As a dancer and choreographer, Shai has explored styles from ballet to burlesque and back, and is happiest fusing athletic jazz and contemporary movements with theatrical, evocative flair. As a teacher, Shai aims to promote abundant joy of movement, radical inclusivity, and nervous-system informed athleticism. Shai is an American Dance Festival alumnae as both an intern and a dancer. For 3 years, Shai ran a dance company devoted to augmenting the accessibility of ballet to those historically marginalized in the field, and is a former company member with Abilities Dance Company in Boston, MA.
Shai is most proud of their choreography/ artistic direction of their reimagining of “How to Train Your Dragon” as a ballet.
dancer. choreographer.
Shai is a classically trained cellist and pianist, and has played in a variety of orchestras, ensembles, & bands.
Most recently, Shai has picked up guitar and ukulele, and released 2 singles on Spotify & Bandcamp. They are also working on their first EP, titled: “in the in between”, a take on liminal, non-linear relationships, and the dialectics of the human condition.
musician. songwriter.
select works
Full Length Dance Work, 2017 (Artistic Direction & Choreography)
Devised Work, 2019 (Cello, Vocals)
Single, 2020 (Music, Lyrics, Production)
“Sleeping Beauty (A Sapphic, Alt-Rock, Reimagining)”
Full Length Dance Work, 2016 (Artistic Direction, Choreography, Dancer)
Dance, 2017 (Dance, Choreography)
A quasi-balletic conversation between injury, gender, and existential angst