Check Out Ajah Muhammad-Hays’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ajah Muhammad-Hays.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Born in Sacramento, CA, I was trained in a variety of dance forms (including but not limited to) ballet, classical and post-modern, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop, afro-brazilian (orixa), and West African dances. I began dancing at Blackwell’s Dance Academy at eight years old in Inglewood, starting with tap and ballet. During my pre-teen years, I picked up an interest in modern and jazz.

Upon moving to Phoenix, AZ I’ve continued to dance at South Pointe High School on the official dance team and Cheer Squad. Throughout my four years of high school, I also took ballet at the School of Ballet Arizona and modern at Scorpius Dance Theatre. While at Ballet Arizona, I learned a variety of other things pertaining to arts administration through an Internship with the Business Manager. I’ve also worked part-time as a receptionist there. After graduating high school in 2007, I attended Arizona State University as a Dance major in the Herberger Institute of the Arts. Along my journey as a college student, I took the opportunity to apprentice with Lisa Chow’s Desert Dance Theatre for two years. I was also blessed to travel to Toubab Dialaw, Senegal for a six-week Professional African Dance Program entitled “Crossing Paths” at L’ecole Des Sables (School of the Sand) with Germaine and Patrick Acogny. I was able to learn traditional West African dances, Modern African Dance (Acogny Technique), improvisational structures, dance-nature connections, African Dance Composition, and much more. While learning in Senegal, the key element that I learned about was the connection between nature and people. I graduated with a BFA degree in Performance and Choreography in May of 2012.

On July 1, 2012, I went back to Los Angeles, CA to attend Lula Washington Dance Theatre and participated in the summer intensive program for the Pre-Professional Program. Afterward, I continued training at LWDT’s apprenticeship program.

In April 2013, I met Linda Yudin, the Artistic Director of Viver Brasil Dance Company, and was graciously invited to audition for their Upcoming Performance at the Ford Amphitheater. While performing in an Afro-Brazilian dance company, I came across the same concept of human and earth connection through orixa dances, which come from a West African religious system from the Yoruba people of present-day Nigeria. This can spiritually allow you access to ancestral messages through song and dance. This can also allow you to be fully expressive with the ancient essence of dance. This includes the many different styles of samba, Orixa songs/dances of the Candomble spiritual system, and its revolutionary history. Performances with the Company include the Ford Amphitheater, Nate Holden Theatre, The Alex Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for Moves After Dark in 2016, and the Hollywood Bowl for Sergio Mendes’ Anniversary of Brasil ’66 in dedication to the 2016 Olympics. I have also performed with the Company in the Viva Navidad Holiday Parade for the Festival of Lights at Disney’s California Adventure Park every year since 2013.

Throughout my life as a professional dancer, I’ve also danced with other emerging choreographers in Los Angeles. One of them is Stacey Strickland, who is the Artistic Director of Striktly Addikted Dance Theatre who has performed in Santa Barbara, the San Pedro Arts Festival, and many others. Another Choreographer is James MahKween of Eternity Dance Company. He has performed in Santa Barbara, the SoCal Dance Invitationals, and has hosted his own dance Concerts at Hyperion Arts Space in Santa Monica entitled “Reflect.” I’ve also worked with Holly Seeley in her latest Sand Dance Project entitled “Decoherence.”

Other opportunities in Los Angeles I’ve had was being a part of the cast of Cox Production’s Beautiful Poison Part I, II, and III from 2015-2017, where I played a devout Christian girl who struggled to come into her own identity as a woman through praise dance.

As of 2023, I still continue to dance in the Viva Navidad Holiday Parade at Disney’s California Adventure Park with Viver Brasil Dance Company.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the main challenges I had while dancing was being able to get a constant challenge in technique development. Because my parents couldn’t afford the best quality dance school or studio, I attended public schools or recreation centers to take classes. As a result, the classes consist of mixed-level students, and catering to multiple levels in one class can be a challenge.

Along with that, my family always moved around, which made it tough to stay in a dance program long enough to progress. This also caused me to be in and out of shape as a dancer every couple of years. This naturally leads to having a hard time executing movement easily as well as continuing the process of coming out of my childhood “shyness” to become better at expressing myself.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
While most people know me as a versatile dancer, I have also painted Acrylic works for the past year, and I am also a runway model.

Within my ten-year dance career, I am most proud of participating in the Viva Navidad parade’s ten-year anniversary at Disney California Adventure Park, after performing in it with Viver Brasil multiple times since 2013, the year it began. I appreciate the experience because this was and has always been a very fun experience during the holiday season.

I am also excited about my Etsy shop I recently opened, where I am selling some of my canvas art prints, which consist of mostly landscape and Islamic-influenced canvas art. I began painting consistently during the pandemic to find other ways to be more artistically productive. During a time where I was not able to be as mobile as I normally am, I experimented with Acrylic painting based on Islamic surrealism and landscape.

What sets me apart from others is that I strive to be spiritually connected when I dance. While it is common for people to dance for self-expression or for a creative outlet, I find that connecting spiritually with dance helps me to be grounded and synchronized with the earth’s energy. I used to wonder what motivated me to dance, and I realized it was understanding the true essence of it and overall body movement and the role it plays spiritually to society.

What were you like growing up?
As a child, I was very quiet and did what I was told or what was expected of me. Typically, it was because I was expected to be well-behaved. This easily led me to read a lot of books. I had a very bright imagination and loved fictional stories. I got straight As in everything. I appreciated a lot of science and astronomy in particular, because I loved seeing how the universe came together in a chaotic yet organized way. I started dancing at seven years old because I was enrolled in another school in the middle of the year, and their curriculum consisted of tap dance. When I began to take dance classes, it was different for me because I didn’t have to stay to myself. It gave me the freedom to socialize and to express myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ajahm.weebly.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ajahbintashabazz
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ajahbintashabazz/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ajahbintashabazz8669?si=gWdOSumD3hVSujSJ
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/bintashabazzpaints/

Image Credits
Gia Trovela Marcos Lozano