Alyah Baker (she/her) is a dance artist, scholar, and choreographer working at the intersection of art and embodied activism. She is an assistant professor of dance at UNC Charlotte, where her research focuses on queer aesthetics, Black feminist praxis, and community building through dance. Baker earned her MFA in Dance('21) and a B.A. in Sociology ('03) from Duke University. She has trained and performed professionally with companies including Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Oakland Ballet, and Carolina Ballet Theater (now Carolina Ballet), dancing featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Laura Dean, José Limón, and Alonzo King. In 2021, Baker founded AB Contemporary Dance, a collaborative dance project that explores identity and belonging through storytelling and movement.

Her pedagogical and choreographic research has been featured in local and national media, including Dance Teacher Magazine and the New York Times. Baker's collaborative and solo works have been commissioned by the American Dance Festival, Queering Dance Festival, and Oakland Ballet, and have received generous support from the National Performance Network, the Kenan Institute of Ethics, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and the North Carolina Arts Council. Visit Alyah's website.