two female dancers mirroring each other while lunging side and reaching long with their arms

Ana María Alvarez Redefines the Dance Program at UC San Diego

Ana María Alvarez didn’t always imagine herself ending up back on campus. “I’ve had a love–hate relationship with the academy,” says Alvarez, the founder of CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater who joined the University of California San Diego’s Theatre and Dance Department as a tenured faculty member in late 2022.

Meet the Artist-Activist Liz Lerman Says She'd "Follow Anywhere"

For Ruby Morales, dance is both a form of resistance and a radical expression of joy. Watching her mix cumbia, breaking and contemporary in CONTRA-TIEMPO’s joyUS justUS is a lesson in lightness, gravity, surrender and, oftentimes, bliss. In her kinesphere, the floor is not just a landing surface, but an active space that propels her […]

Why This L.A. Theater is Only Presenting Local Dance Companies This Season

This season, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is shining the spotlight on Los Angeles–based dance companies. For the first time in its history, the venue, located in Beverly Hills, has programmed solely local companies for the 2019–20 dance season. While Los Angeles boasts a world-class concert dance scene, local companies have historically […]

Doubling Down: Two New Initiatives Feature Women in the Studio and On the Stage

While there are more women making dance than ever before, the question still swirls: Do they have the same programming and mentoring opportunities as their male counterparts? This spring, Ballet West and the University of Southern California are choosing to tackle the question head-on, with performances and residencies that focus on female dancemakers. National Choreographic […]