My name is Sarah Dobbs, I'm an aerialist and founder of Aria Art and Movement CIC.
I have undertaken a variety of aerial and narrative-driven commissions e.g. for Compass Presents (Bristol) and performed at Washington Arts Centre (Sunderland). I have also delivered projects such as Sea Sunderland, which commissioned local writers to make flash fiction films about the Seaburn area. We had a lead artist, Jessica Andrews, who is an award-winning novelist from Sunderland itself.
As well as working full time on Aria, I am a performer and director with Uncaged Aerial Theatre - we are an all-female aerial theatre company from Sunderland.
Aria was set up after a DYCP grant and then an Arts Council project grant exploring underwater movement and aerial dance with other aerialists and the community. I felt the change in my own body after being in the water and saw it in the increased confidence and creativity and connections of those I was working with.