Glorya Kaufman News

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet returns to The Soraya this holiday season with three performances of the classic ballet, The Nutcracker, on December 7 & 8. With Tchaikovsky's original music, this storybook production, choreographed by ASFB executive director Jean-Phillippe Malaty and artistic director Tom Mossbrucker, is set in the Victorian era, beginning with the resplendent party and concluding with the fantastical scenes in the second act centered around a bright and colorful carousel.  

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Dance Lab New York and The Joyce Theater Foundation Lab Cycle: Female Choreographers of Color in Ballet on Sunday, November 10, 2019 at 7:30pm.

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture will kick off the second edition of a?oe10 Questionsa?? on Oct. 1. Building on the success of its inaugural presentation in 2018, this hybrid undergraduate course and public event series engages leading scholars, artists, scientists, activists, philosophers, executives and more for an energetic exchange of ideas addressing a range of fundamental issues that both shape and transcend our current moment in history.

The opening of the 17th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (Dance at The Music Center), programmed by TMC Arts, will sparkle as two of the world's preeminent arts organizations, Mariinsky Ballet and Mariinsky Orchestra, return to Los Angeles with five performances of George Balanchine's Jewels at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion from October 24a?"27, 2019. Jewels, a fan favorite, was choreographed by Balanchine in 1967 and is considered the first great three-act abstract ballet. The jewel motif, sustained by costumes and décor, is actually a device to unify sections that would otherwise be disparate; each act is distinct in its style and choreographed to music by a different composer. Since receiving its first performance at the Mariinsky in 1999, Jewels has become a core part of the company's repertoire.

For its 15th season, the Laguna Dance Festival will present a trio of performances Sept. 27a?"29: Parsons Dance Company from New York City, RUBBERBAND from Montreal, and Ballet West from Salt Lake City, hosted by the 750-seat Irvine Barclay Theatre.

The Board of Directors of The Music Center announced the addition of six esteemed members of the Los Angeles community to The Music Center Board. They include Jill Baldauf, UCLA Anderson School of Management associate dean of alumni relations; Susan Baumgarten, former aerospace engineer/executive and president of Center Dance Arts; Terri Kohl, co-founder of Brighton Collectibles and president of The Blue Ribbon; Melissa Ann Romain, a public relations consultant and arts philanthropist; Maria S. Salinas, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce; and Matthew J. Spence, a national security expert and co-founder of the Truman National Security Project

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance's (CAP UCLA) individual tickets for the 2019-20 season go on sale to the public today, Monday, July 15 at cap.ucla.edu, via Ticketmaster, by phone 310-825-2101 and at the UCLA Central Ticket Office.

Choreographer and director Wayne McGregor joins visual artist Tacita Dean for a conversation in advance of the world premiere of their collaboration on Inferno at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on July 12 and 13.

Today the Merce Cunningham Trust announces Summer & Fall 2019 programming for the worldwide Merce Cunningham Centennial, which unites artists, companies, and cultural and educational institutions in a celebration of Cunningham's vital impact. Launched in the fall of 2018 and continuing throughout all of 2019, the Centennial honors Cunningham's legacy across continents and artistic disciplines. The diversity of activities and participating partners demonstrate the profound, enduring resonance of the choreographer's work and his approach to how the body moves in time and space.

The Music Center today announced new details regarding Ades & McGregor: A Dance Collaboration, a major partnership between the LA Phil and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center combining the creative talents of Grammy Award-winning composer-conductor Thomas Ades and multi award-winning British choreographer Wayne McGregor (July 12-13, 2019). This exclusive presentation at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion highlights the relationship between music and movement, and also features the work of visual artist Tacita Dean and video installation by designer Ben Cullen Williams. A new work by McGregor incorporates an AI-driven choreographic tool designed by Google Arts & Culture-a technological first for the dance world.

After a 24-year absence from Los Angeles, Great Britain's most prestigious ballet company The Royal Ballet returns to The Music Center for two back-to-back-weekends this July at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. From July 5-7, 2019, The Royal Ballet performs its masterpiece, Mayerling, a three-act work depicting scandal and murder in the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Celebration, under the artistic direction of Michael A. Shepperd, presents the second show in its 2019 season, the Los Angeles intimate theatre premiere of THE PRODUCERS, A New Mel Brooks Musical, book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, choreography by Janet Roston, musical direction by Anthony Zediker, produced by Andrew Carlberg and Rebecca Eisenberg and directed by Michael Matthews.

 Hot fun in the summertime begins in June as The Music Center today announced Grand Park's 2019 summer season of free outdoor activities and events offered throughout the 12-acre "park for everyone."

