About

Freelance choreographer and filmmaker

Maya Mizrahi is a director, choreographer and dancer. After graduating from the Alvin Ailey School in NYC in 2017, she went on to pursue her passion for choreography and film through her studies at Amherst College. Graduating summa cum laude with an interdisciplinary and mathematics double major in May, 2021, she was awarded the Virginia Wagner Scholarship for her contributions to the Five College Dance Department. Maya studied abroad in Spain at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona, and worked as a volunteer with the JUNTOS Collective in Guatemala, teaching and performing dance in hospitals, orphanages, and schools.

Maya's first film, Monochrome, inspired by her mentor Ilya Gaft's experience as a ballet dancer in the USSR, was selected for the ACDA Screen-dance Gala and the Beyond the Proscenium Dance Festival in 2021. She received the Gregory S. Call Research Fellowship for her thesis research on ballet in the USSR, and the Raymond Keith Bryant Prize for her performance in Monochrome. Her second film, Ghost Town, inspired by the historic casino building in Asbury Park NJ, premiered at the Garden State Film Festival's 20th anniversary. Maya's third film, Urban Decay, was selected for film festivals across the US and internationally, and received several awards.

In September 2023 Maya was invited for a one month long choreographic residency at Amherst College, for which she produced and directed 3 sold-out shows to celebrate the newly renovated Amherst Center for Russian Culture. The production, whose purpose was to celebrate the center, world-renowned for its collection of rare books, art, and manuscripts, was sponsored by the Russian Culture Fund of the Amherst Center for Russian Culture, and supported by the Amherst College Theater & Dance and Russian Departments, their faculty and staff.

CV

  • Artistic Director of Maya Mizrahi Choreography, for which she has choreographed live performances, music videos and short films.

    She served as the Artistic Director of DASAC (hip-hop and street styles dance group) from 2018-2020. She choreographed and produced numerous shows, taught workshops, and created content videos.

  • Directed, choreographed, and produced 3 short films which were selected for multiple film festivals across the US, and for which she received critical acclaim.

    Monochrome (2021):

    • ACDA Screendance Festival

    • Beyond the Proscenium Dance Conference

    Ghost Town (2021):

    • Garden State Film Festival 20th Anniversary

    Urban Decay (2022):

    • Austin Micro Film Festival Best Experimental Music Video Award Winner

    • Texas Short Film Festival Best Music Video Award Finalist

    • Garden State Film Festival

    • Prague Music Video Awards

    • Arthouse Film Festival

    • Piermont Film Festival

  • Best Experimental Music Video (2023): Austin Micro Film Festival

    Best Music Video Award Finalist (2023) Texas Short Film Festival

    The Raymond Keith Bryant Prize (2021): Awarded Performance of the Year for Monochrome.

    Gregory S. Call Fellowship (2020): Funding for thesis project studying the relationship between art (ballet) and propaganda in the USSR, culminating in the film, Monochrome (2021).

    Virginia Wagner Scholarship (2020): Award for outstanding contributions to FCDD.

  • Choreographer in Residence at Amherst College, supported by the Russian Culture Fund for the Center for Russian Culture (see Amherst College Residency for more).

    Choreographed the music video Kol Hamerkaz for Israeli rapper, Salty.

    Work shown at the UMass Fine Arts Center, New Hampshire University (ACDA Regional Conference), and Amherst College.

    Choreographed on students and alumni from University of Massachusetts, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College.

    • Tanya Chianese Best

    • Pascal Rioult

    • David Dorfman

    • Uri Sands

    • Christian Von Howard

    • Pedro Ruiz

    • Earl Mosley

    • Damani Pompey

    • Anna Lederfiend

    • Astrid Von Ussar

    • Amy Lattimore

    • Rebecca Brown

    • Victor DiMonda

    • Beatrice Capote

    • Adrienne Hurd

    • Katie Faulkner

    • Dante Brown

    • Shakia Johnson

    • Ilya Gaft

    • Max Stone

  • Amherst College, Summa Cum Laude (2017 - 2021)

    Institute of the Arts Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain | Dance Honors Jan 2020 - June 2020

    Alonzo King LINES Ballet, San Francisco, CA | Summer Intensive June-July 2017 & 2018

    The Ailey School, New York, NY | Pre-Professional Program May 2013 - May 2017

    Complexions Contemporary Ballet, New York, NY | Winter Intensive December 2015

  • Music:

    • Itay Shaked

    • MacKenzie Kugel

    • Jake Meginsky

    Videography:

    • Ran Schneck

    • Michael Burke

    • Julian Brown

    • Amalia Roy

    Photography:

    • Derek Fowles

    • Ran Schneck

    • Amalia Roy