Registration is OPEN!
*Additional faculty announcements coming soon + Faculty subject to change
FIONA LUMMIS EDDY
Ballet Faculty, University of Southern California / Ballet + Jirí Kylían Repertoire
Fiona Lummis was a principal dancer for two decades with the Netherlands Dance Theatre, and was involved in over thirty creations by Jiri Kylian, Hans Van Manen, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin, Christopher Bruce and Mats Ek among other choreographers, as well as dancing featured roles in ballets by William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, Lar Lubovitch and Glen Tetley and many more. Ms. Lummis is a graduate of the Elmhurst School of Dance in Birmingham, England and the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London.
PATRICK (DAMON) RAGO
Modern Faculty, Loyola Marymount University / Modern
Patrick Damon Rago is a Professor of Theatre Arts & Dance at Loyola Marymount University. Damon began his formal dance training at California State University, Fullerton in 1988. Upon graduation, he accepted a full scholarship to the University of Utah to pursue an MFA in Modern Dance. While there, Damon was the 1996 winner of the Dee R. Winterton Award for Outstanding Gradate Student and walked straight from graduation to the dance studio and began a two-year stretch with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company.
In 2002, Damon formed Palindrome Performance Group to begin to develop his own choreographic voice using physicality, humor, emotion, and theatre to tell human stories through dance.
He is a three time Lester Horton Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Performance, in 2002 for Joe Goode’s Native Son, in 2003 for Loretta Livingston’s Leaving Evidence, and in 2007 for his own Manifold. He was also a winner in 2003 for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography for Four Inches to the Left. His choreography has been presented at the Dumbo Dance Festival in Brooklyn, New York, Dance Spectrum LA, the Sola Dance Festival, Highways Performance Space, Loyola Marymount University, California State University, Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Orange Coast College, Citrus College, Scottsdale Community College.
JILLIAN MEYERS
Adjunct dance faculty, PACE University / Concert + Commercial Concepts
Jillian Meyers grew up dancing in Portland, Oregon. There she trained in all styles of dance with teachers Erin Lee, Michelle Mckinney, Candalee Wrede, Diana Redding, and Sarah Riggles. In 2004 she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her aspiration of becoming a professional dancer. During her time there she has become a member of Mark Meismer's company, Evolution. She has also been an assistant to Brian Friedman, Tovaris Wilson, Mia Michaels, Wade Robson, Gil Duldulao, and Mandy Moore on the hit show, So You Think You Can Dance.
Since 2006 Jillian has been fortunate to be a lead dancer for performing artist Janet Jackson. Over the past two years she has been involved with Janet's videos, over-sea performances and a variety of television appearances. She recently finished Janet's, Rock Withchu Tour. She has had the privilege to perform alongside Wade Robson in his performance for the show, Dancing With the Stars. Also recently on, Dancing With the Stars, she performed with recording artist John Legend.
Ultimately, Jillian loves to dance and is excited by any experience related to her passion!
JENNIFER LOTT
Dance Faculty, University of Southern California / Countertechnique
Jennifer McQuiston Lott joined the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance as an Assistant Professor in 2016. She is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of the Traverse City Dance Project, a seasonal company based in Traverse City, Mich. In 2018, she became the eighth teacher in the United States of Countertechnique, a revolutionary contemporary practice developed by Dutch choreographer Anouk Van Dijk.
Lott has danced with Gibney Dance Company, Groundworks Dancetheater, Armitage Gone! Dance, Inlet Dance Theatre, Collective Body Dance Lab, Eglevsky Ballet and others. Her choreographic works and short dance films have been performed across the US and internationally. She has choreographed and directed work for numerous festivals and institutions, and for music artists Son Lux and My Brightest Diamond. She assisted choreographer Jodie Gates with the creation of new works for Tulsa Ballet and Kansas City Ballet, and has staged Gates’ ballets at Sacramento Ballet and Princeton University.
As a choreographer, Lott’s many musical collaborators include composer Ryan Lott, Andrew Norman, Jonny Rodgers, Darren Solomon and the chamber ensembles yMusic, Clocks in Motion and Tenth Intervention. She was a featured performer in the official Son Lux videos Undone (dir. David Terry Fine) and You Don’t Know Me (dir. Nathan Johnson/The Made Shop). Her passion for collaboration has led her to devise and direct to two unique USC Visions and Voices events alongside colleagues from the USC Kaufman and USC Thornton Schools: Caught in the Chamber (Spring 2018) and Activated Chambers (Fall 2019). With the onset of the global pandemic in 2020, she developed and curated the Traverse City Dance Project’s No-Distance Festival, a five-month series of virtual collaborations and online events involving and raising funds to support an international array of over 35 music, video and dance artists. She currently directs the Traverse City Dance Project’s NewVo Fellowship, which supports the creation of new works by emerging professional choreographers and composers.
Lott earned her BFA in Ballet Performance from Indiana University, and her MFA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, where she was awarded a Graduate Fellowship and numerous scholarships. She is certified in GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® and is an ABT® Certified Teacher in Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. She has served on the faculty of Interlochen Summer Arts Camp and taught master classes and workshops nationally and internationally.
BRUCE MCCORMICK
Ballet Faculty, University of Southern California / Ballet + USC Kaufman Repertoire
Bruce McCormick is an educator, choreographer, performer and scholar. He earned his BFA from The Juilliard School under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy and his MFA from the University of Washington, where he also worked as Assistant Professor of Dance. He joined the faculty at the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance in 2018 where he serves as Associate Professor of Practice.
