We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Arielle Cole. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Arielle below.

Arielle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Right now, I am producing a dance festival geared toward amplifying the voices of professional dancers and choreographers in my community of San José. I found myself driving up to San Francisco and Oakland regularly for performance opportunities, and I wanted to find similar events in the South Bay Area. There are a few, but I strongly feel that San Jose deserves as many opportunities as San Francisco. So I created SpARC Dance Festival. My goal of the festival is to inspire more dance opportunities to be created by other dancers and creatives.

Arielle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

At a very young age, not only did I love to dance, but I loved to put on shows in my bedroom for my family. I recruited my older brother to raise and lower the curtain on my loft bed, use my dad’s printer to make programs, and even take tickets as my “audience” arrived to take their seats. I loved the whole process of a dance show – from choreographing the dances to producing the event – the creative process excites me to this day.

After earning my BFA in Dance at the University at Buffalo, I pursued a professional dance career. I discovered my favorite part was the creative process. I started my dance company in 2018 to give me the flexibility of creating work on my own terms. To help me understand the business aspect of running a dance company, I pursed a Masters of Management degree from Mills Collge, as well as a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance. One of the issues I ran into was finding local opportunities to present my work. I found myself and my dancers driving over 60 miles to perform.

Solving this issue helped me understand my “why” and guiding light of my company: to amplify dancers and choreographers in my community. I am proud to produce the first annual event with this goal: SpARC Dance Festival in September 2024. This festival will showcase local dance talent in a performance, a free public dance class, and local artists showcasing their work in the lobby of the theater.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

A resource I wish knew more about is the part of the process that is the least exciting in terms of artistic pursuits: the business side. I didn’t know about fiscal sponsorships, FBNs, taxes… the list goes on. AnewAmerica was very helpful in guiding me through the process of registering my business with the county. They were recommended to me through my Fiscal Sponsor.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

As a creative person, I have to wear many hats, and I do not get the luxury of the “end of workday” or a weekend. This means I have many different jobs that financially support me, and I have to be versatile in my skills. As an entrepreneur, I have to squeeze somewhere in my weekly schedule my actual creative process and various side jobs to financially support my family.

In my journey, I wasn’t quite sure where my love for dance would lead me as a career. Was it teaching fitness classes at a gym? Teaching at a dance studio? Performing in a dance company? I explored all of these options before where I landed now, but it meant I picked up a lot of different skills along the way.

For me, all the skills I picked up have in some sense, been useful to my current path: website development, basic budget proposals, grant writing, leadership skills, photo and video editing, and a basic understanding of tax law.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.arctangentdance.com
• Instagram: @arctangentdance
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/arctangentdance
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arielle-cole-16b9a7174/
• Other: www.ariellecole.com (personal website)

Image Credits
Kavan Lake