From left to right: Darrell Grand Moultrie, Janie Taylor, Micaela Taylor

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance is built of more than brick and mortar. Within its walls, students, teachers, and choreographers are brought together by their shared passion for dance. This fall, we welcome Micaela Taylor, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and Janie Taylor to the USC Kaufman family as our Fall 2024 Artists-in-Residence. Globally renowned in their respective fields, all three will engage with BFA students, set repertory, and teach masterclasses this academic year.

The work of this semester’s Artists-in-Residence will debut this winter, as USC Kaufman returns to the Bing Theater for the Fall 2024 BFA Showcase from December 5-7.

Darrell Grand Moultrie

Born and raised in Harlem, Darrell Grand Moultrie is a distinguished choreographer and recipient of the 2007 Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award. His creative footprint spans across Ailey II, Juilliard Dance Ensemble, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, BalletX, and Cincinnati Ballet, among others.

His theatrical credits extend to productions like Invisible Thread (Second Stage Theater), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre), Sugar in Our Wounds (Manhattan Theatre Club), Witness Uganda (American Repertory Theater) and Evita and Pride and Prejudice (Kansas City Repertory Theater). Internationally, he has choreographed for the opera El Público at Teatro Real in Madrid and played a pivotal role in Beyoncé’s Mrs. Carter Show world tour.

Janie Taylor

Janie Taylor, a celebrated former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, currently serves as a rehearsal director and choreographer for the L.A. Dance Project. During her illustrious career with New York City Ballet, she originated roles in ballets by Peter Martins and Benjamin Millepied. Additionally, she performed lead roles in George Balanchine’s La Valse, La Sonnambula, Liebeslieder Walzer, Robert Schumann’s Davidsbundlertanze, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphony in Three Movements, Symphony in C, Divertimento no. 15, Brahms-Shoenberg Quartet, and many others. She also brought to life leading roles in Jerome Robbins’ The Cage, Opus 19 the dreamer, In the Night, Brandenburg, The Goldberg Variations, Dybbuk Variations, and others. Now a répétiteur, Taylor sets ballets on companies worldwide and has since embarked on a new career in design.

Micaela Taylor

Micaela Taylor is the Founder and Artistic Director of the TL Collective. A recipient of the Inaugural Springboard EMERGE Choreographic Award, Taylor was named in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2019, later gracing the magazine’s cover in April 2020. She has created her own dance genre Expand Practice, which exudes emotion from the core, creates varied physical shapes and forms textures as expressions of one’s authentic self. Her quirky style of exaggerated facial expressions, gesture, and athletic theatricality sets her work apart.

Taylor’s works have been presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Broad Stage, Ford Amphitheatre, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and more. Beyond leading her company, Taylor has been commissioned to choreograph and teach by Rambert Dance Company, The Getty Museum, BODYTRAFFIC, Springboard Danse Montreal/Gibney Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, B12 Festival Berlin and Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza.

USC Kaufman Artists in Residence are supported in part through generous funding from The Choi Family Artists in Residence Fund. Additional support for visiting artists is provided by Katherine and James Lau.