Native New Yorker, John Selya trained at the School of American Ballet from 1980-1988. In his final year, he received the Mae L. Wien award for outstanding promise. John then joined American Ballet Theatre, where he performed and created works by Balanchine, Robbins, Tharp, and Mark Morris, Tetley, Kudelka, and Kylian as well as the classical repertoire. In addition to making a name for himself as a dancer, John choreographed three works for the company: Moondance, Disposition and Don’t Panic. He then went on to join Twyla Tharp Dance. This work led to creating and performing the central role of Eddie in Tharp’s Tony winning Broadway show, "Movin’ Out." His performance earned him a Tony nomination for best actor in a musical, an Astaire award for outstanding dancing on a Broadway stage and a Theater World Award for outstanding Broadway debut. Since then Mr. Selya has appeared as the Mambo dancer in "Damn Yankees", Scranton Slim in "Guys and Dolls" and Sid in Twyla Tharp's recent  "Come Fly Away." In 2008, John was an "Artist -in- Residence" at New York's Joyce SoHo, where he created two works: "Tweaker" and "La Voix Humaine." In addition to appearing on stage, John also has appeared on screen in the movies' "Everyone Says I Love You", "Across the Universe" and "Romance and Cigarettes."

John recently staged and directed the Royal Danish Ballet's production of Tharp's "Come Fly Away" where the production had a historic run and earned numerous awards for the artists involved.