Thursday, October 16, and Friday, October 17, at 7:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: 
Admission is free. 

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DESCRIPTION: 
Join us for an informal peek into the creative process of Leïla Ka and Bintou Dembélé, two award-winning French choreographers working at the intersection of street and contemporary dance styles. Ka and Dembélé will introduce their work, which will be performed by undergraduate dancers from USC Kaufman and students from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (Paris Conservatory) in a true transatlantic exchange. The performance will be followed by a Q&A with Leïla Ka and Bintou Dembélé; Jackie Kopcsak, Assistant Dean of Programming & Special Events at the Kaufman School of Dance; USC professor Edwin Hill; and Ohio State University professor Lucille Toth, facilitated by Muriel Maffre, Director of Dance at the Paris Conservatory.  

The performances are presented as part of City of Angels / City of Light, a transatlantic dance exchange and event series connecting choreographers and students from the Paris Conservatory with the USC Kaufman School of Dance. The exchange will foster artistic growth through cross-cultural collaboration, celebrate the vibrancy of contemporary dance in Los Angeles and Paris, and contribute to the discourse on global practices. 

Bios: 
A major figure in hip-hop in France, Bintou Dembélé has created an artistic approach rooted in peripheral territories and the margins, embodying ritual and corporeal memories. Her projects and collaborations are diverse—from the operatic world to the museum space to music videos—allowing her to transcend the boundaries of art and culture. She began her career as a member of crews such as Aktuel Force, Ykanji (which she co-founded), and the collective Mouv of the Contemporary Dance Theater in Paris. In 2002, she created Rualité, an artistic and cultural platform that has produced many of her works, which have been performed around the world.

Leïla Ka creates choreography for Beyoncé, the César Awards Ceremony, Zaho de Sagazan, and the National Ballet of Chile. Drawing on her urban and contemporary influences, she has made a name for herself in the dance world in just a few years. She entered the world of urban dance at age 16, without attending a formal dance school. After auditioning for Maguy Marin, she became a performer in her renowned piece May B. She then moved into choreography. Her first three pieces received international acclaim and have been performed in more than 20 countries. She won the Danse Élargie competition at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and was nominated for the International Dance Prize at Sadler’s Wells in London with her fourth work, Maldonne. Today, she is an associate artist at the national stages of Cavaillon, Dieppe, and Grenoble, and is currently working on a new creation scheduled for autumn 2026.

Muriel Maffre was appointed director of choreographic studies at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMDP) in 2023. She began her training at the Paris Opera Ballet School before continuing her studies at the CNSMDP. In 1990, after gaining valuable international experience at the Hamburg Ballet and the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, she became a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet, where she distinguished herself by taking on roles in the repertoire and participating in numerous creations for 17 years. Beyond her stage career, Muriel Maffre has also been involved in dance research and obtained a master’s thesis entitled “Le Musée et le corps” in 2010. Her commitment to teaching has led her to share her knowledge at Stanford University/TAPS. From 2012 to 2017, she served as director of the Museum of Performance + Design in San Francisco, working to preserve and promote choreographic, musical, and theatrical heritage. She previously served as executive director of Alonzo King LINES Ballet in San Francisco. 

Related Event: 
Choreographies of Border: Panel Discussion and Reception 
Saturday, October 18, 2025, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.  
USC Kaufman School of Dance, Large Performance Space  
For more info, click HERE. 

Presented by USC Visions and Voices and the USC Kaufman School of Dance with the support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and Villa Albertine. Organized by Jackie Kopcsak (Dance), Dane Martens (Dance), and Edwin Hill (French and Italian and American Studies and Ethnicity). 

Photo (Leila Ka): Duy Laurent