USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

From February 22-26, a group of USC Kaufman Board of Councilors and supporters traveled across the country to celebrate the School’s New York City Debut at the historic Joyce Theater.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance BFA program was conceived with a conservatory-style emphasis on dance, but is embedded in a top-tier university. What exactly does this mean? BFA students at USC Kaufman take on technique, repertory, improvisation, and composition. Simultaneously, they meet the general education requirements of the university.

Several USC Kaufman BFA students and faculty will participate in interdisciplinary performances across Los Angeles. Learn more about these exciting events.

At the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, BFA dance majors participate in several types of performances. Aside from the obvious fall and spring repertory showings, performance opportunities present themselves in several ways.

The Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center is not only home to USC Kaufman dance majors. Step into the building and you’ll also find hundreds of non-major dance students who have enrolled in one of the school’s many technique and lecture courses. Whether you’ve been dancing your whole life or you’ve yet to try your first step, USC Kaufman offers a wide range of levels and styles.

This year, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and USC Thornton School of Music embark on the third iteration of their annual Choreographers & Composers concert: a collaboration between music and dance students which yields an evening of new works.

Herman and Rasiej became Founder’s Circle members at USC Kaufman with the establishment of The Joan E. Herman and Richard Rasiej Endowed Dance Scholarship in 2017. Read more about these Founder’s Circle members in this Q&A with Herman.

BFA students and USC Kaufman’s Vice Dean and Artistic Director talk about the school’s upcoming performance at The Joyce Theater. Watch this video to hear from Stephanie Dai, Trevor Daw, Juan Posada Penagos, Jackie Schiffner and Lenai Wilkerson, as well as Jodie Gates.

This month, USC Kaufman juniors and seniors will perform d. Sabela grimes’ Ritual Embrace onstage at The Joyce Theater. The piece’s history suggests a full-circle culmination for these BFA students—or in grimes’ words, “a golden spiral.”

For her senior project, Brianna Mims is combining her talents of art and activism to shed light on an important social issue ­– incarceration. In collaboration with other artists and designers, Mims will be hosting an art exhibition that asks audiences to consider the intention behind incarceration.

Aszure Barton’s choreography is notorious for its complexity: count structures, canons, minute flicks of the fingers and toes. Walk into one of her rehearsals at USC Kaufman and you’ll hear a dissonant symphony of students vocalizing their counts.

Austyn Rich (BFA ‘ 19) has championed a unique style since entering the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance on day one; a quirky and powerful movement quality coupled with a knack for fashion have made him one to watch in the last four years.

This May, the BFA class of 2019 will be the first cohort of students to graduate from the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. In anticipation of the next step for young graduates, USC Kaufman’s Office of Career Services kicked into gear this semester, assembling resources for students’ transition into the job market.

Glorya Kaufman’s commitment to dance is no secret—from universities to performing arts venues nationwide, her philanthropic gestures have supported institutions in the dance community for years. This year, she continues her support with a new gift of tuition scholarships for BFA students.

BFA student Mariana Carrillo visited China to walk (and dance) the runway last year, and she’s even planning her seventh return to Gala de Danza in her hometown this spring. Carrillo’s travels have helped her see the perks of hybrid artistry, she says; an ability to improvise on the spot has worked in her favor on numerous occasions.

As a member of USC Kaufman’s inaugural class graduating spring 2019, Alvarez-Mena is in the process of developing her senior project, called Kaufman Care–a program that makes mental health services exclusively available to BFA students at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

Each senior at USC Kaufman was tasked with creating a final project that combined three areas that interest them. Jackie Schiffner is combining her passions for dance, education and psychology to create a dance outreach program for elementary schoolers.

USC Kaufman BFA senior Rachel Walton is no stranger to technology. She attended a math and science preparatory high school before joining the inaugural class of dance majors at USC in 2015. As graduation approaches, Walton is planning to present her love of dance with a tech-savvy twist as her senior project.

This December, USC Kaufman students will appear in several productions of the Nutcracker, in Southern California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

USC Kaufman professor E. Moncell Durden has incorporated theory from several disciplines into his research on dances born of the African diaspora.

November 30, 2018 – USC Kaufman minors and other non-major dance students showcase what they have learned during their elective dance classes.

Kaufman Connections is a new initiative for community engagement, whose pilot program is partnering with 32nd Street Elementary School on a 24-week, hip-hop dance program led by USC Kaufman BFA students.

November 14 – 17, 2018 – BFA dance students present their Fall Dance Performance, featuring works by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jodie Gates, d. Sabela grimes, Matthew Neenan, Crystal Pite and Paul Taylor.

Jamie Bishton, the newest addition to USC Kaufman’s Board of Councilors, brings years of dance expertise with a successful career in business. Bishton will work alongside Dean Robert Cutietta and other board members to advance the school’s mission.

Internationally acclaimed dancer, and Academy Award and Tony Award nominee, Mikhail Baryshnikov will deliver the commencement address at the first graduation ceremony of the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. The ceremony will take place at USC’s University Park Campus on Friday, May 10, 2019.

USC Kaufman BFA students performed at Laguna Dance Festival’s “Stars of Dance” on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7. The final performance was followed by a reception at the beachfront home of Nancy and Mike Meyer.

Last fall, Israeli choreographer Barak Marshall set excerpts of his full-length work “Monger” on USC Kaufman BFA students. This semester, he returns to teach the work again—this time, as an Artist in Residence. The opportunity to teach at USC Kaufman as a faculty member, he said, was too good to pass up.

October 12, 2018 – BFA students present their midterm “Works In Progress” with works by Barak Marshall, William Forsythe, George Balanchine, Crystal Pite, Jodie Gates, and Paul Taylor.

October 11, 2018 – Choreographers from the Sophomore BFA class present their own works onstage at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center. 

Emma Portner is everywhere this season: she’s working with New York City Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, she’s on the cover of Dance Magazine, and she just finished a commission for Fondation Beyeler—a dance film called “Femme Debout.” If you look closely, you’ll be able to pick out a familiar face among the five dancers: Jordan Johnson, USC Kaufman class of 2019, helped create the work and performed in it alongside Portner.