Alicia ‘ayo’ Ohs (A.O./they/she) is a director, performer, and socially-engaged artist interested in what makes people laugh, cry, and continue. ayo is currently working on The Silent Unseen, a project tracing the history of Asian femme migration through untold stories and unheard voices.

ayo has presented choreography, original songwriting, and spatialized audio compositions in their NYC studio, and in venues throughout NY and San Francisco, where their work was described as “feisty, clever and poignant” by the SF Bay Guardian.

ayo has collaborated closely with Andrew Schneider, including co-direction for NERVOUS/SYSTEM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and developing the lead role in AFTER (EMPAC/The Public Theatre). From 2013-2018, ayo was a collaborative cast member in Faye Driscoll’s Thank You For Coming trilogy at venues such as the Venice Biennale, Onassis Center Athens, The Wexner, The Walker, ICA Boston, among other national and international tours.

As an anti-racist organizer, ayo is currently a co-facilitator of Radical Love and Equity: A Heart Centered Approach to Racism and Racist Ideas and is a former trainer-in-training with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. ayo has developed workshops in healing justice, anti-racism, and vision work for community-based non-profits including the Audre Lorde Project, MINKA Brooklyn, and as a founding member of Movement Research’s Artist of Color Council.

ayo has been teaching yoga for 19 years and is the founder of Anti-Oppression Yoga, a network of free online videos and classes. They are a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Experimental Theatre Wing, and currently study Somatic Abolitionism with Resmaa Menakam and music production at Berklee College of Music Online. ayo lives in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn.