BIOGRAPHY
Co-founded in fall 2015 by Anya & Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery, MICHIYAYA Dance is a queer-led dance company that pushes boundaries and centers the divine feminine by creating space for multidisciplinary performances and programming. Artistic Directors Anya and Mitsuko Clarke-Verdery founded MICHIYAYA as a way to combine their voices as artists—Anya, a Black queer choreographer/dance artist from Brooklyn, and Mitsuko, a white & Japanese queer visual/performance artist from Manhattan. Now in their fifth year, MICHIYAYA is an evolving company of five core dance artists.
Their performance work has spread nationally at venues and institutions such as Yale University, Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, Gelsey Kirkland Theater, La MaMa Galleria, Dixon Place, among others. Described as “revolutionary and physically virtuosic,” the powerful group of femme voices have been featured in Art Forum, Thinx, Vice i-D, Medium, and more. MICHIYAYA’s educational and community initiatives have reached the American College Dance Association, University of Santa Barbara, Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, Center for Anti-Violence Education, Gibney, and more. Anya & Mitsuko’s vision has been supported by Microsoft, CVS Health, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Opportunity Fund, and Dance/NYC.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
Artistic Directors Anya and Mitsuko lead a dynamically physical and cerebral Contemporary class rooted from their expertise in contemporary dance, performance, and visual art. They begin with an anatomically mindful warm-up inspired by Pilates and Yoga practices. Warm-up bleeds into improvisational research, both individually and collectively. MICHIYAYA Dance repertoire is fused into class providing rich material for one's investigation; students are encouraged to make the choreography their own. Anya and Mitsuko Clarke- Verdery establish context, build dialogues, and encourage the embrace of individuality.