Maya Apodaca

Styles

Overview

Born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Maya Apodaca started dancing at a young age, but discovered a passion for ballroom dancing in high school. Maya began her teaching career in Albuquerque, New Mexico before relocating to the Dallas area. Maya has a love for children, and teaches the students of the Youth DanceSport Program, in addition to her work as the Director of Teaching for Drama Kids, a youth drama program.

Get To Know Maya in 22 Questions

What inspired you to become a dancer?

I started learning while at the Boys and Girls Club

What is your favorite thing about teaching?

Seeking the growth in people.

Do you have a mantra you live by or a favorite motto?

Just keep swimming Just keep swimming Just keep swimming swimming swimming

Who is the most inspiring person you know?

Too many to nail down 1.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Cat Island because they have cats!

What is your favorite thing to do on your day off?

I usually come into work...but I do like to read, see a good movie, and hang out with Cody and the cats.

What is on your grocery list?

Ice cream

What is your favorite T.V. show to binge watch?

Supernatural

What are two things not many people know about you?

1. I am a Gryffindor.
2. I teach an after-school drama program for kids

Where did you grow up?

Santa Fe, New Mexico

What is your secret talent?

I can fall asleep anywhere.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Ice cream

What is your weirdest habit?

There are no such thing as weird habits - only weird people...and who wants to be normal?

What celebrity embodies your inner rockstar?

Tigger from Winnie the Pooh

What is your go-to sing-in-the-shower song?

La la la

What is your favorite food/restaurant?

My own home-cooked food. Red chili enchiladas and potato soup.

What's on your bedside table?

It's a book about how to answer silly personal questions.!

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Director of a Boys' and Girls' Club and a Lawyer.

One word people use to describe you?

Unique

What never fails to get you out of a bad mood?

Can I use the answer "ice cream" again?

What are the top three things on your bucket list?

1. Sky dive
2. Take a vacation
3. Have a self-sustaining garden

What is the best advice you ever received?

I have two: "What doesn't kill you makes you stornger," and "You can find the positive in everything that happens."

Testimonials

“My husband and I took lessons at Studio 22 in preparation for our wedding. We started out taking a few of the classes in different styles to try a few things and ended up getting along really well with the swing instructors Maya and Cody. Maya worked with us on learning Jitterbug for our first dance. We didn't want a choreographed routine but we wanted to have a few moves to throw in moving about the dance floor. She was great about breaking the moves down and coming up with different ways to explain things if we were struggling and we really looked forward to our lessons. However, she really went above and beyond as we got closer to the wedding. My dad really wanted us to waltz for our father daughter dance but he lives out of state so there was no way for us to practice together and he was taking lessons at a studio near him. Maya was great at communicating, finding out what he was learning up there so she could teach us the same moves and we were able to schedule an appointment with her a few days before the wedding so she could help us work through any of the disconnects. We just got our wedding video back and we are all so proud at not only how great the dancing was but also how relaxed, confident and happy we look. I highly recommend Maya for private lessons if you'd like to wow at an upcoming event! The studio is also great and is always putting on fun events, we just joined them for a West Coast Swing lesson down in Deep Ellum as part of the Reimagine Crowdus project and had a blast - perfect date night!