Maya Soto is a choreographer, performer and dance educator. Truly a Pacific Northwest artist, Maya is originally from the Portland area and has been calling Seattle home since 1999. Her vast body of work includes concert performance, movement installations, dance for theater and for film.
She has worked with many notable artists including Michele Miller/Catapult Dance, Amy O’Neal, KT Neihoff, Ellie Sandstrom, and Amii LeGendre. From 2003-2011, she co-directed collaborative modern dance company, Northwest Dance Syndrome. She has created numerous evening length works and has been featured in most major dance festivals in the Northwest. In 2014, she was honored with the Velocity Dance Champion Award for significant contribution to Seattle dance. Her work has been supported by 4Culture, Office of Arts & Culture, the James Ray Residency Grant and Allied Arts Foundation. Festival commissions include Northwest New Works, Conduit's Dance+ Festival, Seattle International Dance Festival, Juan De Fuca Festival of the Arts, Pacific Dance Makers, SITEWORKS, and Arts in Nature Festival.
Passionate about arts education, Maya is on faculty at Velocity Dance Center and the Northwest School, as well as Board President of Dance Educators Association of Washington. She brings an openhearted energetic teaching style that embraces all people. She has taught at schools and studios including Cornish College of the Arts, Bellevue College, Arts and Academics Academy/Highline School District, Tacoma School of the Arts, the International Ballet Academy and Strictly Seattle Summer Intensive. She has worked extensively in the publicschool system as both a certified dance specialist and a teaching artist and in outreach programs for the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) and Seattle Theater Group. Maya holds a BFA in Dance from Cornish College of the Arts and a WA State Professional Teaching Certificate.
