Jessica Koslow

The movements on stage for the December 14, 2025, performance of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham were smooth, sharp and exciting, but perhaps one of the most exciting moves was artistic director Kyle Abraham’s decision to sit in the audience, right near me! It is not every day an acclaimed choreographer chooses to mix and mingle with the audience. Perhaps the Carpenter Performing Arts Center holds a special place in his heart. He and his company are definitely held in high esteem by the Carpenter Center, as expressed by its executive director Megan Kline Crockett, who expressed being brought to tears while viewing a New York performance of “Dearest Home.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

Gregory Hines did it. Savion Glover does it, and on Friday night, December 12, 2025, at Give Hope Studios in East L.A. Leo Manzari did it in the second half of the premiere of his show, “Kick in the Door”—honored the dancers who have come before and paved the way. Manzari paid tribute to Gregory Hines, Jimmy Slyde and most notably, one of his mentors, Maurice Hines, who featured him in Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life. In a night filled with live music, rap, tap, and projected video and images, Manzari confirmed his place as an artist with his feet shuffling firmly on the ground and his future aimed straight for the stars. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

For DIAVOLO’s newest venture, “ESCAPE,” there are only three rows of seats set up in L’ESPACE DIAVOLO, the company’s black box performance space near DTLA. Sitting 5 feet away from the action on stage, 90 guests are invited inside to witness 22 artists up-close: their feats, sweat, fears, strength, bruises and vulnerability.

DIAVOLO | Architecture in Motion is known for its bold, high-intensity, gravity-defying performances that have been presented in more than 250 cities and 14 countries and witnessed by over 100 million people. It has appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” and in the opening of the 66th Annual Grammy Awards with Dua Lipa. Its latest, however, offers a little something different.

“I wanted to do something in a small environment like our studio, because I wanted to give the audience an experience to feel up-close and personal to the action and the dancers,” said Jacques Heim, DIAVOLO founder and creative director. “You see everything, and that is so powerful and impactful.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

This night was more than a performance; it was a celebration of dance in L.A.—more specifically, how USC has nurtured and supported dance in L.A. through Visions and Voices, its arts and humanities initiative, and USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance. For 20 years, Visions and Voices has presented dance organizations at no cost to USC students and most times, free to the general public. Ten years ago, Kaufman School of Dance admitted its first 33 students, affectionately called the O.G. 33, before officially opening the new Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center in 2016. In the introductory remarks, Kaufman received a big shout out, noting that the arts philanthropist passed away this summer.

To celebrate this 20^th and 10^th anniversary, respectively, Visions and Voices threw a performance-powered dance party in Bovard Auditorium on Thursday night, September 18 featuring Versa-Style Street Dance Company, JA Collective and CONTRA-TIEMPO Dance Theater. As the audience filled into the packed house, Ninabutterfly, a current senior at the School of Dance, DJ’ed, and postcards of past Visions and Voices performances, from Alonzo King LINES Ballet to Savion Glover, were projected onto a huge screen on the stage. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

Multidisciplinary artist d. Sabela grimes counts Octavia E. Butler as one writer who has had a profound impact on his life’s work. There are others, such as Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez, Alice Walker and Audre Lorde; however, on this particular day we met to discuss Butler and her influence on his Parable of Portals, which is showing on September 6, 2025 at 7:30 pm at Sierra Madre Playhouse. Tickets are on sale now.

Parable of Portals is a constellation of works that draws from Butler’s personal and professional manuscripts. Each module is autonomous, yet the whole is threaded through and opens up the possibilities for accumulation, reconfiguration (including subtraction) and relation. Each project carries the DNA of the others.

It all began as a short experimental film collaboration between grimes and Meena Murugesan, called “AdiSea DAWNing.” Shot on Catalina, the 5-minute film starred Adisah Grimes, his son, as the sole actor and mover and referenced his son’s name and Butler’s novel, Dawn. It screened at BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia in 2018 and at MOCA in Los Angeles in 2019. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

The audience packed into the Kirk Douglas Theatre on Thursday night, August 21, was made up of young and old fans and composers, but mostly young. Violinist and singer Emer Kinsella of Emersion Music brought together a lineup of composers, musicians, singers and dancers that she has worked with throughout her career for a 75-minute journey of transformation, MOSAIC: in the program’s words, “a hero’s story moving from shadow to light, from searching to becoming.”

