Anya Allegra Saugstad is an emerging dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver BC, on the unceeded territory of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh' (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh (Ssleil-Waututh), and xwməθkwəyə̓ m (Musqueum) First Nations. 

 

Anya trained at ArtsUmbrella, and holds a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University. She also trained at The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and in Gaga technique in San Francisco, Israel, and New York. Anya has toured with Action at a Distance with Vanessa Goodman through the USA, Canada, and Germany performing “Graveyards and Gardens” and “Core/Us” (2021-2023). 

 

Anya Saugstad is the Artistic Director of a non profit dance organization called Furious Grace Dance Theatre. 

 

Furious Grace / Anya Saugstad creates live, digital, and site adaptive performance works that foster space for emerging female and non binary artists to tell their stories through movement. Anya is interested in creating vigorous and highly physical movement to express stories that encompass strength, yearning, and urgency. She uses dance to access the wild animal states of being alive, and encourages her collaborators to show rawness and vulnerability as femme presenting bodies in performance. Anya’s site specific work Ocean Roaring, and Moss Body Breathes are inspired by nature, and she creates work that moves others to engage with the earth. These works both question human beings' impact on mother nature, and tell stories about the climate crisis we face. 

 

Furious Grace Dance Theatre's core group of collaborators include female emerging artists Cindy Kao, Daria Mikhaylyuk, Eowynn Enquist, Nasiv Sall, Sabine Raskin, Sophia Saugstad, Shana Wolfe, and Shion Skye Carter. Anya also works closely with Stefan Nazarevich who creates original compositions for many of her works and Vista Point Studios, and MPC to create short films centered around dance on screen.

 

Anya has been a guest choreographer and created works for LamonDance, ArtsUmbrella, Simon Fraser University, Method Dance Company, and Coastal City Ballet, and upcoming Ballet Edmonton. Anya’s work has been presented through The Dance Deck (Belle Spirale), The Scotiabank Dance Center, Crimson Coast Dance, The Hearth, Dancing on the Edge Festival, The Rotary Center for the Arts, F-O-R-M film Festival, The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Vines Art Festival. Anya has toured her work across BC and to Montreal Quebec. Anya Saugstad is the recipient of the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award for 2023/24.