Aaron Dirickson has been dancing since he could walk, his earliest memories of dance being watching his mother dance with the vacuum while Van Morrison played in the background; however, his formal training did not start until his senior year at Garden Grove High School with Jillian Ingram. After he graduated he enrolled at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa California where he began far more rigorous training in both modern dance and ballet under the tutelage of Linda Sohl-Ellison and Jose Costas, respectively. In conjunction to his studies and technical training at OCC, Dirickson began training, as well, at Maple Conservatory of Dance in Irvine California with former ABT principle dancer, Charles Maple, as well as other long time professional dancers such as Kimberly Olmos (Ballet Pacifica), Tong Wong (Shanghai Ballet and Ballet West), and Patrick Franz (Paris Opera Ballet and The Royal Ballet). While a student at Maple Conservatory he performed in annual performances of The Nutcracker as well as renditions of Cinderella, Coppelia , and Snow White and progressed, over the years, from a member of the chore de ballet to a featured soloist . While at OCC he also began developing his own choreographic voice and an ear for music under the guidance of Mrs. Sohl-Ellison and Jeffery Mayor, and through such studies choreographed and performed his own solo in the spring of 2014 entitled “etched.” In addition to his own work,S Dirickson has had enjoyed the honor of performing in several contemporary ballets choreographed by Mr. Costas, most notably “#barrasybarreras” in 2013, as well as works choreographed by his peers, “Near Light” choreographed by Sara Hong in 2014. Currently a student of dance at the University of California, Irvine Dirickson hopes to further his technical training and pursue a lifelong career in dance from all perspectives – including performance, choreographing/staging his own work, and teaching the next generation of new dancers – and to develop an articulate choreographic voice that contributes to the ever continuing global dialogue among all artists both dancer and non-dancer alike.