About Elya

Elya Osmanova is an Azerbaijani dancer, actor, model, and a writer based in New York.

As a dancer she has worked with artists such as Najla Gilliam, Sun Kim, J9 Dance, Chun Yun CHun, Elsa Nilsson, Deepak Chopra and many others. Elya was part of ‘Sand Box’ film directed by Steve Selman, which was screened as part New York Mobile Film Festival and Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival in 2021. The interview can be found at iHeart.

Elya’s first narrative film acting debut ‘My Heart Is My Only Country’ directed by Iva Gocheva, was screened as part of Rooftop Film Series in Central Park as well in New Orleans Film Festival, summer of 2022.

Elya was a selected dancer at Jazz Foundation of America in 2019. She was also a guest performer for a musical Gunfighter Meets His Match at Joe’s Pub, which was one of the musicals selected in New York Musical Festival in 2018.

As a model, Elya can be seen at SPIEGEL online magazine with Jacopo Paglione, VISION online magazine with Paul B Goode, Malvie magazine with Steve Selman.

As a poet, Elya’s latest poem ‘What If’ was published in Artistic Tribe NYC newspaper. Her poem ‘Fire Island’ can also be listened on band camp, as part of SPELL.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Elya did her BA in Film Studies at Kingston University/London and partial of her studies in Photography and Radio at Istanbul Bilgi University. While being a student, she was also heavily focusing on salsa and other Latin dance styles. She trained under Mario (known as Super Mario) in London and soon after started teaching at his studio salsa4fun.

After her graduation she moved to New York to concentrate on dance full time. She did two programs both at Peridance and Broadway Dance Center. Elya also, trained under Nadine Bommer Dance Company for a couple of months. Her latest training includes Gaga dance intensive with Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, summer of 2022.

Elya is currently freelancing and focusing on her own creations along diving into poetry and creative direction.