Ariel Rebecca Grossman was born and raised in New York City. She began her dance training at the Joffrey Ballet School under the direction of Gerald Arpino. She trained there for ten years with Eleanor D’antouno (American Ballet Theater), John Magnus, and Dorothy Lister. During this time Ariel was a dance major at LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the Performing Arts and studied with Elisa King (Zvi Gotheiner Dance), Brunhilda Ruiz (The Joffrey Ballet), Michelle Benash (American Ballet Theater) and Penny Frank (Martha Graham Dance Company). She earned a B.S. in Dance with honors from Skidmore College where she studied with and performed works by Robert Battle, Alexandre Proia (NYC Ballet), Denise Warner Limoli (ABT), Debra Fernandez, and Mary Harney (Martha Graham). At Skidmore she began choreographing and upon graduation was commissioned to set a work on Skidmore dancers. Most recently Ariel Rivka Dance premiered a new work, Vashti, with live music, for their 2013 season at Alvin Ailey Citicorp Theater. Ariel was also recently invited to present work at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and participate in the Greenspace Blooms Festival and Saratoga Arts Fest. Her work has also been presented at the Saratoga Dance Museum, Baruch Performing Arts Center, the From the Ground Festival, University Settlement, the Derriere Guard Festival, Works in Progress at Dance New Amsterdam, the Cunningham Studios, Chen Dance Center, and was the recipient of a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) grant. In addition to her artistic endeavors, Ariel received her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College of Education. She teaches at the Jewish Community Project Early Childhood Center in lower Manhattan and has developed and currently administers an arts curriculum incorporating dance, visual art and music for young learners.

www.arielrivkadance.com