By J. Alexandra Mathews
Keith Johnson/Dances
Where to train:
Depends what kind of training you’re looking for! LA has an impressively eclectic dance community. It just takes time to find the pocket of dancers you identify with most.
Here is access to a list of local dance studios: http://dancemapla.com/where/map
Where to rehearse:
Many local studio spaces offer studio rentals (see above). Even non dance-specific spaces are open to rehearsal rentals! Here is another resource to find local spaces for rehearsals:
How dancers get performing gigs:
The Dance Resource Center is a Los Angeles based service organization for the SoCal dance community. Joining a centralized networking hub enables dancers and choreographers to stay in the loop about various auditions and performance opportunities. DRC members receive a weekly Members-Only Dance Newsletter, which includes up-to-date information about auditions, job postings, and grant and residency deadlines.
For more information: www.danceresourcecenter.org
Other resources:
California Arts Council: http://www.cac.ca.gov/opportunities/
LA Culture Net: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/laculturenet/info
Dancing Opportunities: http://dancingopportunities.com/
Leandro Demasco of Diavolo
Los Angeles-based artists who have been featured on Life as a Modern Dancer:
On Commuting (with Damon Rago)
Opportunities for emerging/mid-level choreographers:
Festivals are a great way to showcase your work as an emerging choreographer. There are also other local organizations and venues who specifically offer safe and supportive opportunities for emerging artists to share ideas, or mid-level artists seeking professional maturation opportunities, such as:
Electric Lodge http://electriclodge.org/
Home Grown http://www.danceresourcecenter.org/homegrown
REDCAT http://www.redcat.org/
Show Box L.A http://showboxla.org/
Festivals:
Some Los Angeles-based dance festivals include:
- Celebrate Dance
- Pasadena Dance Festival
- Los Angeles Tap Festival
- Dance Camera West
- Mix/Match Dance Festival
- SP Tri Art Festival
Stephanie Zaletel (Szalt); dancer Jordan Saenz photographed by Nadav Heyman
Venues where out of town artists perform and organizations that present them:
- Bockus Project/Diavolo
- Broad Stage
- Center for the Art of Performance/UCLA
- Ford Theatres
- Getty Museum
- Grand Park
- Grand Performances
- Hammer Museum
- LACMA
- MOCA
- Music Center
- Pieter Performance Space
- REDCAT
- Show Box LA
- University of Southern California
- Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Among many more…
Opportunities to teach dance, the amount of work in the area, and ages and settings for teaching:
You can learn so much about the dance community based in Los Angeles County from a recently conducted dance census called Dance Map LA, which consists of 1,000 participants: http://dancemapla.com/node/1/results
Shana Habel also wrote a piece for Life as a Modern Dancer about the dance programs in LA Unified: http://blog.lifeasamoderndancer.com/2015/10/a-pulse-on-dance-in-la-unified-school-district.html
Other resources include:
- Teaching Artist Support Collaborative of California (TASC)
- Los Angeles County Arts Commission: Arts For All
- Dance in LA Unified School District
- Jobs in independent/private schools through CAIS (California Association of Independent Schools)
Damon Rago
Local colleges and universities with undergraduate and graduate programs:
If you are looking for academic institutions for dance training, or to pursue dance and choreography:
- CalArts Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance
- Loyola Marymount University: Dance
- Saint Mary’s College of California: Liberal Education for Arts Professionals (LEAP)
- Santa Monica College: Dance
- University of California, Los Angeles: World Arts and Cultures/Dance
- University of Southern California: Glorya Kaufman School of Dance
Final thoughts:
Los Angeles can be a tough city to navigate as a newcomer in the world of dance. That said, there truly are a variety of informative resources, dependable organizations, and welcoming people to connect with. Whether you’re visiting LA, or moving here for good, don’t be afraid to inquire. The beauty of Los Angeles is that it takes a scavenger hunt to discover your personal treasures.
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J. Alexandra Mathews has been a Los Angeles-based blend of artist, poet, dancer, yogi, administrator, and arts advocate since 2007. She attended UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures program with an emphasis in dance and choreography. Since September 2012, she has worked as the Program Manager for the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, a program funded by the Herb Alpert Foundation and administered by CalArts, which distributes unrestricted prizes to mid career risk-taking artists annually. She also serves as the Associate Director and Director of Programming for the Dance Resource Center, a service organization that provides the dance community access to information, resources and services; and promotes the visibility and viability of Greater Los Angeles dance on local, state and national levels.
Life as a Modern Dancer 
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