USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

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.

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.

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.

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.

This September, USC Kaufman New Movement Residency artist Seda Aybay’s work NOIR premiered in full at The Broad Stage. For this performance, USC Kaufman senior Rachel Walton was asked to dance alongside the members of Aybay’s company (Kybele Dance Theater) marking her first professional performance opportunity.

USC’s Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy invites applicants for a full-time, clinical track faculty position to provide clinical services in a dance medicine setting within the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the USC PT Clinic, University Park Campus (UPC). This is a joint position between the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy.

BFA dance majors at USC Kaufman spared no time once they returned to school this fall—new Artist in Residence Jermaine Spivey had already arrived to set excerpts of Crystal Pite’s “Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue.” Spivey, a Princess Grace recipient and seasoned collaborator of Pite and her company Kidd Pivot, worked with students for almost two months, teaching technique and choreography before setting the piece on three casts of five dancers each.

On Sept. 10, USC Kaufman supporters and friends gathered in the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center for an evening featuring faculty member William Forsythe and Artist in Residence Jermaine Spivey. The evening kicked off with a wine reception in the conference room followed by a seated dinner in the Turquoise Studio.

Last Thursday, urban Latin dance theater company CONTRA-TIEMPO premiered evening-length work joyUS justUS at Bovard Auditorium as part of USC’s Visions & Voices program. The piece has been a long time coming: company’s artistic director and choreographer, Ana Maria Alvarez, participated in USC Kaufman’s New Movement Residency this summer.

This fall, choreographers who participated in USC Kaufman’s New Movement Residency take their works to the stage. CONTRA-TIEMPO will perform Ana Maria Alvarez’s joyUS justUS at Bovard Auditorium on Sept. 13 as part of the university’s Visions and Voices program, while Kybele Dance Theater will premiere Seda Aybay’s NOIR at The Broad Stage the very next night.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance is seeking a collaborative, dynamic and innovative artist-scholar to teach all levels of dance, choreography and directing for stage and screen. Successful candidates will have significant experience in teaching dance for musical theater and will possess expertise in several styles of dance.

USC Kaufman’s newest class of BFA freshmen will become the school’s fourth class–this is the first year that the school will be completely full, with freshmen through seniors lining the halls.

By Olivia Euritt

Over these past two weeks, I have had the pleasure of being a chaperone for the Advanced Hubbard Street Intensive here at USC. Not only was this an incredible opportunity to take advantage of the many classes they had to offer with a diverse grouping of professors, but also to understand some of the logistics that are required to execute a successful experience for young teens in dance. 

By Dylan Balka

In our first LA Maymester lecture with professor Patrick Corbin, we were asked to make a sense of what dance provides to the county of Los Angeles, and how it influences people beyond its borders. We learned that the foundation of modern dance began in Southern California, with the debut of the Denishawn School in MacArthur Park, which gave way to many greats such as Martha Graham and Jack Cole.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance’s New Movement Residency program is brand-new this year—in an effort to provide space for Los-Angeles-based choreographers and female choreographers, the school has selected three artists to inhabit the studios at USC Kaufman this summer.

This spring, USC Kaufman adds two new members to the Board of Councilors: Jennifer Cheng and Bradley Tabach-Bank. Both will join the rest of the board and Dean Robert Cutietta in order to advance the school’s mission.

On April 4, 2018, USC Kaufman supporters, friends and artists joined together for a special reception following the opening performance of Caught in the Chamber: A Music and Dance Concert-in-Process with yMusic. The performance and reception took place in the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center.

This spring, USC Kaufman launched “Friends of Kaufman,” the school’s newest annual giving program. With a lower threshold for participation, Friends of Kaufman aims to grow the USC Kaufman community of support by appealing to a broader base of donors, with membership beginning at only $125.

All semester long, eight of USC Kaufman’s BFA student choreographers collaborated on a piece entitled “Waistcoat” for presentation alongside works of Living Legends at USC Kaufman’s Spring Dance Performance, co-hosted by USC Visions & Voices.

The new work is a choreographic experiment led by junior-year dance majors in USC Kaufman’s choreography concentration — a program designed to guide students who are interested in the field of dance for the stage, motion pictures, television, digital media and animation.

In a collaboration between the USC Kaufman School of Dance and USC Thornton School of Music, choreographers and composers premiered live and recorded works this Wednesday in Bovard Auditorium. Six collaborative pieces, accompanied live by chamber music ensemble yMusic, comprised the evening, titled Caught in the Chamber.

The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance invites applications for the position of Part-Time Lecturer in Dance (Hip Hop) to provide specialized instruction in the areas of Hip Hop and related dance forms for major, minor, and elective technique courses. Knowledge and instructional experience desired to include, but not limited to, B- boying (breaking), Hip Hop social dances, Waacking, Vogue, Popping, House, Locking, Jooking, and Lite Feet.  Ideal candidate should have experience teaching lecture courses in at least one of the following: African American dance history, Origins of Jazz, and/or Hip Hop dance history.  Additional experience in commercial dance and industry work is preferred.

For an application and details, visit usccareers.usc.edu.

At the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, students are working to get ahead of the game when it comes to ensuring their future professional success. Recently, several dance majors, such as junior Brandon Carpio and sophomore Rachel Harris, secured agents who will help them to book jobs in the entertainment industry— Carpio specifically for acting, Harris for dance.

USC Kaufman BFA dance majors have worked with over 45 artists since the program’s launch in 2015, from their very first day with Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s co-artistic director Desmond Richardson to a recent residency with bboy and Rock Steady Crew senior vice president YNOT. From the studio to the stage, master classes and residencies have spanned styles, specialties, and even seas, with artists from all over the world.

This spring, USC Kaufman dance majors are working to fill large, legendary shoes under the guidance of the school’s expert faculty. The school’s Spring Dance Performance, set for late April, features work by three of the dance world’s “Living Legends:” Jiří Kylián, Paul Taylor and William Forsythe — choreographers with whom the USC Kaufman faculty share great connection. Through this production, the faculty–including Forsythe, himself–will pass their own knowledge on to the next generation of dancers.

Downstairs in the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, the Topaz studio undergoes a transformation by night—it is no longer a classroom, but instead New York’s Upper West Side as students rehearse the beloved classic “West Side Story.”