Panelists

Bridge Panelists

Our Bridge Panelists will be representing the following organizations. We encourage you to click the link of each organization to view their website.

PACE School of Performing Arts

Our dance program is the only one in New York to offer training that bridges the gap from classical technique to the professional world of commercial dance.

Our BFA program is an exclusive blend of the highest quality of professional dance training and theater studies. In addition to working on the disciplines of ballet, jazz, modern, tap, contemporary, aerial arts, and other dance, you will be prepared for a professional career on stage, television, and commercials by training with current working professionals in acting, vocal studies, and technical theater.

Plus, students put their technique into action by performing in more than 50 annual productions in one of our many performance spaces including plays, performance labs, and the dance concerts, Dancespace, and Dance Out Loud. Students are also encouraged to gain additional “real-world” experience in the industry and regularly work on and off-Broadway, on television, film, and behind the scenes in various entertainment corporations.

Learn More About PACE School Of Performing Arts

Clear Talent Group

Clear Talent Group is a full-service talent agency headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in New York and New Orleans with partnerships in Chicago and Atlanta. Established in 2003, CTG has assembled a staff of respected agents that represents actors, models, young people, directors, dancers, choreographers and designers in all areas of the entertainment industry.

Learn More About Clear Talent Group

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

The hallmark of USC Kaufman – as expressed in its motto “The New Movement” — is the development of new movement models for dance, where intersecting dance techniques create hybrid forms to be expressed in new media, scholarship, studio practice, and choreography. With opportunities for interdisciplinary study interwoven into the curriculum, students are able to explore collaborations and innovations with established partners, including Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, the USC Thornton School of Music, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Situated in Los Angeles, one of the world’s creative capitals, USC Kaufman offers a wealth of opportunity for students to intern, perform and collaborate with artists throughout the city.

Featuring a rigorous curriculum within a conservatory style environment, USC Kaufman provides students with opportunities to work and collaborate with world-renowned artists and to study in a range of dance styles, from ballet to hip-hop, contemporary, and ballroom. In fall of 2016, the school’s vision was realized in brick and mortar with the opening of the more than 54,000-square-foot Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center.

Learn More About USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance

The American Musical and Dramatic Academy

AMDA’s Dance Theatre Program is designed for ambitious dancers who want to become versatile, multidisciplined performers. The eight-term program’s rigorous course of physical study is grounded in classical technique and complemented by focused courses in a variety of styles. The curriculum assures an artistic foundation that combines in-depth training in dance technique and performance. The intensive performance-based training is blended with a challenging range of academic-based studies, all resulting in a well-rounded education in the arts.

Learn More About AMDA

Joffrey Ballet School

This Jazz & Contemporary division at the Joffrey Ballet School is geared toward those dancers who want to focus their training on Jazz and Contemporary styles of movement, while incorporating a wider knowledge of Classical Ballet training and Modern dance.

Students are exposed to a diverse range of styles from both past and present. The student’s attention will be focused on body awareness and creativity to prepare them for careers in education, performance, and choreography in Jazz and Contemporary styles of dance.

Students will be encouraged to embrace and explore a broad range of material that will help each of them develop his or her individual voice as an artist in this evolving art form. The curriculum will consist of both technical and academic/creative classes designed to fully prepare students for careers in dance, dance education, and choreography. Classes will be offered in various styles of Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Classical Modern, Contemporary Modern, Modern Partnering, Choreography, and Improvisation. Practical application of the curriculum will be exhibited in performance opportunities, which include a Spring and Winter performance, and in choreographic workshops. This is a unique program that provides the most diverse training in Jazz and Contemporary dance available in the country.

Learn More About Joffrey Ballet School

Additional Workshop Teachers

Kai Hazelwood

How to pick the right next step, college, and more.

Kai Hazelwood is a choreographer, performer and educator with over 25 years of experience. Her training includes a BFA in Dance from UCLA, 6 years at the San Francisco Ballet School, summer programs at Dance Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey, and training at the Kirov Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. After a season with the Oakland Ballet Company, Kai relocated to Los Angeles to complete her degree at UCLA, continue growing as a choreographer, and expand her teaching experience.

After 4 ½ years as faculty and then dance outreach coordinator for AMDA College & Conservatory Kai realized that dance students were in need of much more guidance figuring out what their options were after high school. With her insider knowledge of college dance recruiting, her personal experience as a professional dancer, and college dance program graduate Kai produces educational dance events and visits studios and schools offering group workshops, choreographing college audition solos and coaching aspiring dancers on how to launch their
careers be it college, company, commercial work or beyond.

Julie Hayman

Financial Aid

Julie Hayman is a Southern California native who has studied and worked in the arts for over 15 years. After obtaining her BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College in Boston, she went on to explore her love of teaching by working with children in written, visual and performing arts. Additionally, she spent over 3 1/2 years counseling prospective students and their families on the intricacies of financial aid and admissions. She gets great joy from demystifying what can often appear to be a very daunting process.