Sonya Tayeh is a New York City based choreographer. She has worked nationally and internationally across the worlds of dance and theater, and is also an accomplished and proud teacher. A force in the dance world, Tayeh's work is a tribute to her Detroit roots - a constant yet grounding influence that inspires her to create aggressive, emotional, and powerful choreography with an underlying sense of angst and a persistent embodiment of technical facility. Since paving her professional career, her work has been characterized as a blend of powerful versatility and theatrical range.
Tayeh’s most recent credits include: you’ll still call me by name, a dance-symphony directed, and choreographed for her commission from Bill T. Jones’ institution New York Live Arts; Directed and choreographed Foresight/Hindsight for Cape Dance Festival/2017; BEGIN (Excerpt from you'll still call me by name) for Hudson Valley Dance Festival; The Public Theater’s “Public Works Project” for Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater, "As You Like It"/ Dir Laurie Woolery; Hurricane Diane (Two River Theatre / Dir. Leigh Silverman); Hundred Days (Public Theater / Dir. Anne Kauffman); The Skin of Our Teeth(Theatre For A New Audience / Dir. Arin Arbus); Andrew Lippas’ The Wild Party (City Center Encores! / Dir. Leigh Silverman); Iphigenia in Aulis (Classic Stage Company / Dir. Rachel Chavkin), Kung Fu(Signature Theatre / Dir. Leigh Silverman), The Last Goodbye (San Diego’s Old Globe / Dir. Alex Timbers).
On both the east coast and west coast and internationally she has choreographed original works on concert dance companies including Martha Graham Dance Company for their Lamentation Variation Series (Premiered at The Joyce Theater and on tour) Malpaso Dance Company (Commissioned by The Music Center LA) Los Angele Ballet for their “New Wave” and “Next Wave” festivals.
Tayeh has directed and choreographed for world renowned music artists including Miley Cyrus (Directed and Choreographed The Gypsy Heart Tour), Florence and the Machine (Choreographed performances for The Brit Awards, The Voice and American Idol), Kyle Minogue (Aphrodite Tour)
Additionally, Tayeh has created pieces for university dance programs including Marymount Manhattan College, Point Park University, and New York University’s Tisch Dance.
She has gleaned accolades for her versatile work, including two Emmy nominations for Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, and the Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards for “Outstanding Choreography” for her work on David Henry Hwang’s dance-play Kung Fu, for which she also received a Drama Desk nomination.
For details on upcoming projects click HERE.