initiated a payment transparency policy. All collaborators belonging to the same title will be paid the same and the fee/payment structure is made available to all collaborators at time of hiring.
As we grow and develop we acknowledge and look forward to forthcoming lessons that will challenge our perspectives. BODYART celebrates progress and the expansion of understanding and compassion.
BODYART HiSTORY
BODYART’s core programming focuses on performance (via dance film and live-dance) and community engagement services that blend dance and digital storytelling. Our performance program presents new work (both digitally and physically) that regularly investigates female-driven narratives or marginalized voices to the global community.
BODYART was established in New York City by Artistic Director Leslie Scott in 2006 when the company won acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for its inaugural piece, An Hour About An Hour. BODYART’s focus on interdisciplinary artmaking was established shortly thereafter…
Our team
LESLIE SCOTT - FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Leslie Scott is a researcher of movement in the studio, classroom, and screen. Scott is an Assistant Professor of Dance + New Media at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana USA where she also specializes in philanthropy and social change through community-engaged research. She is the founder and Artistic Director of BODYART Dance Company. Scott regularly combines her decades of experience in producing and non-profit development with her multiple teaching and consulting activities across the globe.
As a choreographer, working in both traditional and non-traditional spaces, her work has been performed in notable venues and sites across the globe including REDCAT (Los Angeles), Summerhall (Edinburgh, Scotland), Arts Centre (Christchurch, New Zealand), Joyce Soho (NY), The Ailey Citigroup Theatre (NY) Jazz @ Lincoln Center (NY), Bass Performance Hall (TX), The National Gallery (Durban, South Africa), Rimbun Dahan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and shortly multiple sites across Chile. Since 2006 she has created six evening-length works, 27 shorter mixed-bill works, and over 30 commissions to some of the country’s leading institutions.
Focusing on the intersection of movement and technology in both her performances and teaching, Scott is an Assistant Professor of Dance and New Media at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Scott created The Decay Project (TDP), a dance film residency program focusing on the beauty in derelict spaces, that partners with local communities worldwide. Recently TDP completed its fourth International collaboration in Christchurch New Zealand. Her films have been screened at Portland Dance Film Festival, London International Film Festival, and Screen Dance International. Scott holds an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in Modern Dance with an emphasis in photography from Texas Christian University. Scott is also a certified sommelier and enjoys incorporating all senses into her creative experiences. www.lesliescott.org
email: leslie@bodyartdance.com
Rachel slater - creative liaison & placeholder project director
Rachel Slater is an interdisciplinary movement artist and educator based in New Orleans, LA. Her creative career has taken her all over the world with her work being presented by organizations such as the Philly Fringe Festival, San Francisco's Women on the Way Festival, On the Boards, Dance Days Chania, Bucharest International Dance Film Festival and VideoDanzaBA, among others. Slater has been an artist-in-resident at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, New Expressive Works and Sou'Wester. Rachel holds a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of the Arts. She is also the co-artistic director of Muddy Feet Contemporary Dance in Portland, OR. Currently she is an MFA Candidate and Mellon Fellow for Community-Engaged Scholarship at Tulane University.
RXchel Abrahams - Director of teaching, company member
Rxchel Abrahams is a performer, athlete, and Yoga instructor based in Brooklyn, New York. They hold a BFA in Dance and Choreography from the California Institute of the Arts and has worked in New York since 2009. Rxchel has danced with FUERZABRUTA in New York and abroad, Third Rail Projects, BODYART Dance, Jessica Gaynor Dance, Bryn Cohn + Artists, and Shen Wei Dance Arts. She works with other artists on various movement projects that involve improvisation and are steeped in the spirit of collaboration. Rachel’s interest in biomechanics and healthy movement practices led to certifications in Yoga, Pilates, Thai Massage, and Reiki. Rachel leads weekly classes and workshops focusing on aligning of mind and body. She also is co-creator of the Moving to Heal curriculum and leads all teacher training initiatives for M2H.
Jonathan bryant - company member
Jonathan Bryant is a dance artist with 14 years experience as a performer, choreographer and Assistant Professor of Dance at El Camino College in Los Angeles, California. Performance credits include Moses Pendleton’s Momix (Botanica and Remix) the works of choreographers Rosanna Gamson (STILL), Ting-Yu Chen (Shift, Immortality), and Keith Thompson (Science of Risk). Jonathan received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and his BFA from Shenandoah University. He is fascinated by dance in its many forms and is interested in works that generate palpable, infectious wonder as well as share his curiosity in those things that stir the soul.
sarah scribner - development associate
Sarah Scribner is a dancer and arts administrator in New York. Sarah trained with the non-profit Project Moves Dance Company, under the direction of The GOLD School Dance Art and Rennie Gold, based in Boston, MA. With Project Moves, she performed at The Joyce Theater, Calderwood Pavilion, and the former Cedar Lake Theater as part of Dancers Responding to AIDS. Sarah graduated magna cum laude with a BA in philosophy and dance from Tulane University and received the Jill Karp Prize in Dance Choreography. She then moved to New York to pursue an editorial career at the Columbia Publishing Course, but soon realized that she missed the heart and community of dance. Sarah works in operations with BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center and in development with New Orleans contemporary company BODYART Dance. She dances with Nikki Assanti’s Nikki and the Noise and Emily Bufferd’s BEings dance.
alexis martin - Moving to Heal instructor, los angeles
Alexis Martin is a dance artist based in Long Beach, CA. Holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health and Dance from Tulane University, she is fascinated by the ongoing conversation between movement-based arts and community health and wellness, and passionate about making dance and movement an approachable and accessible experience for all, regardless of prior experience.
DANIELLE BROWN - MOVING TO HEAL PROGRAM MANAGER, LOS ANGELES
Danielle is a licensed clinical social worker, board certified dance/movement therapist, certified EMDR therapist, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant. Danielle uses an integrated bodymind approach that enables individuals to explore, discover, understand, and transform their lives.
Trained as ballerina and modern dancer, Danielle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and pursued a career in performance and choreography. Danielle later received her Master of Art in Dance with an emphasis in Dance as Healing from UCLA, and went on to complete a Master of Social Welfare also from UCLA. She underwent post-graduate training in dance/movement therapy with Dr. Danielle Fraenkel at Kinections in Rochester, NY.