About
Maia Maiden
Scientist by day, dancer by night, Maia Maiden aka Rah Fyah has been a leader in the dance community for over 20 years.
a Native of South Minneapolis, she has studied all genres of dance primarily focusing on Hip Hop, Step and west african. a hip hop culture bearer, she co created infinity, a hip hop dance team, in high school a platform to uplift underrepresented students and dance styles. the only one of its kind at the school and in the district, infinity lasted 17 years after her graduation in 1999-laying the blueprint for students around the district.
Her work has been featured in Momentum: New Dance Works 2008 (southern theater, the foundation, et cetera with ellena schoop) , the Hip Hop Theater Festival and eclipse 24 hours of blackness fringe Festival 2008 (danceplace, washington DC), Snapshots: Reflections of Women 2010 (the O’shaughnessy, ganged), b-girl be 2010 (intermedia arts) and the Catalyst Series 2012 (intermedia arts, this was meant for womens bodies). In 2015, she was featured in the CHANGEMAKERS Profile Series presented by Intermedia Arts. a knowledgeable and captivating speaker, she has spoken at many events and conferences including presenting the womb of hip hop: women who bring life to the culture at the International Hip Hop Activism Conference at Augsburg College.
Her passion for cultural representation in the arts has led to the creation of innumerable powerful performances including ROOTED: Hip Hop Choreographers’ Evening, the first and only choreographers’ evening dedicated to Hip Hop dance and its roots in the Twin Cities which showcases high-school level to professional-level choreographers, as well as the multidisciplinary Sistah Solo | Being Brothas, which features solo performances by women and men of color.
With sold-out shows since their inception (2009 and 2011, respectively) and on the Minneapolis City Pages A-List (2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014), ROOTED received a Minnesota Sage Dance Award for Outstanding Performance in 2014. continuously highly regarded and community supported, rooted was named one of the 10 most memorable twin cities area dance events of 2023.
In 2018, The McKnight Choreographer Fellowship program and The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts announced The pantsula group Impilo Mapantsula as McKnight's International Choreographers, and selected Maia Maiden Productions as their residency partner. Impilo Mapantsula, consisting of South African choreographers Vusi Mdoyi, Sicelo Xaba and Sello Modiga, premiered new work as part of ROOTED: Hip Hop Choreographers’ Evening in June 2018.
Maia is the recipient of the 2018 Ordway Sally Award for Initiative-the first Hip Hop artist awarded in any category in the awards 26th year history. This award recognizes bold new steps and strategic leadership undertaken by an individual or organization in creating projects or artistic programs never before seen in Minnesota that will have a significant impact on strengthening Minnesota’s artistic/cultural community.
As guest curator at Walker Arts Center in 2021, she joined forces with filmmaker Sherine Onukwuwe to create Freestyle, Hook and Repeat: The Art of Hip Hop Innovation to spotlight the Minnesota Hip Hop community. In a film shot on-site at the Walker, five luminaries(Desdamona, Herbert “fairwarning” Johnson III, Neil Taylor-True Headz Clothing, Roosevelt “dj digie”Mansfield III and Tish Jones-TruArtSpeaks), explored how the elements of freestyle, hook and repeat drive innovation across arts forms. The film combined deejay (DJ), emcee (MC), dance, fashion and knowledge in a conversation on the global impact of Hip Hop.
Maia continues to expand and innovate in Minnesota, nationally and internationally with the art of krump training program, The SOTA Movement: Minnesota's Street Dance Festival featuring the UPRIzing krump battle created by Nationally and internationally respected mn krump leaders herbert “Fairwarning” Johnson III and Ololade “Gambit” Gbadamosi; and Culture Collab: An artist engagement experience focused on the partnership between Minnesota based and international performing or visual artists practitioners of Hip Hop or street art form
In 2024, she created and brought a multi-element Minnesota Hip Hop delegation to Cuba focused on Diaspora, Music, Dance and Hip Hop working with scholar Dr. Melisa Riviere of Son Dos Alas; and brought a collective of Minnesota artists and cultural producers to South Africa to lead panels, workshops and perform as a part of the ONE Kasi: Arts and Culture Summit. Created in partnership with multidisciplinary Soweto powerhouse Charles Mafafane of Ubuntu Arts Empowerment, this is the first summit of its kind and is free to all attendees.
in addition, maiden has been recognized with many honors including Independent Sector Upswell Fellow (2018), American Express Next Generation Fellow (2019), 20/20 Springboard for the Arts Fellow (2020), Star Tribune Fall Arts Changemakers Honoree for Dance (2019) and City Pages' People Issue Honoree: Meet the Unsung Heroes of the Twin Cities (2020),radical leader award-the coven (2024) and named one of the top women leaders of 2024-women we admire (2024). moreover, She is the first person from Hip Hop culture to be the Board Chair of Saint Paul Cultural STAR and the first person from Hip Hop culture to be on the boards of Forecast Public Art and Twin Cities Jazz Fest.
a trusted voice, she has served on numerous grant and fellowship panels in minnesota and nationally. a skilled grant writer with a sharp command of arts and culture funding strategy, she has collectively secured six figure support for a range of groundbreaking projects, programs and initiatives working with individuals and organizations-fueling creativity and catalyzing cultural change.