Livya Howard-Yashar
Lecturer
School of Music and Dance
College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts
SDSU
Bio
Livya Howard-Yashar is a dancer, choreographer, educator, musician and performance coach born and raised in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in Choreography from California Institute of the Arts and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied under the guidance and mentorship of award winning dancer/choreographer Sara Rudner. Livya has performed and collaborated alongside various NYC based dance artists including Chia-Ying Kao, Max Pollak’s Rumbatap, and has worked with LA based groups such as Sarah Elgart-Arrogant Elbow and Mojácar Flamenco.
Her work has been presented at various Los Angeles and New York-based venues such as Stomping Ground LA, Highways Performance Space, Human Resources LA, St. Marks Church, Center at Park West, The Americas Society, Theater for the New City, and Theater West. She has also held workshops and participated in artist residencies in Israel, China, Greece, Ghana, Denmark and the UK. Her movement aims to find the meeting point between concert, commercial, and folkloric dance forms, with an emphasis on musicality and rhythm.
Specifically, Livya’s work as a vocalist and world percussionist over the last decade has led her to integrate body music into her many years as a contemporary dance practitioner. With an extensive background in the performing arts and cross-cultural studies, Livya’s work draws upon the interconnectivity of language, music, and dance through storytelling.
As an educator and performance coach, Livya’s work has centered around embodiment and the performing arts as a means of understanding and expressing cultural identity, enhancing relationship skills, and engaging in social action.