A recent MFA Dance Performance graduate from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Kaya joined Phoenix Dance Theatre in April 2026.

Originally from New York, Kaya has trained in dance from a young age and received her BA from Connecticut College in 2020, with a Major in Dance, a Minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. She also earned a certificate in Community Action and Public Policy from the Holleran Center for Community Action’s research programme. During her studies she performed in works by Merce Cunningham, Kate Wear, Thomas DeFrantz, and David Dorfman among others.

Kaya then worked as the Development Associate for Irondale Ensemble Project in addition to being a freelance dancer in NYC before moving to London to pursue her postgraduate degree. As a part of the Trinity Laban Dance Collective, Kaya collaborated with artists including Hilary Stainsby, Clod Ensemble, Company Wayne McGregor, Anna Morrissey, and Temitope Ajose. While in London, Kaya also worked as a movement director and dancer and performed at the South Bank Centre in Samuel Beckett’s Quad I + II with London Sinfonietta.

As an artist, Kaya is interested in creating multi-disciplinary work intersecting poetry, movement, storytelling, and drawing and she is one of the founding members of the dance collective Perpetual Folly.