Mario Quinn Lyles

Mario Quinn Lyles is a Dancer, Educator, Hip Hop Recording Artist, and visual artist/media designer. He received a B.S. in Media Arts & Animation from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2009. While in school full-time, Lyles began learning and teaching hip hop dance, where he started the school’s very first Hip Hop Dance Club. He has also taught at various dance studios including Pittsburgh Heat, Shape Fitness Center, Millennium Dance Complex, Los Sabrosos Dance Co. and Evolve Dance Complex in Cranberry Twp. In 2013, Lyles served as Production Assistant at Emmy Award winning facility Ya Momz House, LLC and Hip Hop Educator & Mentor at Hip Hop On L.O.C.K. He has been a mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh from 2005-2010 and served as a youth Choreographer for We Rock Workshop, a residency program led by Liz Berlin of the multi-platinum band Rusted Root. Currently he works as a Teaching Artist at The Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy School, Legacy Arts Project and has taught dance at Westinghouse Academy, Lighthouse Project, Sankofa Village and Propel Schools. Amongst other creative ventures, Lyles is the founder of Markav Clothing Co. an urban apparel brand based out of Pittsburgh PA. and Level Up Studios, a creative arts studio in Penn Avenues arts district, focusing on mentoring through dance, visual arts and creative writing. Lyles is a cohort member of KST’s Penn Ave Creative Fellowship 2014-15; a 2017-18 Heinz Fellow through The University Of Pittsburgh School Of Education, Center For Urban Education; and a recent recipient of NSR’s 2017 Transformative Teaching Artist Award supported by The Heinz Endowments.

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