My journey to movement has never been linear. I’ve moved in and out, up and down, since I was seven or eight years old. Ballet was where it all began. At first, I loved it. Then I grew to loathe it. And now, I hold such deep reverence for those years—the discipline, the structure, the foundation. They still inform how I move and how I teach today.

While my journey started in a highly structured environment, it didn’t stay that way. A semester abroad in London (lucky me) left me feeling unexpectedly lonely and searching for community. Enter the tiny yoga studio just a few blocks from my flat. I left every class feeling lighter—more embodied, more present with the world around me. It was unlike any movement practice I had experienced before. It felt freeing and creative. It gave me space for my big emotions, which at the time felt like they had nowhere else to go.

Fast forward: I graduate college with a BFA in acting and absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I loved yoga, right? So why not get my 200-hour certification and teach while pursuing acting? Present-day me laughs at the thought that I believed teaching would be an easy and lucrative side gig.

I moved to LA at 23 and began teaching and auditioning (with a third job in the mix for a while, of course). Slowly, acting began to take a back seat to the feeling I had when I was teaching. Eventually, acting stopped. Yoga and teaching stayed. The joy stayed. The community stayed.

A decade later, this is still how I feel.

Fun, random fact about me: I love Star Trek—The Next Generation, of course. I promise this connects. Growing up, I watched people travel through space not to conquer or control, but to gain knowledge—to stay curious, to experience joy, challenge, and yes, inevitable suffering along the way. There was no final destination. No ultimate end goal.

That’s how I feel about movement.

It’s a journey with no destination. It isn’t linear. It’s best approached with curiosity, not judgment. Challenge is necessary if we want to learn and grow. And immense joy can be found in the midst of it all.

If you choose to move with me, please know that guiding you is a privilege I don’t take lightly.

My Teaching PHILOSOPHY

While staying curious and being open will always be themes in my classes, so will form and attention to detail. I believe that when we have the tools and understanding to know where we should feel a movement, how to place our body, and why it matters—that’s a form of freedom and autonomy.

In my classes, you’ll use your brain. A lot. You’ll often hear me say, “Open your ears.” Clear cueing and intentional body placement is something we will pay a lot of attention to. 

All AVD movement classes weave in elements of mobility. Mobility is the marriage of flexibility and strength, rooted in joint health. This is longevity work.

Yoga and lifting are the perfect pair—each balancing the other. Both offer challenge, joy, and function.

I love sequencing creatively, so no two classes are the same. The more we explore new ways to move, the more we build neural plasticity and expand not only our bodies but our brains.  This is work we can take off our mats.

Whether you’re flowing or lifting, form, function, and creativity will always be part of the experience.

When I’m not moving you can find me drinking a glass of natural wine, out to dinner with my friends, I like to think going out to dinner is my hobby, or on the couch with my boyfriend and our dog Arnold.  I promise you I have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone you know, no really I went through a faze of post-mating a piece of cake every night for week (in retrospect I should of just gotten a cake.)  She contains multitudes.     

xoxo,

Ari