Glorya Kaufman, in 2012, instituted the first new school at the University of Southern California in 40 years; the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, to broaden the curriculum for obtaining a professional dance degree, or BFA. Up until that time, most colleges and universities offered classes in mostly ballet and modern styles, and courses regarding the history of dance and noted choreographers, which gives a solid foundation to become a concert dancer; but here in Los Angeles, especially, there is such a wide variety of dance styles, mediums, and avenues dancers nowadays can take and branch out with a much more focused, but well-rounded and complete acquired knowledge base. The USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, with space for USC Kaufman's entire curriculum for The New Movement, officially opened October 5, 2016. It is a brick-and-mortar celebration of dance and movement, giving the school's leaders Dean Robert Cutietta and Vice Dean and Artistic Director Jodie Gates a unique opportunity to rethink the vision of a professional dance degree and build a diverse, flexible, globally-minded curriculum unencumbered by previous outdated requirements. The dancers in training in today's world are much more prepared to tackle their future because of programs and curriculums like these. And to be of an age where you have the opportunity to attend a higher education institution with such specificity so early in life is incredibly valuable. This will be the very first graduating class, and after seeing them perform at their Spring Dance Performance last week at USC's Bing Theatre I have no doubt they all will succeed at their hopes and dreams, and will greatly contribute to a myriad of artistic endeavors and accomplishments.

From artistic heritage to modern expression, the 17th season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (Dance at The Music Center) will exhibit the mystery and magic of some of the dance world's greatest artistic and diverse voices through movement, emotion and interpretation.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) today unveiled the 2019-20 season lineup honoring "We, the People" -- as artists, performers, thought leaders, change-makers and spectators. CAP UCLA continues to bring bold programming from around the world to the Los Angeles community to advance social justice conversations through contemporary dance, music, theater, and literature.

There is nothing negative I could possibly say about the performance I witnessed on April 4, 2019 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  Such artistry is almost hard to describe.  This company has an amazing history and is superb in both their interpretation and their amazing technique. Their 60-year history of excellence is a gift to our lives that must always Be. What more could you want? Extreme gratitude given to Glorya Kaufman, and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.  Ms. Kaufman is an Angel for the Arts in Los Angeles; especially for Dance. Supple strength that fluidly morphs until it hits a line that is as outstretched and aesthetically perfect as could be, and those are the visual pictures they create with their bodies.  It is a way of moving that combines all the elements of different opposites that we feel, react to and dream of, painting a visual picture, conveying expressive perceptions.  

The Board of Directors of The Music Center announced the appointment of two esteemed members of the Los Angeles business community to The Music Center Board.  They include Charles "Chuck" F. Adams, partner, Goldman Sachs; and Stefanie Kane, Southwest market managing partner, PwC.  Adams and Kane join an increasingly diverse group of Los Angeles' business and community leaders who provide guidance and support to the multi-faceted performing arts organization.  The Music Center manages The Music Center's four theatres, an outdoor plaza and Grand Park on behalf of the County of Los Angeles through its Operations division, The Music Center Ops (TMC Ops), and produces and presents programming with a focus on engagement through its artistic division, The Music Center Arts (TMC Arts).

ODC Theater announces the eighth annual Walking Distance Dance Festival, May 12 – 19, featuring artists from Los Angeles and the Bay Area in three programs based in and around ODC's two-building Mission district campus. Tickets, $15 - $60, are now on sale at odc.dance/wddf or by phone at 415-863-9834.

The Music Center welcomes one of America's most popular dance companies, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, back to Los Angeles with the dance company's 60th anniversary celebration tour at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion from April 3 - 7, 2019. Led by Artistic Director Robert Battle, Ailey's remarkable dancers including Danica Paulos of Huntington Beach and Rehearsal Director and Guest Artist Matthew Rushing of Los Angeles, who has been with the Company for more than 25 years will perform four different programs of diverse repertory featuring West Coast premieres, new productions and returning classics. Part of the 2018/2019 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, which is curated by The Music Center's artistic division The Music Center Arts (TMC Arts), the engagement includes four special programs: Trailblazers, featuring the West Coast premiere of Lazarus by Rennie Harris the company's first two-act ballet; Bold Visions, featuring West Coast premiere of Wayne McGregor's Kairos and the Los Angeles premiere of The Call by Ronald K. Brown, alongside Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's Shelter; a Timeless Ailey program with rarely seen gems by one of America's greatest cultural leaders; and a Musical Inspirations program featuring the Los Angeles premiere of Ailey star Jamar Roberts' Members Don't Get Weary, a new production of Robert Battle's Juba, and his tour-de-force duet Ella.