Dance Spaces

The USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center Opens

October 6, 2016 by 4dancers

chandelier-from-below-by-justina-gaddy — *Inside the USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center. Chandelier, from below. Photo by Justina Gaddy.*

by Catherine L. Tully

This project has been no small undertaking. Over 200K Roman bricks. 39 different types of light fixtures. High definition video projectors. Retractable seating for 140. State-of-the-art floors and subfloors. There’s nothing quite like a space that is built specifically for dance…

Glorya Kaufman Dance Center — *USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, exterior. Photo by Justina Gaddy.*

Standing 70 feet tall and offering over 54,000 square feet of space, the USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center is a brand new building on campus, and the first new school to be built at the University of Southern California in nearly 40 years. Founded in 2012 by a gift from dance philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, this building took more than 1,000 workers approximately 238,650 hours to construct. It features a Performance Studio along with five other dance studios, a collaborative space, and a training and fitness zone for students. There are also dressing rooms, classrooms and offices for faculty and administrators in the building.

*USC Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center studio. Photo by by Celine Kiner.*

A great deal of thought was put into the use of this building as a dance space, besides the standard attention to items such as dance-specific flooring and quality sound systems. For example, the main hallway was actually designed as the outline of a dancer’s leg, and the courtyard that is adjacent to the main entrance will also double as an outdoor performance space. Over a year of research went into the planning and design of this building, which will now serve as a “palace for dance,” as Dean Cutietta refers to it.

In addition to its role in the USC curriculum, the Kaufman Dance Center will host master classes and visiting companies that will offer programming to both students and the area dance community. The Center will also serve as the home of a new initiative, the USC Choreographic Institute. With a focus on choroegraphic research, practice and mentorship, it will be advised by the well-known choreographer William Forsythe.

For additional information on the Glorya Kaufman International Dance center, please visit their website.

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Dance Spaces: ChicagoSpaces.org

May 2, 2012 by 4dancers

If you are from the Chicago area and are searching in vain for the right rehearsal or performance space–there’s help on the web.

The League of Chicago Theatres has launched *ChicagoSpaces.org, a comprehensive, searchable database of performing arts venues and rehearsal facilities in Chicagoland. The website is a free public resource that helps connect artists and performing arts organizations with places that are available for rental.

The database is searchable by location, rate, seating capacity, square footage, equipment, amenities and more. Over 100 Chicago-area venues are currently listed on the site, and it is continually expanding. There is no cost for facilities to list their spaces–or to search the database. If you have a space available, please list it on the site.

*ChicagoSpaces.org was developed with Fractured Atlas, a non-profit organization that serves a national community of artists and arts organizations.

Dance Spaces In Chicago, DanceBridge Program & More

April 24, 2012 by 4dancers

If you are a Chicago-based dance artist or choreographer, this is for you.

4dancers spent some time looking into dance programs and spaces that are affiliated with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. We talked with Emmelia Halpern-Givens, Dance Programs Assistant at the Chicago Office of Tourism & Culture and she shared some great information about resources that those in the dance community here have available to them here…

Here is Emmelia with a closer look:

DanceBridge is our incubator program. We run 3 sessions a year (Winter, Summer and Fall) and send out an open call to Chicago based artists/companies, then pick between 2 – 3 artists each session. They’re given 3 months of space to work, followed by 2 nights of an informal showcase where they split profits between themselves and our box office. The work is usually an excerpt or a work-in-progress, and we offer lighting and sound as well as room for about 85 people each night.

I think it’s an awesome program because it’s free space! Plus, it allows lots of artists opportunity to be in that space, whether as a choreographer or a dancer. Also, because it’s at the Chicago Cultural Center which is a public building, I think it offers visibility to new audiences who just kind of walk in the night of the showcase and decide they’re here, so why not see the performance? I think the accessibility of the space is a great benefit to the program itself.

The dance studio is on the first floor (Randolph entrance) and overlooks Michigan Ave/Millennium Park… could you ask for a better view? Nothing better than walking through the park after rehearsal.

It also has marley floors and thick walls. In terms of privacy in a public building, it holds up well. It has one glass door on the south side and we have a folding screen in the studio to for artists to move if they feel it necessary, otherwise you’re generally on your own.

We also have 2 application based programs for the theater department.

Our studio theater, which is located in the Chicago Cultural Center runs an incubator program where companies get the space for a month and then perform in a one night showcase at the end. Again, like the DanceBridge program, the performances are generally pretty bare bones but still get great turn outs and we’ve had companies do incubators and several years later make it into the Storefront theater for a 6 week run. (Striding Lion Performance Group performed in this programming in 2009.)

Our storefront theater is just across the street in the Gallery 37 building, it’s a 99 seat black box that presents between 8-10 companies a year. Companies get between 3-6 week runs. This year we have Chicago Dance Crash doing a 6 week run in our space followed by Khecari doing a 3 week run. For dance companies, that’s huge! The reviews will have time to land before the run closes.

For more information about these programs/spaces, visit the DCA Theater website.

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