Melissa Ajayi

Melissa Ajayi is a performer, choreographer, and recreation therapist. She has worked as an independent artist since 2009, dancing in work by multiple companies/artists in New York City; Lexington, KY; and Cleveland,OH including Kimberly Bartosik/Daela, Antaeus Dance, Travesty Dance Group, Marquez Dance Project, Emily Jeffries, Sarah Holmes-Villanueva, Leanne Schmidt and Company and Blackbird Dance Theatre.
Since founding Ajayi Dance in 2021, Melissa’s choreography has been presented at CPT’s Danceworks, Blackbird Dance Theatre, Tridea Dance, Maelstrom Collaborative Arts, CDP Company Community Collab, Borderlight Festival, Ingenuity Fest, Pandemonium, and MicroTheater CLE and self-produced series of site-specific immersive experiences titled “Place in Time.”
With a dedication to process and collaboration, Ajayi Dance hosts inFORMal Fridays, an opportunity for dance artists to experiment and focus on process in a shared community space. Melissa teaches a weekly contemporary class, organizes a weekly community class led by a rotation of local artists, and has been a guest instructor/guest artist at many area institutions including Cleveland State University, Cleveland School of the Arts, Dancing Wheels, The Movement Project, and Bard High School Early College.
Melissa is a recipient of the 2023 Ohio Arts Council Artist Opportunity Award and a 2024 recipient of the Cleveland Public Theatre Individual Artist Fund Award.