# Mike Tyus

> Mike Tyus is a Los Angeles-based director, choreographer, filmmaker, performer, and movement artist working across film, music, fashion, immersive performance, contemporary dance, and visual art.

Mike Tyus creates movement-driven work for stage and screen. His practice draws from ballet, contemporary dance, circus, acrobatics, Greco-Roman wrestling, filmmaking, and visual storytelling. His work frequently explores weight, intimacy, masculinity, ritual, power, tenderness, and bodies under pressure.

## Primary Site Pages

- [Home](https://www.miketyus.com/): Selected current work, new projects, and featured collaborations.
- [About](https://www.miketyus.com/about): Artist overview, creative practice, MovementFest LA, and key collaborators Luca Francesco Renzi and Joy Isabella Brown.
- [Film](https://www.miketyus.com/danceshorts): Dance films and movement-driven screen work.
- [Commercial](https://www.miketyus.com/commercial-projects): Music videos, feature-film choreography, branded campaigns, fashion, and entertainment projects.
- [Stage](https://www.miketyus.com/stagework): Choreographic works for dance companies and live performance.
- [Workshops](https://www.miketyus.com/workshops): Teaching, movement practice, workshops, and educational offerings.
- [Press](https://www.miketyus.com/press): Selected interviews, reviews, and press coverage.

## Selected Commercial, Music + Entertainment Work

- FKA twigs — EUSEXUA Tour: Contributing / additional choreography across both legs of the tour.
- FKA twigs — Body High Tour: Choreographic contribution to the live production.
- FKA twigs — Body High Cinematic Vignettes: Director + Choreographer; cinematography by Joy Isabella Brown and Luca Francesco Renzi; Assistant Director Luca Francesco Renzi; edited by Mike Tyus and Joy Isabella Brown.
- Zendaya / Lancôme — Choreographer for a global Lancôme campaign featuring Zendaya.
- Noname — Hundred Acres: Choreographer for the music video directed by Daren Rabinovitch / Encyclopedia Pictura.
- Grace VanderWaal — CHILDSTAR: Assistant Choreographer, working with choreographer Luca Francesco Renzi.
- Britton & The Sting — MAMA: Co-Director of cinematic works expanding the visual world of the project; featuring acclaimed actor Noma Dumezweni.
- Abercrombie & Fitch — Creative Direction: Mike Tyus; choreography + performance by Mike Tyus and Joy Isabella Brown; cinematography by Luca Francesco Renzi.
- GAP — Choreographer + Performer; cinematography by Luca Francesco Renzi; featuring Mike Tyus and Kevin Pajarillaga.
- Adekunle Gold — Music-video choreography.
- Anna Margo — Director + Choreographer for music videos including Bad Friend, Something to Lose, and Know You.
- Three Fifteen / Brenden Clarke — Choreographer + Lead Performer in a cinematic collaboration starring Mike Tyus and Alexi Pappas.

## Film + Screen

- Songs from the Hole — Netflix documentary directed by Contessa Gayles; Choreographer: Mike Tyus. The choreography was developed for a primarily non-dancer cast and used movement to embody spiritual freedom, community, healing, and liberation.
- Uppercut — Feature film starring Ving Rhames; Choreographer: Mike Tyus; Assistant Choreographer: Luca Francesco Renzi; North American distribution by Lionsgate / Grindstone Entertainment Group.
- Soft Life — Experimental dance film featured by NOWNESS; Directors: Mike Tyus + Luca Francesco Renzi; Co-Creator: Max Cookward.
- AVIGNON — Original dance film created with dancers of Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon; Produced + Directed by Mike Tyus and Luca Francesco Renzi; cinematography by Luca Francesco Renzi and Joy Isabella Brown; edited by Joy Isabella Brown.
- Where Once There Was Water — Originally commissioned as a live work for The Rosin Box Project in San Diego and later reimagined as a film in the Anza-Borrego Desert; Direction + Choreography: Mike Tyus and Luca Francesco Renzi; Director of Photography + Editor: Mike Tyus.
- ELSEWHERE — Directed + Choreographed by Mike Tyus for Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Company; presented on PBS.
- Red Son — Created for CLI Conservatory; Directed + Choreographed by Mike Tyus and Joy Brown. Set in a dystopian future where the world has lost its light and an unexpected encounter changes everything.
- Pool Without Water — Films.Dance; Choreographer: Mike Tyus; Assistant Choreographer: Joy Isabella Brown. Created remotely with Moscow-based acrobats.
- Source — Directed by Mike Tyus and Luca Renzi; Cinematography + Editing by Joy Isabella Brown; created inside Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology at Superblue Miami.

