Teaching
I, Martheya Nygaard, am a dance entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, and multidisciplinary artist committed to expanding how dance is created, shared, and experienced. At the core of my work is the belief that dance holds the power to challenge conventions, spark conversation, and expand audience interpretation. I lead with innovation, collaboration, and a dedication to digital integration.
My aesthetic philosophy—distortion—serves as both a choreographic approach and a lens for curatorial and leadership practices. Rooted in feminist perspectives, distortion invites a reimagining of beauty through the grotesque, complex, and often uncomfortable. I deconstruct balletic norms by creating choreography that twists, warps, and distorts the body, producing movement that resists classical expectations. Through stage work, screendance, site-specific installations, and digital platforms, I invite audiences to reframe what dance can look and feel like.
As a co-founder and Managing Director of kNOwBOX dance, a nonprofit that centers digital dance and global collaboration, I lead strategic vision, programming, and artist support initiatives. Our multidisciplinary approach combines dance, technology, storytelling, and education to increase access and representation within the arts. I also co-host the kNOwBOX dance Dance Behind the Screen Podcast, where we amplify diverse voices in dance, challenge norms in art-making, and document dance histories in real time.
My work as a curator, producer, educator, and author is deeply informed by my choreographic practice. Whether I’m developing new programming, creating community partnerships, or publishing research, I am driven by the same core question: how can dance be a space for expanded interpretation, empathy, and understanding?
My entrepreneurial practice also includes fostering new models of dance leadership—ones that prioritize equity, experimentation, and sustainability. Through the framework of distortion, I bring this philosophy to every aspect of my work: organizing, writing, collaborating, presenting, and producing.
As an artist who continues to perform in both my own work and the work of others, I maintain a connection to the dancer’s experience. This embodiment is essential to how I lead creative processes—centering collaboration, autonomy, and co-authorship within artistic development.
Ultimately, my mission is to challenge the boundaries of dance as both an art form and an industry. Through nonprofit leadership, digital innovation, and aesthetic risk-taking, I strive to offer work that invites reflection, redefinition, and radical imagination.
Video by Asiyah Martin
Martheya has taught at festivals, institutions, & organizations including:
Contact me for masterclasses, workshops, lectures, or additional teaching needs.
American College Dance Association Conference (ACDA) -- College Station, Texas, USA
Arts Mission Oak Cliff - Oak Cliff, Texas, USA
Big Rig Dance Co-Op -- Arlington, Texas, USA
Cistercian Preparatory School -- Irving, Texas, USA
Collin College -- Plano, Texas, USA
Dance Gathering -- Dallas, Texas, USA
Dance Planet -- Dallas, Texas, USA
Eastfield College -- Mesquite, Texas, USA
Plano East High School -- Plano, Texas, USA
Richland College -- Dallas, Texas, USA
Sam Houston State University -- Huntsville, Texas, USA
Tarrant County College -- Arlington, Texas, USA
Texas Woman's University -- Denton, Texas, USA
Universidad de las Américas -- Cholula, Puebla, Mexico
University of North Texas -- Denton, Texas, USA
World Dance Alliance Americas -- El Paso, Texas, USA