Ariana Speight is a contemporary dance artist invested in researching the curiosities of life through various mediums. She has worked with a number of artists including: Kayla Farrish, Joanna Kotze, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Kyle Marshall, Anna Sperber, and Jessie Young. She has performed at Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Chelsea Factory, Coffey Street, CPR – Center for Performance Research, Dancewave, Danspace, Lincoln Center Hearst Plaza, New York Live Arts, Pageant, Roulette, The Shed, The Space at Irondale, The Tank, Webster Hall, among other venues in Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania. As a maker, she has shared many solos including: endearing indifference, loading… <all systems functioning>, an introduction, morph, the call, Vent & Drain and VENTing. In 2024, she was a CPR Artist in Residence where she presented an OPEN LAB: DIGITAL ARCHIVE and OPEN AiR: cocoon. Following her residency, she shared work in the Performance Mix Festival #39 and AUNTS Festival in June 2025. While completing the Young Artist Internship at Bearnstow, she participated in workshops led by: Rob Flax, Jasmine Hearn, K.J. Holmes, Claire Porter, Peter Kyle, and Jo Stewart where weekly showings and a final show were held. In December, she debuted PSA in Split Bill #47 at Triskelion Arts. Venturing into standup comedy, she was most notably featured in the Black Women in Comedy Laff Fest. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University – New Brunswick with a BFA in Dance and a minor in Africana Studies.