The program was split into six levels, each one consisting of two parts that paired the music of Emer’s new album, Concurrence, with the work of other Emmy and Grammy-affiliated film and TV composers. The theme for each was belonging and the many ways we search for it. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

When Tiffany “Jimini” Bong, founding executive director and artistic director of UniverSOUL Hip Hop Dance Company, was developing WonderLAnd! with her company, they asked themselves, “What does the community and city of L.A. need right now?” The answer was wonder, and it wiggled its way throughout the immersive cultural celebration at The Ford Amphitheatre on August 17, 2025 as part of its LA Soundscapes Family Concerts series.

“We are intentionally creating a sensory-friendly space for all people to experience wonder again,” Bong stated on Instagram, “to reconnect with their joy with themselves and with each other.”

The concert was billed as best for ages 3-11; however, the skill level and artistry of the dancers were ready-made for all ages. The cast consisted of: Bong as the sparrow, Rebekah “Beks” Denegal as the Leader, Darrel “Friidom” Dunn as the artist and father, Jaylin Sanders as the prodigal son, Mariah Stevens as the spirit, Kirk “Patches” Viloria in the role of the friend and Tai Ryan White as the warrior. Each dancer, and most double as teaching artists with UniverSOUL, brought their own unique movement talents to the production—all hip-hop and most rooted in L.A. culture. On brilliant display were Campbellocking, waving and animation. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

L.A.-based hip-hop and theatre artist Tsiambwom “T” Akuchu is a master of his own movements and, as “Market Demographics,” his show at Highways Performance Space and Gallery in Santa Monica on June 13 and 14, proved, of choreographic direction for others as well. The almost two-hour performance, including a short intermission and pause, was divided into three acts and nine sections, ranging from solo to duet to group pieces.

Akuchu, who is on the faculty at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) teaching street dance, enlisted fellow faculty and other CSULB-affiliated students to form his six-man ensemble: Cristian Barreto, Sammy Macias, Ricky Medina, Danzel Thompson-Stout, and Fabian Zuniga. Each brought his own unique A-game to the stage, which shined within the group and in solo situations when they were given the spotlight. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

It’s not often a dance fan can view a live krump session. Some happen after hours. Others pop off in parking lots or parks and are frequented only by those in the know. On Thursday, June 5, 2025, attendees of the Second Annual Hip-Hop Block Party at the Grammy Museum in DTLA had the pleasure of viewing two live sessions, one on the Ray Charles Terrace and the other in the Clive Davis Theater.

Throughout the night, the top four floors of the museum were buzzing with what Schyler O’Neal, Manager of Education & Community Engagement, called activations. There was a schedule posted in the entry and handed out to folks listing each activation and when and where it would happen. Poetry open mics, fashion shows, podcasts, a jam session, DJ sets, and trivia game sessions were all on the program. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.

“West Coast Funk & Soul Theatre Show,” created by Zulu Gremlin, was more of a stroll down funk and soul lane than a theatrical production. Gremlin, acting as narrator, announced it at the start: He was presenting a choreographic timeline of West Coast funk and soul. It was one hour of edutainment on the patio outside the front entrances of the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale. On the last day of May, as the sun was still beating down at 5:00 p.m., the cast of No Easy Props turned the small makeshift stage into a Soul Train set, a b-boy cypher, and a freestyle session in which the star was a young b-girl spinning around on her head.

Gremlin is an active 55-year-old b-boy who truly loves hip-hop. He is an arts educator for No Easy Props, a cultural arts organization consisting of 20 street dancers, graffiti artists, deejays, beat makers, and rappers who are performance artists and educators. It hosts Saturday Break Sessions from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at its NEP Pop-Up Shop & Studio at 117 N. Artsakh in Glendale and Summer Hip Hop Camp for youth ages 13-18. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Dance Chronicle.