ADMISSION: 
Admission is free. Reservations required. 

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DESCRIPTION: 
The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance invites you to celebrate hip hop’s 50th birthday and Women’s History Month at the Cypher Summit Block Party! Centering the dynamic leadership, caretaking, and innovation of women in hip hop, the multifaceted dance festival features performances by globally renowned movement artists, an intergenerational panel discussion, and a participatory sisterhood cypher and closing dance party.  

Schedule of Events (subject to change): 

2–3 p.m.: USC Kaufman professor Tiffany Bong will introduce performances by the Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective, USC Kaufman artist in residence Toyin Sogunro (Nefer Global Movement), and the Break Through Hip Hop dance team, and an exhibition dance battle by Passion (Versa Style) and Crystal (The Councilwomen).
3:30–4:30 p.m.: Panel discussion with Michele Byrd-McPhee (Ladies of Hip-Hop), Damita Jo Freeman (Soul Train), and Toyin Sogunro (Nefer Global Movement) 
5–6 p.m.: Sisterhood Cypher and Dance Party 

Bios:  

Tiffany Bong is an assistant professor of practice at the USC Kaufman School of Dance. An international hip hop dance artist, community leader, and entrepreneur with a background in original hip hop/street and social dance forms and fifteen years of experience in dance education, her artistic honors include Hip Hop International’s World Locking Champion, R-16’s North American Locking Champion, and Los Angeles International Waack/Punk/Pose Festival Champion.

Entirely run by USC students, the Break Through Hip Hop dance team was founded in 2006 to share their love of dance through the core pillars of performance and service

Michele Byrd-McPhee is a street dance activist who works to decolonize hip hop culture regarding gender, sex, and cultural and socio-historic racial lines. Byrd-McPhee has worked in many sectors of the entertainment industry, having been a production coordinator at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and a senior music coordinator at Late Night with Seth Meyers, and now a leader of Ladies of Hip-Hop.

Damita Jo Freeman is a dancer, choreographer, and actress most known for her work on the legendary television program Soul Train. She graced the Soul Train stage from 1971 to 1974, where she often performed with the late Don “Campbellock” Campbell. Throughout her career, she has choreographed for the 1984 Summer Olympics closing ceremonies, the American Music Awards, the 36th and 37th Daytime Emmys, and the 30th Annual Grammy Awards.

Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective is an all-female intergenerational dance collective that creates dance works illuminating the strength, power, and diversity of women in hip hop. Ever present in the work are the freestyle, cypher, and call-and-response aspects of the origins of street and club dance culture, while exploring the space of proscenium performance and building on the shapeshifting paths laid out by generations of Black women artists and activists on and off the stage.

USC Kaufman School of Dance artist in residence Toyin Sogunro is a professional dancer, educator, and cultural ambassador of Black street dance and club dance forms. Competitively, Sogunro and her partner LaTasha Barnes made history in 2011 by being the first American team and the first female team to take home first place in the world championship for House Dance in the Juste Debout competition.

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by Tiffany Bong (Dance).    

Photo: Hannah Doerr