Maya June Dwyer

Maya June Dwyer is an interdisciplinary artist. She is a contemporary dancer, actor, theatre creator and director/choreographer currently based in New York and Montréal, with upcoming projects in Ireland. Maya works internationally across many performance disciplines, including dance, music, physical and immersive theatre and film, and enjoys exploring the intersection of these forms in nontraditional spaces.

Maya has won grants at both regional and national levels for original work. Most recently, Maya was one of twelve choreographers in New York State to be awarded the New York State Dance Force Choreographer’s Initiative, which provided her with a residency of 20 studio hours with professional dancers, under the observance of her mentor Adam Barruch. Other grants awarded have included an Individual Artist Commission through NYSCA’s Decentralization Program for her original drama, The Herpes Play; and both an “Opportunity to Create” grant from NYSCA-A.R.T./New York, and a Community Arts Grant from NYSCA for Pansy Craze, an immersive, music and dance-theatre work she conceptualized, directed and choreographed, and co-created. She has thrice been commissioned to create dance works with The Society for New Music’s Vision of Sound festival in collaboration with contemporary composers. In recent years, Maya was a part of the Stage Directors and Choreographer’s Foundation Observership Program, as well as Hangar Theatre’s Lab Company.

Maya has worked and trained professionally with theatre and movement companies including The Hofesh Shechter Company (London), PUSH Physical Theatre (N.Y.), Pilobolus (Conn.), Alexandra Beller Dances (N.Y.), Meryl Tankard (Australian Dance Theatre), Meredith Monk, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and ThirdRail Projects. She is currently completing Big Bang, a four month contemporary dance training at Espace Ouvert in Montréal. Maya attended SUNY Empire State College, where she created her own double Bachelor of the Arts program in Theatre Performance and Community Engagement Through the Arts. This nontraditional college degree was fulfilled through evaluated experiential learning and online classes while working and training professionally as an artist

Maya has experience in a broad range of teaching and directing opportunities with public and private schools, arts organizations and community centers. These have included Le Moyne College, Manlius Pebble Hill School, Peaceful Schools, The Syracuse City School District and PUSH Physical Theatre.

Education:

• B.A., Empire State College