A dancer who is versatile, in the rapidly expanding worlds of concert and commercial dance, is like a gold mine, and very few dancers are quite as versatile as Jake Tribus. A 2020 graduate of the Kaufman School of Dance, Tribus has already had an extensive professional career, working as what associate professor of hip-hop, dance history and improvisation d. Sabela grimes calls “a movement artist, really creative thinker, problem solver [and] present collaborator.”

Grimes was one of the founding faculty members of Kaufman and recalled Tribus’ audition and sensing something special in Tribus, beyond just technical ability. Balancing artistry, presence and superb technique, Tribus has become known as an artist who can transition seamlessly between concert and commercialization. 

Tribus grew up in North Carolina at a competition dance studio called CC & Co. Dance Complex, where he took classes and learned a wide range of styles from the very beginning of his training.

“We went from ballet to hip hop to contemporary to jazz to all the things in the same building,” Tribus said. That early exposure was fundamental to how Tribus approaches movement today. 

“I’m happy that I started developing those skills at such a young age,” Tribus said. “What I like about transitioning between concert and commercial work is the feeling of being a dance chameleon and being able to pull from information from many pools and genres and styles and dance languages and fuse them all together.” His first classes allowed him to build this versatile base, which would later become a key cornerstone of his artistic identity, from the beginning of his training. 

In high school, Tribus moved to Florida to train at Tampa’s Next Generation Ballet, where he continued developing his classical technique, further diversifying his movement and dance knowledge. When Tribus arrived at Kaufman, he quickly used this diverse background as an asset. Assistant professor of jazz and dance studies Saleemah Knight said, “[Jake] was what I would like to say or call a hybrid dancer, or a hybrid artist. He can really find the nuances of a lot of different forms and genres and be able to sink into them in a way that felt very authentic.”

Knight remembers one particular semester when Tribus was in her jazz class and also performed as the male soloist in a ballet by William Forsythe. 

“If you had seen him in that moment,” Knight said, “people may have thought that he was solely a ballet dancer.” 

This is not to say that Tribus’ ability to adapt was solely physical. Grimes says that Tribus’ true power lies in “the choices that he makes as a technician and as a composer and as a company member and as an educator.” 

Tribus graduated in 2020, and many of his scheduled auditions were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the final planned audition Tribus had was for Gibney Company — a contemporary dance company based in New York — that offered him a contract. 

“The timing of that was really incredible,” Tribus said. “During my senior year, I knew that I wanted to immediately join dance company life after graduating. And so throughout my senior year, I set up many auditions with companies here in America, in Canada, in Europe, kind of all over and because of the pandemic, a couple of those auditions were canceled. Luckily, the last audition I had on the calendar was for Gibney, which was the week before the States shut down for the pandemic, and luckily, I was offered the contract with them.”

Tribus went on to dance with Gibney Company for four consecutive years, performing in works by choreographers Tribus said he had “looked up to and admired for a long time.” 

Tribus was not just working in the concert world during these four years, and on breaks from touring, he continued to develop professionally. Tribus jumped at the opportunity to work on commercial gigs such as the “yes, and?” Ariana Grande music video and a Carolina Herrera fragrance campaign. He took various choreographic and teaching opportunities, as well as performing works by Twyla Tharp at The Joyce Theater in New York. But by the end of the 2024 season, Tribus was ready for a change. 

He left Gibney Company and entered the freelance portion of his career, balancing the scales between commercial and concert dance, and expanding his choreographic and teaching portfolios. For Tribus, the relationships he had cultivated while at Kaufman were a steady foundation for this next phase of his career. 

The relationship he fostered with Kaufman Founding Director and professor of dance Jodie Gates blossomed and led to a recent solo at the Laguna Dance Festival — where Gates is the artistic director and founder — and many other collaborations. 

Knight witnessed Tribus’ professional versatility firsthand when Tribus served as her professional assistant for a class at Tremaine Dance Conventions & Competitions. After spending multiple years primarily involved in contemporary concert work, Tribus was as adaptable as ever. 

“I saw this spark come back into him,” Knight said. “When I say he rocked the room at Tremaine … I think jaws were on the floor with dancers who are aspiring to have careers like [Jake’s] … He showed a dancer what it could look like if you came from the convention world, went to college at a highly esteemed dance program that has the right players who can teach you, and then what it looks like after that to go be in a company, and then full circle, come back into the convention world as a well-seasoned artist.” 

Now, Tribus is six months into freelance life, and is approaching his career by “saying yes to everything.” 

Grimes employs a similar philosophy, calling it the “sacred yes,” allowing a deep honoring of one’s core artistic identity. 

“For him to live in what I call the ‘sacred yes’ … I’ll hold that vision with him,” Grimes said.

Beyond performing, Tribus’ choreographic portfolio has been expanding since high school. At USC, he honed his style through technique and composition classes. His growth in this role is evident in the solos he makes for high school seniors now auditioning for Kaufman. 

“I’ve had quite a few dancers audition for Kaufman school that Jake has done their solos. When his name comes across their information as the choreographer, I get a little teary,” Knight said.

Recently, Tribus choreographed a six-minute piece for 40 dancers aged 12-18 at MOVE|NYC| Open Access Intensive. Tribus’ approach to the piece is a key indicator of his ability to shift between different roles in a room. 

“My challenge was, how do I make movement that has high energy and is impactful and fun for the dancers, that is accessible to all of them, that doesn’t go beyond the bounds of their training to a point where they feel excluded or unable to keep up?” Tribus said. “The week gave me a chance to practice how I conduct myself, how I utilize really clear language with the dancers too. So that people do feel challenged, but they feel excited by the challenge versus discouraged by the challenge.”

Knight envisions Tribus possibly forming his own collective with similarly versatile artists while continuing his foray into the convention teaching circuit and cultivation of concert dance spaces. Tribus has, what his mentors affirm, a rather clear artistic perspective. 

“When I think about Jake, I think of Jake the artist,” Grimes said. “He has a point of view. And for whatever reason, project to project, he finds a way to express that.” 

For young dancers watching Tribus’ journey, he represents possibility and opportunity through a continual refusal to be confined to boundaries between dance worlds. 

“That guy … walks into a room and he knows what the task is,” Knight said. “He gets it done, but is also still very kind and has a nice heart.”

For the larger dance community, Tribus is a stellar example of a new generation of artists who resist categorization and understand how different dance styles can inform one another. The way Tribus has developed his career, from competition studios to classical training, to Kaufman, to the concert world, to commercial opportunities, and beyond, shows that these boundaries in dance are increasingly obsolete. Tribus is actively shaping the future of the dance world. 

“I honor [my training] by using all of the information that I gathered, versus closing the door to one and only utilizing certain aspects,” Tribus said. “I celebrate it by keeping myself open to all of it, to all the information I received and all the styles I worked on, and all the forms I practiced and finding ways to sneak those into any jobs I’m given or any rooms that I enter.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that only associate professor of hip-hop, dance history and improvisation d. Sabela grimes and Kaufman Founding Director and professor of dance Jodie Gates were founding faculty members. The article was updated April 22 at 9:02 p.m. to reflect that assistant professor of jazz and dance studies Saleemah Knight was also a founding faculty member. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.