Why You Should Know Hip-Hop Headliner Aliyah Rose Maese
Whether she’s tearing it up in class or shining on the small screen in Disney Channel’s “Disney Fam Jam,” Aliyah Rose Maese is a high-octane bundle of spunk who was born to dance. No, really: Only a few years after she started training, Aliyah booked her first professional gig, Nickelodeon’s “Lip Sync Battle Shorties,” after auditioning for it on a whim during an L.A. road trip. Aliyah has also performed at the Radio Disney Music Awards with Meghan Trainor, the Kids’ Choice Awards with DJ Khaled, and The Greatest Showman live commercial with Hugh Jackman.
Fast Facts
Full name:
Aliyah Rose Maese
Age:
12
Birthday:
May 13, 2008
Hometown:
Las Vegas, NV
Trains at:
Studio 702, Las Vegas, NV
How she started dancing:
“I started dancing when I was 3. I would always play ‘Just Dance’ with my sister, so my parents thought it was a good idea to put me in class.”
Favorite performance:
“When I was 10, I got to dance with Katy Perry and a bunch of my friends at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. Katy was super-nice and hung out with us for the day. She even bought us pizza!”
Three words to describe her dancing:
Full-out, energetic, big
Favorite thing about dance:
“How we feed off of each other’s energy when we’re dancing. We’re a big community, and I love how we can grow just by being around each other.”
Favorite styles:
Hip hop and jazz
Aliyah on “Disney Fam Jam” (Kiahna Campbell, courtesy Aliyah)
Nondance hobbies:
Coloring, hanging out with friends, track/cross-country
Favorite movie and show:
Lilo & Stitch, “K.C. Undercover”
Favorite musical artist:
J. Cole and Don Toliver
Place she’d love to visit:
Bora Bora
Dance idols:
Ysabelle Capitulé and Johnny “JBlaze” Erasme
Advice for other dancers:
“Jump out of your comfort zone, especially with styles. I used to not like to train in other styles besides hip hop, but then I realized that it’s okay to step out of your comfort zone and explore with styles and your own movement.”
Where she sees herself in the future:
“I’d love to work in the movie industry, maybe as a producer.”
Future plans for the year:
“I haven’t been fully training in six months, so I want to get back into a routine, back into school and, hopefully, back to L.A. to take some classes, too.”
Something no one knows about her:
“When I was younger, before I could read books, I could read music. And before I started dancing more, I used to play the drums and soccer.”
