Katya Chizayeva is a New Orleans-based Ukrainian American artist

dancer, somatic educator, writer, film maker

I am a queer feminist Post Soviet Jewish emigrant, and my art work has been influenced by these identities, histories, and philosophies.

My current focus is on bridging both US and Ukraine communities to tell stories of resilience and belonging of the Ukrainian people and diaspora, and to bring attention to the current war and ongoing human rights abuses through the multimedia lens of writing, film, and performance.

My dance work has been supported by local artists, presented at the Vanishing Performance Festival, Artklub, Mudlark, local art galleries. I have danced in projects of Ann Glaviano, Shannon Stewart, Dancing Grounds, Gregory Dorado. 

As a performer, I have collaborated with Laura Levinson from Minniapolis, Tangarr Forgart in Ukraine, Meryl Murman in Ukraine, Ryuta Iwashita in New Orleans, Anton Ovchinnikov in Ukraine, and others.

In addition to performing and making art, I teach somatics, Feldenkrais and performance training through workshop format in Dancing Grounds, Nola Aikido, and Swaha Yoga studios in New Orleans. 

I have been shaped by patchwork of eclectic teachers, and they have made my education very different from traditional ballet/technique heavy trajectory.

Having a passion for learning, and driven to growth as a movement lover, dancer and maker, I have been driven to study movement research (for ex. Axis Syllubus, Gaga), somatics from experimental to formalized (Feldenkrais, Gaga, BMC),  contemporary dance forms, Improvisation practices, Contact Improvisation, and traditional African diaspora dance (Brazilian, Cuban, Haitian). I am also influenced by practices of Aikido and Tai Chi. Currently I am in the Feldenkrais method teacher training getting my teacher’s certification.

I owe my dance education to many dance and movement teachers, to name a few here, Shannon Stewart, Gregory Dorado, Kai Knight, Deborah Hay, Luciana Achugar, Sonya Pregrad, Jill Sigman, KJ Holmes,  Jesse Zarret, Deborah Smith, and countless others who shared their passion with me. 

For more information about me please check these interviews for Cassandra Project with Meryl Murman, New Orleans filmmaker, choreographer.

https://www.vianolavie.org/2018/12/07/the-cassandra-project-katya-chizayeva-part-ii/

https://www.vianolavie.org/2018/11/30/the-cassandra-project-katya-chizayeva-part-i/