About
Maia Maiden
Scientist by day and dancer by night, Maia Maiden—also known as Rah Fyah—has been a leader in the dance community for over 20 years.
A native of South Minneapolis, Maia has studied many genres of dance, primarily focusing on Hip Hop, Step, and West African. A dedicated Hip Hop culture bearer, she co-created Infinity, a Hip Hop dance team, while still in high school. The team served as a platform to uplift underrepresented students and dance styles and was the only program of its kind at Apple Valley High School and in the 196 district. After Maia graduated in 1999, Infinity continued for 17 years, laying the blueprint for similar student-led dance initiatives across the district.
Her choreographic and performance work has been featured in numerous productions and festivals, including Momentum: New Dance Works (2008) at the Southern Theater with The Foundation and Ellena Schoop; the Hip Hop Theater Festival and ECLIPSE: 24 Hours of Blackness (2008) at Dance Place in Washington, DC; Snapshots: Reflections of Women (2010) at The O’Shaughnessy; B-Girl Be (2010) at Intermedia Arts; and the Catalyst Series (2012) at Intermedia Arts. In 2015, she was featured in the CHANGEMAKERS Profile Series presented by Intermedia Arts.
A knowledgeable and captivating speaker, Maia has presented at numerous events and conferences, including the International Hip Hop Activism Conference at Augsburg College, where she presented The Womb of Hip Hop: Women Who Bring Life to the Culture.
Her passion for cultural representation in the arts has led to the creation of several powerful performance platforms. These include ROOTED: Hip Hop Choreographers’ Evening, the first and only choreographers’ evening dedicated to Hip Hop dance and its roots in the Twin Cities, showcasing choreographers ranging from high school to professional levels. She also created the multidisciplinary performance series Sistah Solo | Being Brothas, which features solo performances by women and men of color.
Since their inception in 2009 and 2011, respectively, these programs have consistently sold out performances. ROOTED was named to the Minneapolis City Pages A-List in 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2014 and received a Minnesota SAGE Dance Award for Outstanding Performance in 2014. Continuously highly regarded and community supported, ROOTED was also named one of the 10 Most Memorable Twin Cities Dance Events of 2023 by the Star Tribune.
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—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, becoming the first Hip Hop artist to receive the award in any category in its 26-year history. The award recognizes bold leadership and groundbreaking artistic programs that significantly strengthen Minnesota’s cultural community.
In 2021, as guest curator at the Walker Arts Center, Maia collaborated with filmmaker Sherine Onukwuwe to create Freestyle, Hook and Repeat: The Art of Hip Hop Innovation, spotlighting the Minnesota Hip Hop community. Filmed on-site at the Walker, the project featured luminaries Desdamona, Herbert “FairWarning” Johnson III, Neil Taylor (True Headz Clothing), Roosevelt “DJ Digie” Mansfield III, and Tish Jones (TruArtSpeaks), exploring how the elements of freestyle, hook, and repeat drive innovation across art forms. The film brought together DJing, emceeing, dance, fashion, and knowledge to examine Hip Hop’s global cultural impact.
Maia continues to expand and innovate locally, nationally, and internationally through initiatives including The Art of KRUMP training program in collaboration with McKnight Fellow Herbert “FairWarning” Johnson III , The SOTA Movement: Minnesota’s Street Dance Festival, featuring the Uprizing Krump Battle created by nationally and internationally respected Minnesota Krump leaders Herbert “FairWarning” Johnson III and Ololade “Gambit” Gbadamosi, and Culture Collab, an artist engagement experience connecting Minnesota artists with international practitioners of Hip Hop and street art forms.
In 2024, Maia led a multi-element Minnesota Hip Hop delegation to Cuba focused on diaspora, music, dance, and Hip Hop culture in collaboration with scholar Dr. Melisa Riviere of Son Dos Alas. That same year, she brought a collective of Minnesota artists and cultural producers to South Africa to lead panels, workshops, and performances as part of the ONE Kasi: Arts and Culture Summit. Created in partnership with multidisciplinary Soweto artist Charles Mafafane of Ubuntu Arts Empowerment, the summit is the first of its kind and is free to all attendees.
Maia has received numerous honors recognizing her leadership and impact, 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), City Pages People Issue Honoree (2020), The Coven Radical Leader Award (2024), and Women We Admire’s Top Women Leaders (2024).
She is also the first person from Hip Hop culture to serve as Board Chair of Saint Paul Cultural STAR and the first from Hip Hop culture to serve on the boards of Forecast Public Art and the Twin Cities Jazz Festival.
A trusted voice in arts leadership, Maia has served on numerous grant and fellowship panels both in Minnesota and nationally. She is also a skilled grant writer whose work has collectively secured six-figure support for groundbreaking arts initiatives, fueling creativity and catalyzing cultural change across communities.