ADMISSION:
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DESCRIPTION:
August 1973 is acknowledged as the critical moment of the emergence of Hip Hop, as innovated by Black and Brown youth in New York City. To celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary and dance in Hip Hop as a global phenomenon, the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, home to one of the nation’s largest contingents of faculty in higher education with Hip Hop dance expertise, will host a dynamic festival of panels, workshops, and dancing organized by artistic lead and curator d. Sabela grimes.

“Celebrating Collaboration & Community” is the third of three events. The Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center is located on the University Park Campus of USC at 849 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

Schedule:

5–6 p.m.: A conversation with Dr. Shamell Bell about the 28-Day Global Dance Meditation for Black Liberation and the community-led improvisational methods of “co-choreographic praxis.” Street dance activism community organizers, guides, and artists will participate.
6–7 p.m.: Outdoor reception with food and drink.
7–10 p.m.: Ahmad DuBose-Dawson and Yoda Jones will lead Everything Raw, a freestyle platform inspiring improvisation and collaboration and showcasing the boundless potential cultivated when individuals and communities come together to share and harness raw energy. USC students from Thornton and beyond are invited to sit in with the live band, USC students from Roski and beyond are invited into the flow of live painting and art making, and space will be provided for all to linger and build break-out cyphers at this outdoor jam session.

Bios:

Shamell Bell is a homeschooling mother, community organizer, critical-engaged-pedagogist-educator, dancer/choreographer, and documentary filmmaker. An original member of the #blacklivesmatter movement, she is also a full-time lecturer of somatic practices and global performance at Harvard University and instigator of street dance activism and global dance meditation for Black Liberation.

Ahmad DuBose-Dawson is a professional percussionist, producer, and recording artist whose music style is a kaleidoscopic expression of Traditional African, Afro Cuban, World Music, Hip Hop, and Jazz. DuBose-Dawson is the leader of Everything Raw, an emerging free style platform for L.A.’s dance and live music community with emphasis on the relationship of live dance and live music creation, improvisation, and the infinite possibilities of what can be achieved when raw energy is exchanged.

d. Sabela grimes, a 2014 United States Artists Rockefeller Fellow, is a choreographer, writer, composer, and associate professor of practice at USC Kaufman, whose interdisciplinary performance work and pedagogical approach reveal a vested interest in the physical and meta-physical efficacies of Afro-Diasporic cultural practices. Considered one of the most imaginative and innovative artists in his field, grimes created and continues to cultivate a movement system called Funkamentals that focuses on the methodical dance training and community-building elements evident in Black vernacular and Street dance forms.

Born in New Orleans and raised in Southern California, Yoda Jones was surrounded by musicians, singers, and artists of all styles and cultures from a young age. Since beginning with classical Indian dance at the age of 6, she has learned house, locking, waacking, popping, Hip Hop, vogue, Chicago footworking, and anything funky, free, and grounded in soul, and studies and dances with pioneers, teachers, and dancers worldwide.

Related events:

Celebrating Hip Hop Dance Scholarship
Wednesday, September 20
Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center
For info, click HERE.

Celebrating Kinetic Innovation: A Birthday Party for Hip Hop
Saturday, September 30
McCarthy Quad
For info, click HERE.

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by artistic lead and curator d. Sabela grimes and the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. Co-sponsored by the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs and La CASA.

Artwork: Dark Matter in Breaking Cyphers book cover