Biography

Leslie Scott is the founder and Artistic Director of BODYART — a multimedia contemporary dance theatre company. Scott regularly combines her decades of experience in producing and non-profit development for her multiple teaching and consulting activities across the globe. Connecting her movement research to the for-profit sector, Scott has consulted with notable restaurants and corporations on body language and movement branding.

As a choreographer, working in both traditional and non-traditional spaces, her work has been performed in notable venues and sites from LA, NYC, Dallas, St. Louis, New Orleans, Houston, Edinburgh, and New Zealand. Since 2006 she has created six evening-length works, 27 shorter mixed-bill works and over 30 commissions to some of the country’s leading institutions.

Focusing on the intersection of movement and technology in both her performances and teaching, Scott is an Assistant Professor of Dance and New Media at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Scott created The Decay Project (TDP), a dance film residency program focusing on beauty in nontraditional spaces, that partners with local communities worldwide. Recently TDP completed its fourth International collaboration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia following successful programs in Christchurch New Zealand. Her films have been screened at Portland Dance Film Festival, Tiny Dance, London International Film Festival and Screen Dance International.

As an artist mentor, Scott has been an educator at the Center for Cultural Innovation in Los Angeles, teaching Creative Entrepreneurship, marketing and branding workshops. She served on the California Institute of the Arts HIVE incubator program as a panelist and mentor and served as a leader for Queen’s Arts Council’s LEAP program.

As a funding consultant Scott has advised and written multiple successful grant applications for artists to the New England Foundation of the Arts. Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, California Arts Council, Queens Arts Council and the Ford Foundation.

As an International producer for dance, Scott has organized festivals across the globe for more than ten years. From Edinburgh to Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans, she enjoys bringing a curated group of artists to new communities to forge new relationships and community connections.

Scott holds an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in Modern Dance with an emphasis in photography from Texas Christian University. She is also a certified sommelier and enjoys incorporating all five senses into her choreographic projects.