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Student Blog

los-angeles-maymester

June 16, 2018

Student Blog: At home in the Los Angeles Maymester

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.

Paris-Opera-palais-garnier

June 11, 2018

Student Blog: A closer look at the Paris Maymester

By Sloan Pecchia

A little over one hundred thirty miles. That was how far I walked over the three weeks that I was in Paris, France. And that’s having minimized my trip to the amount I walked–each mile was filled with museum tours, shopping, and lots of bread and ice cream.

May 27, 2018

Student Blog: Our own salon in Paris

By Celine Kiner

Between a trip to the Palais Garnier for an incredible program of new works (on none other than the Paris Opéra Ballet, of course) and a dazzling visit to the Louvre, my trip to Paris would have been complete. Those two experiences alone covered bucket-list items and more, and with a private backstage tour of the Garnier, I was awed completely by the rich history of Parisian art.

spring-performance-vertiginous

May 18, 2018

Student Blog: Exactitude in the spring performance

By Whitney Hester

The Spring Dance Performance is not only exciting because it means the end of a semester of classes, but also the end of an entire year. It’s crazy to think that I have been here for two years already–they have gone by so fast. Two years down, and two more to go!

student-run-sc-choreographic-collective-show

April 23, 2018

Student Blog: Our first student-run show

By Juan Miguel Posada

On Saturday, April 14, a large part of the USC Kaufman junior class came together to showcase our very first student-run production. As juniors, and part of the first class, we felt that we needed to come up with something that was going to prepare us for the real world, something that would give us the experience to bridge the gap between being students and employable professionals. R

audition-mock-sytycd-nigel-lythgoe

April 14, 2018

Student Blog: Mock audition with Nigel Lythgoe

By Matthew Perko

The hit reality television show So You Think You Can Dance took the world by storm when it premiered in July 2005.  I remember the day vividly, for it was the empowerment I needed to start dancing in the first place. In particular, seeing other male dancers moving with so much passion inspired my heart and spirit.

Kyle Abraham-class

April 9, 2018

Student Blog: Kyle Abraham

A momentary cloud of sadness fell over the juniors when word spread that Kyle Abraham could no longer teach his scheduled master class after spring break—so you can only imagine our excitement when this dazzling opportunity was returned to us last Thursday. Exhausted from shows and crawling to class with aching bodies, we all pulled it together for an hour and twenty minutes with one of the leading contemporary choreographers of our current dance world.

west side story tech

April 2, 2018

Student Blog: West Side Story in tech rehearsals

By Rachel Walton

The rehearsal process for West Side Story has been a long one – but something magical happens as tech week begins and all of the theatrical elements of a performance come together. Beginning with our first sitzprobe rehearsal on Sunday, our musical director, Parmer Fuller, led the orchestra in transforming and filling the theater space with sound.

quijada-rubberband

March 26, 2018

Student Blog: Quijada and RUBBERBANDance at Bovard Auditorium

By Kaylin Sturtevant

At USC Kaufman, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to train closely with artist in residence Victor Quijada, where he teaches us his RUBBERBAND method, developed with his diverse background of breaking, hip hop, classical, and contemporary styles. After working with him for a month at the start of the semester, we actually got to see Quijada’s method translated onto the stage when his Montreal-based company, RUBBERBANDance Group, performed in a USC Visions & Voices concert in Bovard Auditorium.

choreographers-composition

March 18, 2018

Student Blog: Collaborating with composition majors

By Alyssa Myers

There is a journey in collaboration that is uniquely humbling. I am so glad that my fellow colleagues and I were able to experience this journey through a project with composers; for the sophomores’ Choreographers and Composers showing, we were given the opportunity to work alongside composition majors from the Thornton School of Music.