Kaufman program expands to teach almost 300 local students amid pandemic


A Kaufman Connections group including over a hundred students and teachers performs at the USC Village.
Prior to the pandemic, students who were part of Kaufman Connections performed and danced together in-person. (Photo courtesy of Gina Clyne)

Each week, students from 32nd Street Elementary School log onto Zoom for their hip-hop dance course taught by Glorya Kaufman School of Dance students. Starting with a check in to share where students’ energy is at, the class then moves to warm-ups, learning new moves, party dances and researching rhythms and variations of steps. While these classes used to be in person, students on both ends quickly adapted to make Kaufman Connections fun, educational and interactive on an online platform. 

Although the program transitioned online due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Kaufman Connections has the highest number of students participating this spring semester, with almost 300 students enrolled compared to the 274 students last semester. Along with a high number of elementary students participating, there has also been a large increase in USC teachers. 

Founded in 2018 through the Kaufman School of Dance, Kaufman Connections is a community engagement program where Bachelor of Fine Arts students teach dance classes to USC’s performing arts magnet school, 32nd Street Elementary School. Not only does the program bring hip-hop dance instruction to students, but it also focuses on the emotional and mental skills gained through performance and choreography. 

Tiffany Bong, the community engagement director of Kaufman Connections, said dance education is essential in growth and development. Other program objectives include increasing arts accessibility, creating pathways for applying to schools such as Kaufman and supporting the classroom teachers at the 32nd Street Elementary School.  

“We look to give back and help the youth by informing them of new ways of movement, ideas and new ways of expression that they might not always have access to in a regular school system, where they don’t get a chance to dance,” said Emily Carr, a Kaufman Connections teacher and a junior majoring in dance.

“A blessing in the pandemic is we’ve had the highest enrollment ever of USC … teaching artists. They’re the ones that go into schools, into the classroom to teach, and we have pretty much doubled our number of enrolled teaching artists,” Bong said. “I think the students need an outlet — something to do, in a way, to serve the community.”


Bong attributed the increased participation to the lack of social interaction and isolation in many individuals’ lives due to the pandemic. The desire to interact and engage has caused many students to spend more time teaching and taking classes. 

“This has been such a beautiful example about how hip hop and dance can exist in all spaces, even in a Zoom space, and the social exchange is definitely still happening,” Bong said. 

Being creative has been an asset to transitioning smoothly to teaching online, Bong said, adding that the transition to Zoom has been going fairly well. 

“I could not speak more highly of [the teaching artists] in terms of how they took this on with a positive mindset, a will, being able to just grow and adapt to the experience,” Bong said. “I think a benefit is that our current generation of students — they are tech savvy; they’re very tech literate.” 

For Senior Aurora Vaughn, transitioning to online teaching has been challenging, but the rewards have been even greater, she said. As students spend their entire days staring at a screen, they crave interaction, Vaughn said. 

“It’s really, really inspiring to see them show up every day and turn on their cameras and say ‘OK, I’m going to dance now,’ and they chat [with] me and … they want to hear about my day,” Vaughn said. “So those kinds of interactions are the most rewarding ones that, in a way, they didn’t have the ability to be able to do that before.” 

Another benefit of teaching online has been the opportunity to help the students be more involved in social justice. Each classroom learns about the history and culture of Black and Indigenous communities and other communities of color that are rooted in the origin of these dances, Bong said. Additionally, the online format has made it possible to host master class workshops with community hip hop artists. 

“As a collective, Kaufman Connections really strives to use hip hop as a tool to unite and inform and share with the community,” Carr said. 

Bella Allen, a junior majoring in dance, utilizes videos to teach her students about hip-hop culture. Sharing videos to give cultural and historical context regarding hip-hop dance, along with watching hip-hop icons dance, is inspiring for her and her students, according to Allen. 

Allen said that being able to relate to her students in regard to taking online classes all day and Zoom fatigue has been very helpful. 

“The struggles of online learning … helps to really inform how I approach engaging with my students,” Allen said. “It’s very cyclical because it’s all about realizing my own limits as a student and how that mirrors the students at the 32nd Street [Elementary School].”

At the end of the fall semester, the program hosted an online culmination performance for students, teachers and funders. 

“You could just see every student, and everybody was really happy. It was just a really good moment. And I just felt like a proud teacher,” said Eugene Bois, a sophomore majoring in dance who is also a teacher for Kaufman Connections. 

Bong said she hopes the program can steadily grow each year, expand one-grade level each year and build a strong affinity relationship with the school community to provide pathways for dance students interested in a dance career or education. A benefit of virtual learning is the possibility to expand Kaufman Connections outside the Los Angeles area, Allen said. Additionally, Allen said the online format could allow the program to expand arts accessibility to schools located farther away from USC’s campus. 

“I want my kids to come away from this feeling like … they are confident in their bodies and in who they are dancing,” Vaughn said. “There’s so much missing right now, physically in our lives, that if they can come away with some sense of physical awareness and love, then that’s good for me.”