Welcome to the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, home to a dedicated community of artists and scholars who are advancing dance as a complex global phenomenon — on the stage, in the classroom, and in the everyday lives it touches.

We begin a new chapter at USC Kaufman. Last year, we celebrated ten years since our founding in 2016; this year, we turn toward the next ten — a decade of artistic reinvention.

What does that look like, exactly? Our mission remains to train and educate future generations of leaders in this field. That is no small task. Dance — like the rest of the world — is changing quickly, and our job is not only to keep pace but to help set it. Much of that work is centered on practice-as-research, what we call PAR: the principle that the act of artistic creation is itself a form of knowledge gathering, one that transcends numbers and statistics.

This is also a year of exploration, familiar and new. We return to the Joyce Theater in New York City and travel across the globe with stops in India, Cairo, Egypt, and London, England. USC Kaufman continues to expand as an international school of dance, fulfilling the vision of our esteemed benefactor, Glorya Kaufman. 

I am also delighted to dive deeper into our recently enacted strategic plan — one built on meaningful engagement with our students, faculty, and staff — to guide USC Kaufman into its next decade of distinction. That work continues in earnest through Year Two: Creative Experimentation. You can find our Strategic Plan here on our website. 

Finally, we are thrilled to celebrate ten years of the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center this fall, a hub of artistic prominence since it opened in 2016. Glorya Kaufman’s vision was to build a place that served as an incubator for creative expression and freedom, open to all walks of life here in Los Angeles. She succeeded. Today, GKIDC hosts summer intensive programs from around the country, anchors community partnerships with 32nd Street Elementary School and the Pasadena Unified School District, and serves as home to Cypher Summit, our biennial festival celebrating women in hip-hop. On October 17, eXperience Kaufman Dance Center will offer an immersive look into this place we call home. We hope you’ll join us for a fitting celebration of a landmark decade.

2026-27 will be defined by purpose and progress. We can’t wait to begin and to see Glorya Kaufman’s legacy continue inspiring the young arts leaders of tomorrow.

Together, we Dance On …

Dr. Julia M. Ritter
Dean
USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance