The Ailey School

Tyra Els is from Sint Maarten, Dutch Caribbean. She began her formal dance training at Dance Theater of St. Maarten at age 12. Tyra has attended various dance workshops and summer intensives such as: Create Outlet Dance Theater of Brooklyn, Dance Excellence LA, Art Saves Lives, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The Ailey School, and Alonzo King Lines Contemporary Ballet. She is also the recipient of the Be The Change Foundation: Big Dream Scholarship 2016 as well as The Art Saves Lives Outstanding Performance Award 2013-14. Immediately after graduating from St. Dominic High School, she moved to New York to attend The Ailey School’s Certificate Program where she performed works by Hollie Wright, Brice Mousset, Johnathan Lee, Earl Mosley, Amy Hall, Clifton Brown, Winston Dynamite Brown, and Alvin Ailey’s Memoria in 2016 with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. During Tyra's senior year at Ailey, she was a member of The Ailey Student Performance Group where she was performed Alvin Ailey's Revelations and Night Creature. Upon graduating with honors, she has gone on to work with choreographers such as Earl Mosley and companies such as Barkin/Selissen Project, DoubleTake Dance, An Nuo Spiritual Dance and Art, and Salvatore LaRussa Dance Company.  Tyra is currently an apprentice with Rioult Dance Company.