Miya Hisaka Silva (Faculty Artistic Director of GUDC) -
Dancer, teacher, choreographer, international producer/presenter. Has worked in El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, France, Italy, England, Jordan, Thailand, China, Canada and throughout the USA. Former Founder/Director of the DC Contemporary Dance Theatre, Washington, DC’s first African American dance company selected as cultural ambassadors by USIS to represent the USA for a world tour for over a decade. Commissioned by the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Institution, Dance Place, The Central American Olympics, The Washington School of Ballet, The Loudoun Ballet, The Ministry of Education of El Salvador, Georgetown and Santa Clara University, among others. Trained by Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Eric Hawkins, Gloria Contreras, Gene Hill Sagan, and worked with Rod Rodgers, Kevin Iega Jeff, Lloyd Whitmore, Adrain Bolton, Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Juan Carlos Rincones, among others. Holds a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia Univ., and an MPA from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs/Syracuse Univ. Has served on WDC’s Mayor’s Task Force for Arts/Economic Development; a Public Service Fellow to the Maxwell School; an Arts Fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts; and recipient of WDC’s Mayor’s Arts Award of Excellence in l986. Former faculty at the Washington School of Ballet, George Washington University, and in El Salvador, at the National School of Dance, former director of dance at the Central American University “Jose Simeon Canas”, and creator of El Centro para Liderazgo en las Artes. Recent recipient of the University of San Francisco’s Jesuit Fellowship, and on faculty at the Marin Dance Theatre, Alonzo King LINES Ballet/SF Dance Center, and Stage Dor Performance Space. Currently on faculty at Georgetown University and Joy of Motion Dance Center.