October 16, 2016
By Celine Kiner
This weekend, a few classmates and I had the opportunity to be part of a site-specific Forsythe work at LACMA. In Acquisition RYBG–which was accompanied by Forsythe’s Stellentstellen, performed by Rauf “Rubberlegz” Yasit and Riley Watts–we taught a choreographic system to museum-goers, the objective of the work being that they “acquire” the system.
October 10, 2016
By Kaylin Sturtevant
As much as I am loving my experience and new family at USC Kaufman, it was heartwarming to have a little bit of home in California during Trojan Family Weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to share with my parents a taste of the remarkable journey I’ve had over the past seven weeks, and introduce them to my incredible friends and professors.
September 18, 2016
By Ausia Jones
One word to describe this week working with the legendary William Forsythe would be…thought-provoking, rigorous, unexpectedly comfortable, innovative, mind-boggling, demanding. Yeah, there’s absolutely no way to describe such a phenomenal experience with just a single word. This week’s experiences were so fulfilling that trying to describe them in one word would never do them justice.
September 12, 2016
By Paulo Hernandez-Farella
There are few moments in life where you can truly say a dream came true. While these dreams may seem surreal at the time, you are endlessly grateful for these moments. Friday, Sept. 9, we were graced by the presence of Sir Matthew Bourne.
September 5, 2016
A quick bus ride to CBS studios led the USC Kaufman crew to a So You Think You Can Dance rehearsal today to watch a rehearsal of Season 13, which features the next generation of dancers. Outside the stage, the buzz grew louder and we struck many poses for pre-show photos.
August 18, 2016
By Rachel Walton
Amid the various construction trucks and workers, the elegant entranceway of the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center arose. Upon entering, I was struck by the majesty of the new building–OUR new building–truly an incredible space to dance in! Fueled with a newfound energy, I joined 28 other dancers to experience Hubbard Los Angeles.
May 3, 2016
By Celine Kiner
“This is the last time we’ll be dancing together just us, as an entire class,” Jordan told the cypher on Friday night as we gathered before our final performance. “So make sure to be really present.”
April 4, 2016
By Celine Kiner
“Janeen and Michael Damian will be here in just a few minutes,” Vice Dean Gates said with a mischevious smile. “So you might want to change into some nicer clothes, because they’ll be looking at you for potential future film casting.”
March 15, 2016
By Celine Kiner
Bill T. Jones walks into the room.
He watches the selected group of eight BFA dancers perform their solo for his piece, then tells them to repeat this movement inside a clump of the rest of us, whom he has instructed to circle the room once in fifteen minutes. We learn a rhythm that Ardyn has choreographed into her solo, because he tells us to.
Janet Wong, his co-artistic director, teaches us the rules of the wave while his dancers Antonio Brown and Talli Jackson walk the eight dancers (now the nine, because Trevor has been added into the mix) through choreography based on a few phrases, their own solos, and a couple set tableaus.
March 7, 2016
Graham technique is notoriously difficult. Dancers everywhere will tell you that it’s just really, really hard. There’s no way around it: to achieve the aesthetic that Martha Graham herself wanted, you can’t just copy the shapes. The entire technique revolves around intrinsic sensations of the body, around feeling stretch and contraction the way they are supposed to feel, not in relation to the placement of your leg or the angle of your elbow.