Skye Samurai

“With a lot of dedication you can channel your inner rage into flaming blades of fury that will light up the world around you, and guide yourself and others, out of the darkness. “

Born 1993

Chicago IL to Cleveland OH

Dance & Education 1997-2013

Athens, OH to London & Spain

Discovery of Fire & Performing

Columbus, OH

Dance Warrior Life

NOW

Mayasha Skye was born on June 17, 1993 in Chicago, IL and learned to dance at the age of three when she moved to Cleveland Heights. Her grandparents, David and Teri, a physics professor and a music teacher, met in a Jewish folk dance company. As a child, Maya loved to play dress up and go to her ballet/tap/jazz classes at Cleveland City Dance, because it was hard for her to make friends due to her mixed background. As she got older she quickly progressed to Advanced hip hop/contemporary ballet at the Shaker Dance Academy. During the summer Maya attented Cain Park School for the Arts and Inlet Dance Company intensives in nontraditional partnering and Modern dance. Maya took a break from dance and played Ice Hockey and Lacrosse for Cleveland Heights High School until she left for college in Aug. 2011. She would not begin dance training again until 2017 when she joined - Tru Kingdom Mega Dance Crew.

Before she left for college, one of her only friends, Brayn, introduced her to fire poi and hula hoop. While earning her degree in Creative Communication at the Scripps School of Communication, she would spend her freetime teaching herself how to hula hoop. She began learning more flow arts such as fans, poi, sword, staff, and began playing with fire as a hobby to cope with depression and social anxiety. She soon fell in love with the underground rave scene and began promoting, attending, and working security for Music Festivals and local events. Thanks to a minority scholarship she traveled to Spain and the UK to study sustainable living. While traveling Europe, she spent time exploring the underground dance music scene, with her hula hoops in hand.

Her love for performing began during a job as a security guard for the sound booth of, String Cheese Incident at Electric Forest 2014. Maya had a front row seat for performances by Quixotic and The Amazing Giants. This experience caused her to rediscover her passion for dance and movement arts. She would soon find herself pursuing a career in performing arts. After studying abroad, she moved to Columbus, OH, and began a full time career as a fully licensed fire performer and flame effects exhibitor. She has now been hula hooping for 10 years and continues to incorporate new forms of prop manipulation techniques into her unique prop dance flow.

Now she trains with various teachers in martial arts, heels choreography, tutting, urban dance, tribal fusion belly dance, and advanced fire breathing/fire eating techniques . Thanks to The Amazing Giants, and her friends in the flow arts world, her experiences and love affair in the circus arts blossomed into a lifetime profession. She continues to commit herself to her practices and delve deeper into her journey to becoming a full time warrior, The Skye Samurai.