Michiyaya Dance

MICHIYAYA 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 Dance 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. They knew right away they wanted to build a community of artists and decided to form a space for women and femmes to create together. Now in their sixth year, MICHIYAYA is an evolving dance company of five dance artists based in New York City. MICHIYAYA’s work has spread nationally at venues and institutions such as Yale University, Brooklyn Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, Gelsey Kirkland Theater, La MaMa Galleria, among others. This powerful group of femme voices has been featured in Art Forum, Vice i-D, Thinx, Mask Magazine, 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. MICHIYAYA’s educational and community initiatives have reached the University California - Santa Barbara, Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, Center for Anti-Violence Education, Dancing Grounds, GOOD MOVE, and more. They've served as 2021 adjunct faculty for Purchase College Conservatory of Dance and were recently selected as 2021 artists in residence at the University of California - Santa Barbara. The duo has been commissioned by schools and companies such as the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance, and the Steffi Nossen School of Dance. Anya and Mitsuko were also selected as 2019 artists in residence and guest lecturers at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art & Drama.