USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

On Nov. 29, members of the Class of 2022 and the Class of 2023 will share original works and choreographic processes at the Advanced Composition Showing. This semester, Assistant Professor of Practice Dawn Stoppiello led the Advanced Composition course.

On Nov. 10, USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance’s Career Services team hosted a virtual presentation on entrepreneurship for dancers and other artists. Marianne Szymanski, an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the USC Marshall School of Business, spoke at the event where she advised students on how to become an entrepreneur and start their own businesses.

At the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, BFA students have the opportunity to collaborate with distinguished artists in the field. This semester, the Class of 2022 has been working with Artist in Residence Jermaine Spivey on a new work to be premiered via livestream on Nov. 30.

Julia Strickland, a lifelong patron and advocate of performing arts, became the newest member of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance Board of Councilors.

Second-year student Hayden Rivas (BFA ’24) discusses his experience creating a piece for the Sophomore Choreography Showing, in conjunction with the course Improvisation and Composition. The Sophomore Choreography Showing will take place Nov. 17 and 18 at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center.

Last month, The Actors Fund hosted a virtual panel titled Spotlight on Dance Professionals across the Country – Moving Forward in 2021. Bonnie Homsey, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, spoke at the event with other remote presenters.

My time at USC Kaufman is coming to a close, but until graduation comes, I will bask in the schedules that have carried me through my years here. A mix of dance technique, rehearsals and academic classes have been the backbone of my days from my first year to now. It is a structure that can be very rigorous, but I have come to love it!

We received an opportunity for USC Kaufman and USC Thornton students to produce and perform a Broadway-inspired song and dance number. The performance would air as part of the NBC Sports LA Fan Fest event taking place at the Coliseum, home to our USC Trojan Football team.

Each semester, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance offers many courses open not only to BFA students, but also to dance minors and all other USC students. USC Kaufman is especially excited to offer a handful of courses to elective students for the first time in Spring 2022. Read on to learn more about some of these new open courses.

It has been a whirlwind of a journey at USC Kaufman. It is still unbelievable to me that I am currently in my junior year. Reflecting on my journey thus far, I am filled with gratitude to see the knowledge I have gained through these essential years.

Earlier this year, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance announced that artist Kyle Abraham will join its faculty as the Claude and Alfred Mann Endowed Professor. As part of the school’s partnership with Abraham, he and his company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, will host their Winter Intensive at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center every December.

USC Kaufman Career Services hosted a heels master class taught by alumnus Mark Daftari (BFA ’19) and open to all BFA majors and dance minors. Dance minor Hannah Doerr discusses her experience in the class.

As a BFA student at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, our daily lives are filled with excitement, opportunities and new experiences. With a variety of academics, dance classes, extracurricular activities, social life, events and more, we get to be part of the USC Kaufman family and have an amazing college experience unlike any other in the country.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance announced the creation of the The Robert N. Braun, M.D. and Joan A. Friedman, Ph.D. Endowed Dance Scholarship Fund and awarded scholarships from similar donor-created funds to nine BFA students this fall. In total, nearly 20% of all USC Kaufman BFA students receive scholarships from such funds.

Cameron Cofrancesco (BFA ’22) shared his experience working with guest artist Peter Chu. According to Cofrancesco, “Working with guest artist Peter Chu was a lively and refreshing experience. Chu emphasizes connecting with the body on a deeper level and initiating movement in ways I’ve never been taught before.”

Yesterday, The Bessies awarded several faculty members of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Award recipients included Artist in Residence Hope Boykin, Artist in Residence Marjani Forté-Saunders and Associate Professor of Practice d. Sabela grimes.

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance faculty members Rosanna Tavarez and Amy O’Neal are being featured in REDCAT’s New Original Works (NOW) Festival. The festival spans three weekends; Tavarez’s piece titled “Piece X Piece” will perform on October 14-16, and O’Neal’s piece, “There is No Other (The Remix),” will show on October 21-23.

As part of our Repertory and Performance course this semester, third and fourth-year students get to work with many different guest artists on creating solo material. Elise Monson (BFA ’22) discusses working with guest artist Toyin Sogunro, a Los Angeles-based dance artist from Ladies of Hip-Hop.

Here at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, my schedule is pretty hectic. As a BFA student, I have a schedule filled with many dance and academic classes. This is a day in my life as a first year at USC Kaufman!

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance continues to welcome back in-person performances with Fall New Works. This semester, Associate Professor of Practice Patrick Corbin and Lecturer Amy O’Neal have been working with the Classes of 2024 and 2025 to create these new works to engage audiences in innovative ways since the pandemic.

Dance Magazine caught up with five recent grads to see where they’ve landed and how USC Kaufman and its career services department prepared them for their future in the dance industry. Read on to learn more about Aurora Vaughan (BFA ’21), Ausia Jones (BFA ’20, Adam Vesperman (BFA ’20), Jessica Muszynski (BFA ’19) and Zach Manske (BFA ’21).

Eli Alford (BFA ’22) shares his experience working with guest artist Kara Wilkes, the current rehearsal director for Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Wilkes taught choreography to upperclass BFA students through Zoom from Oakland, Calif. The solos will later be professionally filmed for the students’ reels.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance will host its very first Cypher Celebration on October 6 and 7. This event will bring the cypher, an integral part of hip-hop where dancers gather in a circle and take turns freestyling, to a performance stage. Lecturer Amy O’Neal serves as performance culture liaison for the USC Kaufman hip-hop faculty and is organizing this event.

Artist in Residence Penny Saunders joined the faculty at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance this fall. Through August and into September, she has collaborated in-person with the Class of 2023 on a new work. The piece will be performed through livestream on Saturday, September 18.

Outside the BFA program at the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, dancers can become involved in the dance community at USC in many ways. With over 15 dance clubs in various styles, dancers of all backgrounds can find their place on campus. 

In addition to previously announced Artist in Residence Penny Saunders and Lecturer Rosanna Tavarez, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance welcomes five new faculty members this fall. These include lecturers Molly Bogunovic, Ebony Haswell Frazier, Grasan Kingsberry, Jason Rodgers and Danté Rose. Each will bring their diverse perspectives to the School of Dance as the USC Kaufman community reopens their studios for in-person learning.

After a year of dancing on Zoom due to COVID-19, Lauren Brophy and Jenna Meilman (BFA ’23) began to feel the mental strain of online classes. As they looked toward their junior year at USC Kaufman, they felt eager to fill a leadership role at the school, especially surrounding mental health. After talking with their peers in the Class of 2023, Brophy and Meilman saw the toll of virtual classes and sought to create an outlet for their classmates.

Over the past two decades, USC Thornton School of Music Dean Robert Cutietta has led an inventive reimagining of arts education. As he gets ready to step down as dean at the end of the 2021-22 academic year, Cutietta is quick to point out that the major changes happening during his watch have been far from a solo effort. Faculty members and administrators sharing his vision made it possible to push groundbreaking programs forward.

To kick off the new school year, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance will host a variety of events in tandem with the greater university’s Welcome Experience. The Welcome Experience is a six week schedule of programs intended to support students as they acclimate to the new year. Welcome Experience events will take place through September 3.

USC Kaufman’s newest group of BFA students will become the school’s seventh cohort of dance majors. The Class of 2025, with 25 students total, will begin courses August 23. Learn more about each dancer.