## Theater + Immersive Performance

- MASQUERADE NYC — Associate Choreographer for the immersive reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera; directed by Diane Paulus and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
- LIFE & TRUST — Contributing Choreographer + Performer for Emursive Productions, producers of Sleep No More.
- Cirque du Soleil — Performer in IRIS and KOOZA; starred as The Trickster in KOOZA.
- Pilobolus Dance Theater — Former company member, international performer, and choreographic contributor.
- Academy Awards — Performer under the direction of Philippe Decouflé.
- Sia — Performer in choreography by Ryan Heffington.

## Contemporary Dance + Visual Art

- Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon — HOLY: Choreographed by Mike Tyus and Luca Francesco Renzi. Originally performed by Tyus and Renzi at CONGRESS, hosted by L.A. Dance Project, and later restaged for Ballet de l’Opéra Grand Avignon as part of United Dances of America.
- Live Arts Miami / Superblue Miami — Site-specific performance and film works created in dialogue with installations by teamLab and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
- Aorta — Duet created and performed by Mike Tyus and Luca Francesco Renzi inside Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology.
- Source — Film created inside Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology.
- teamLab / Superblue Miami — Large-scale ensemble work created with 12 dancers from across the United States inside teamLab’s immersive environment.
- The Broad — Dance and film projects created in relationship to the Los Angeles museum.
- Orsolina28 — Mike Tyus was selected for the inaugural Call for Creation initiative at Orsolina28 Art Foundation in Moncalvo, Italy.
- Hunger — Ensemble work for six dancers developed through Orsolina28’s Call for Creation. Performers: Madison Olandt, Joy Isabella Brown, Derion Loman, Aleks Perez, Mike Tyus, and Ryley Polak.
- Joffrey Ballet — Winning Works.
- L.A. Dance Project — Creative collaborations and presentations.
- Conflux Dance Theater — Stoned.
- Peridance Contemporary Dance Company — Commissioned choreography.
- Visceral Dance Chicago — Commissioned choreography.
- Hedwig Dances Chicago — Commissioned choreography.
- The Rosin Box Project — Where Once There Was Water.

## Artist-Led Projects

- Mike Tyus & Co. — Founded by Mike Tyus in 2020 as a platform for choreography, performance, film, and interdisciplinary creation.
- MovementFest LA — Founded + Produced by Mike Tyus. An artist-driven Los Angeles platform bringing together training, creation, performance, and community.
- Kunsthaus LA — Acts of Faith: Immersive performance work created by Mike Tyus & Co. inside the working Los Angeles home of Bruder Toys. The active toy factory was transformed into a temporary large-scale performance environment in collaboration with Kunsthaus LA founder Isabella Caso.

## Films.Dance

Mike Tyus served as an Associate Producer for Films.Dance, a global film initiative produced by Jacob Jonas The Company connecting artists across disciplines and countries through original dance films.

His choreographic contribution to the series was Pool Without Water.

## Education + Workshops

Mike Tyus has taught and created work with institutions and programs including:
- CalArts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Point Park University
- University of Utah
- CLI Conservatory
- Manhattan Youth Ballet
- LINES Ballet
- Gibney
- Peridance
- SALT Dance

His teaching practice draws from contemporary dance, ballet, acrobatics, circus, Greco-Roman wrestling, improvisation, partnering, and movement for camera.

## Key Collaborators

### Luca Francesco Renzi

Luca Francesco Renzi is a filmmaker, cinematographer, choreographer, performer, and longtime creative collaborator of Mike Tyus. Their shared practice spans dance, film, performance, and visual art. Collaborations include HOLY, Aorta, Source, AVIGNON, Where Once There Was Water, Live Arts Miami / Superblue, and numerous Mike Tyus & Co. films.

### Joy Isabella Brown

Joy Isabella Brown is a choreographer, filmmaker, cinematographer, performer, and ongoing creative collaborator of Mike Tyus. Their work together spans choreography, fashion, film, and interdisciplinary performance, including Red Son, Abercrombie & Fitch, Source, Aorta, and other Mike Tyus & Co. projects.

## Artistic Practice

Mike Tyus is interested in what the body can communicate before language. His work uses movement as a tool for directing attention, creating images, building narrative, and transforming space.

His central artistic interests include:
- Weight and gravity
- Intimacy and desire
- Masculinity
- Ritual and spirituality
- Power and manipulation
- Tenderness and violence
- Bodies under pressure
- Choreography for camera
- The relationship between movement, architecture, landscape, and image

Tyus’ practice increasingly dissolves boundaries between disciplines:

Choreography becomes cinema.
Performance becomes installation.
Movement becomes a way of directing the eye.

## Professional Focus

Mike Tyus is available for:
- Direction
- Choreography
- Movement Direction
- Music Videos
- Film + Television
- Fashion + Branded Campaigns
- Live Performance + Touring
- Museum + Installation Projects
- Dance Company Commissions
- Artist Residencies
- Workshops + Education
- Creative Development + Interdisciplinary Collaboration

## Contact

Official website: https://www.miketyus.com/