about
Aria Roach is a Vermont-raised, NYC-based dance artist, movement educator, and arts administrator. She has had the pleasure to perform as a company member with Yehuda Hyman’s Mystical Feet Company, Eva Dean Dance, and The Moving Architects, as well work with Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, Hallie Chametzky, Zoe Walders, Stephanie Saywell, and DanceTheYard.
Her creative work includes appearances in filmmaker James Fotopoulos’s La Belle et la Bête, Dandelot’s Tutu music video, and Target’s All in Motion ad campaign, as well as collaborations with photographers Barbara Shore, gwen charles, and Sherrie Nickol. She has been honored to present her choreography at VCUDance, Built on Stilts Festival, Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Iona College, and in commissions for Dancewave’s Student Companies. She also created Tomato Season, an outdoor dance film on Ghost Island Farm (Martha’s Vineyard, MA) that premiered at Built On Stilts dance festival and was selected for 92Y’s Mobile Dance Film Festival.
As a Teaching Artist at Mark Morris Dance Group, Aria leads classes in Modern, Ballet, and Improvisation for students 6-18 years with a focus on social/emotional wellness. She also teaches for National Dance Institute (NDI) in NYC public schools (3K-5th grade), offers private lessons, and teaches occasional Adult Modern classes. During the 2020-2021 pandemic, Aria worked as a farmhand and taught socially-distanced lessons for pre-teens in parks tailored toward connection, movement, and creative exploration.
Aria has worked administratively as the General Manager of Caleb Teicher & Company (CT&Co), and Company Manager for Joyce Theater Productions’ nationally-touring Lindy Hop show SW!NG OUT. Among providing project-based administrative support to various artists, other administrative roles include Company Manager & Gala Line Producer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Festival Manager for Works & Process, Operations Coordinator for Mark Morris Dance Group, and Artist Services Intern at The Yard.
Aria holds a BFA in Dance & Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts (VCUarts) and Honors College (summa cum laude). As an undergraduate she spent a semester at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and received a 2015 VCUarts Dean’s International Study Grant to study at the ImPulsTanz Festival in Vienna, Austria. Additionally, Aria holds a Master Composter Certificate from NYC Compost Project, trains in flying trapeze, and has a regular Ashtanga Yoga practice. She earned her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification from The Shala Yoga under founders Barbara Verrochi and Kristin Leigh.