Arts Directory

About

Artist Bio

Rachel Strickland is an interdisciplinary performance artist, aerialist, storyteller, and award winning choreographer. Her work combines circus arts, dance, and elements of the bizarre to create original, socially relevant performative works. To unearth aspects of the self which are buried, suppressed, and mutilated by the sanction of outside influences is both her subject matter and the intended effect on the viewer.

Classically trained in ballet since the age of three, she studied dance and creative writing at UNC Asheville and began her study of circus arts in 2007, developing a unique style and innovative approach to aerial hoop. Her work brought her international recognition, and she has coached, performed, and choreographed on four continents.

She is the director of The Audacity Project, an 8-week guided process to equip artists and creatives with the tools necessary to be working professionals. As a creative mentor and speaker, Rachel is passionate about empowering artists to pursue their most authentic work.

She’s been featured in Authority Magazine and Thrive Global, and presented her stories and pedagogy on stages worldwide. Her work has been recognized by the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Busker’s Festival, RAW Performing Artist of the year in Seattle, WA, and “Best Bet” at the New Orleans Fringe Festival.

Given to excess and quixotic tendencies, Rachel specializes in aerial hoop choreography and the practice of telling stories. She lives in Hollywood, SC with her husband, Shaun. They have no children so don’t ask, but they would like to meet your dog.

Artist Statement

My work focuses on the spectacular body as a vehicle to unearth and confront stories that are hidden from ourselves and each other, with the aim of shedding light on subversive cultural narratives- always through a feminist lens. I am an interdisciplinary performance artist combining the mediums of dance, aerial acrobatics, impactful visual elements, and oral storytelling to create original performative works.

Movement quality is a major factor in my compositions, a standpoint I feel is an act of rebellion against capitalist grind culture. I prioritize the quality of movement over the difficulty of performed skills as my metric for excellence, because I believe quality over flash is more effective for audience connection, as well as my physical health and longevity as an artist. The quality of my movement uses embodied metaphor to convey symbolic human emotions like pride, resignation, and surrender. Embodied metaphor seeks to connect to the audience’s mirror neurons by viewing carefully constructed, familiar human postures that are immediately recognizable and able to be felt by the viewer. Incorporating unusual physicality such as stuttered, unnaturally reversed movement inspired by Butoh and horror, as well as lavish, easily accessible movement borrowing from contemporary dance and balletic influences, also defines my work.

Visual elements of the bizarre and aberrant such as a stage covered in blood-colored fabric, unnaturally long fingers, or the body being covered in water/mud/crumbling gold leaf are presented as a direct commentary on the unnatural social structures we find ourselves operating within. My performances often include a background score of oral storytelling to give contexts to the movement and allow the viewer to conceptualize the work in juxtaposition to their own lives.

It’s important to me to utilize the talent of other individual working artists and employ them in my work. To this end, I use original composed music, local documentation, editing, and grassroots marketing strategies using artists and people within the community- as often as possible, with fair compensation.

My work is driven by a fascination with how the unseen influences of oppressive structures distort our experiences and our access to our humanity; including personal mythology, societal conditioning, and subconscious belief patterns put in place by patriarchal establishments. To uncover the aspects of ourselves, particularly the feminine aspects present in all people which are buried, suppressed, and mutilated by the sanction of outside influences, is both my subject matter and my intended effect on the viewer.