He performed in 12 countries on four continents as a member of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Bavarian State Ballet and the Bern Ballet, where he was a soloist and ballet master. He also served as Assistant Artistic Director of North Netherlands Dance and Guest Rehearsal Director with Ballet BC.
Throughout his career, he danced works by many choreographers including George Balanchine, Stijn Celis, John Cranko, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Jacopo Godani, Jiří Kylián, José Limón, Susan Marshall, Cathy Marston, Ohad Naharin, Marius Petipa, Crystal Pite, Twyla Tharp, Anthony Tudor and Doug Varone. In addition, he assisted choreographers Karole Armitage, Roy Assaf, Stijn Celis, Itzik Galili, Emanuel Gat, Emily Molnar, Andrea Miller, Matthew Neenan, Stephen Shropshire and Medhi Walerski, among others.
McCormick has presented his own choreographic work in various venues throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, and has taught master classes for several companies including BalletX, Gibney Company, Malpaso Dance Company, National Dance Company of Wales, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and Whim W’Him. He choreographed the opera Eugene Onegin for the Stadttheater Bern, as well as The Merry Widow and William Tell for the Korea National Opera. His most recent festival credits include Against the Grain/Men in Dance, Dance Deck, the Seattle International Dance Festival, the International Festival of Contemporary Dance of Mexico City and the ITS Festival in Amsterdam. He has presented for the National Dance Education Organization and CORPS de Ballet International, and his scholarship has been published by The International Journal of Arts Theory and History.
BRET EASTERLING
Dance Faculty, University of Southern California / GaGa + Repertoire
Bret Easterling has been surrounded by dance ever since he was born in Palo Alto, CA. After growing up in his mother’s dance studio, his career began at the age of seven, dancing in commercial work including a duet with Angela Lansbury in Mrs. Santa Claus, and in Fiona Apple’s music video for Paper Bag. At the age of 11, he was a founding member of Teen Dance Company of the Bay Area, an original cast member of New York Stage Original’s Tap Kids, and an annual performer in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
After high school, Bret moved to New York City to study at The Juilliard School, where he received his BFA and the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Choreography in 2010. While in school, he was a formative member of Andrea Miller’s Gallim Dance, and a guest performer with Buglisi Dance Theatre.
Upon graduation, Bret was invited by Ohad Naharin to join the Ensemble Batsheva in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was ultimately promoted to the acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company, which gave him the opportunity to tour internationally, and participate in creative processes with Naharin, Sharon Eyal, and Roy Assaf.
In 2011, Bret began teaching Gaga, and has since had the privilege of sharing this movement language to dancers and people in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Singapore, Russia, Australia, Canada, and the US.
Bret has always had a strong passion for choreography, and has received numerous honors for his works. He is also a certified Ilan Lev Method practitioner, a rehearsal director for Gallim Dance, and the Artistic Director of BEMOVING.
AMI SHULMAN
Guest Modern Faculty, USC Kaufman and The Juilliard School / Floorwork Fundamentals
Ami Shulman is a Rehearsal Director at the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. She has choreographed for the National Theatre of London; the Shakespeare Theatre Company; Mouvement Perpetuel and has co-created works with the Cirque Du Soleil; the National Ballet of Canada and Ballet BC. Ami performed with Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Compagnie Flak and the DanceOn Ensemble, Berlin and has taught throughout Europe, Canada and the USA including for the Juilliard School; Jacob’s Pillow; BANFF Centre for the Arts; CODARTS; Tanzfabriek; Staatstheatre Kassel; B12 and is an Artistic Associate of the Springboard Project Montreal/New York. Ami co-authored for the anthology Back to the Dance Itself and has written articles on enactive cognition in the pedagogy of embodied mathematics. She is a certified Feldenkrais® Practitioner.
BONNIE ODA HOMSEY
Admissions Faculty and Board Member, USC Kaufman / PARENT and DANCER College Dance Seimar
Bonnie Oda Homsey is founding director of Los Angeles Dance Foundation providing career consultancy services to artists and organizations. She serves on the board and co-chairs the Program Committee for Gold Standard ArtsFoundation, a national resource for AAPI creatives. For 20 years, Bonnie was Chair of Dance for The Princess Grace Foundation USA and has served on funding panels including National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, United States Artists, and California Arts Council.
She has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at USC Kaufman School of Dance, and Special Faculty at California Institute for the Arts. A member of the Martha Graham Company, directed by Ms. Graham, she toured internationally and performed works with Rudolph Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn. She is an alum of The Juilliard School and established a named endowed scholarship for their AAPI dancers, and a dance scholarship at Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bonnie received a M.F.A. in Dance as the Chancellor’s Fellowshiprecipient from UC, Irvine, and is the recipient of two Lester Horton Awards.
PAIGE BOROWSKI
Collegiate Arts Prep, Founder and Director + Event Artistic Director / Ballet
Paige Borowski received her BFA degree from The Juilliard School in 2018. There she studied under world renowned instructors and choreographers, including: Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Aszure Barton, Ohad Naharin, Pam Tanowitz, and Bobbi Jene Smith. She continued on to dance in Switzerland for the Ballett Theater Basel where she performed and toured works by Bryan Arias, Johan Inger, Jiri Porkorny, Alexander Ekman, and Sharon Eyal.
In addition, Paige was on faculty for the Ballettschule Theater Basel, where she assisted in developing their Modern and youth programs. Paige is on faculty at Orange County High School of the Arts and is now the founder and director of the first collegiate arts preparation agency and program, Collegiate Arts Prep. Paige currently continues to live and work in Orange County, CA.
FINAL 2024 WORKSHOP EVENT!
Don’t miss your chance to dance with us….see you there!