Faculty News

Ariyan Johnson Brings Innovation and Passion to UCI Dance

By Jezebel Ramirez-Robles and Lauren Knight Professor Ariyan Johnson is a multidisciplinary artist with a rich background in dancing, choreographing, acting, producing, and directing, the list continues with each new project she takes on. At a young age, Johnson’s mother -- a dancer herself...

Faculty, Connect

Choreographing the Future

Dance department chair and UCI alumna Molly Lynch prepares students for long, diverse careers By Christine Byrd Molly Lynch wants UCI dance students to envision careers beyond professional dancer — from choreographer to artistic director, and nonprofit administrator to teacher. As professor and...

Faculty

Four CTSA faculty members chosen for the UCI Beall Applied Innovation Fellowship Program

UCI Beall Applied Innovation announced this week the second cohort to their Faculty Innovation Fellowship Program. The program draws from all schools and fields on UC Irvine’s campus to promote cross-collaboration and stimulate campus connections using Applied Innovation’s resources. Faculty...

Faculty

Hip-hop gets its props

Two new dance faculty members bring cultural and artistic gravitas to the street genre. UCI News features the department's newest faculty members. Read more about Ariyan Johnson and Cyrian Reed, two new faculty members in the Department of Dance at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, both teach...

Faculty, Student

Dance Professor Kelli Sharp Collaborates with Undergraduate Students in an Innovative UCI Research Program

By Richard Chang At most universities, undergraduates don’t typically get opportunities to do serious research with their professors, let alone get published alongside them in professional journals. But through UC Irvine’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), undergrads are...

Faculty

Leading the Arts Through a Pandemic: Dance with Chair Molly Lynch

ArtsTalk Leading the Arts Through a Pandemic: Dance with Chair Molly Lynch Dean Barker speaks with the Department of Dance Chair Molly Lynch about adjusting to remote learning; the Student Resource Campaign; forthcoming New Slate Online performances in December; and welcoming the two new...

Faculty

UCI Dance mourns the passing of Donald Dale Bradburn

Donald Dale Bradburn June 14, 1940 - July 23, 2020 Renowned dance photographer, dancer, designer and choreographer, Donald Dale Bradburn passed away on July 23 in Cedar City, Utah after an extended illness. Don's photos captured such dance luminaries as Nureyev, Baryshnikov, Markova, Fonteyn,...

Faculty

Lindsay Gilmour named UCI Hellman Fellow

Gilmour's research will explore Tibetan ritual dance in monasteries and nunneries Lindsay Gilmour, assistant professor in dance, recently received a 2020-21 Hellman Fellowship, which helps promising junior faculty realize their scientific and academic potential. Gilmour joins an elite group of 63...

Faculty

Black Performers You Probably Don't Know About — But Should

“‘Ah haaa!’ – The most ferocious sound in the room at the David H. Koch Theater was coming from an 85-year-old man in a wheelchair. But the years melted away as that man — Donald McKayle, the modern dance and Broadway choreographer known for exploring African-American themes in his work — watched a...

Faculty

Molly Lynch: UCI Dance Department Chair

By Terry Schilling for the Irvine Commnity News "Molly Lynch is a petite woman with a ready laugh and eyes which frequently sparkle behind her signature neon red-rimmed eyeglasses. Before coming to UCI, Molly spent 16 years as the Director of Ballet Pacifica. She became Chair of the Claire Trevor...

Faculty, Connect

Faculty Research: Embodying Humanity

What if dance could make us all better people? S. Ama Wray, associate professor of dance, believes it can. “The world needs dance to connect with our bodies in terms of rhythm (since the constraints of time impact everything), and to connect with empathy to one another,” Wray says. “These things...

Faculty, Connect

The Dance Scientist

View the full pictorial in CONNECT, the quarterly magazine for UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts Dr. Kelli Sharp is not your typical dance professor. She spends her days collecting and analyzing motion-capture data to investigate movement patterns, responses to stimuli, and the acceleration of...

Faculty

Vitor Luiz guest stars in Festival Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker" at the Irvine Barclay Theatre

Festival Ballet Theatre’s family-friendly breathtaking production features superb colorful scenery and dazzling costumes, which make this age-old tradition sparkle like new. Be swept away by Tchaikovsky’s iconic score as the Sugar Plum Fairy, our heroine Clara, and a cast of hundreds take you on a...

Faculty

Welcome new ballet faculty, Vitor Luiz!

The UCI Department of Dance announces the hiring of Vitor Luiz as a new ballet faculty. Vitor is an international dancer, choreographer and ballet master. Since 2009 he has been a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet. He has also performed with the Ballet of Rio de Janeiro, English National...

Faculty

Paul Taylor American Dance Company Pays Special Tribute to Donald McKayle

As a tribute to the passing of world-renowned choreographer and former UCI Dance Faculty Member, Donald McKayle, Paul Taylor American Dance Company (PTDC) will include three of McKayle’s most notable choreographic works in their fall season at the Lincoln Center: Crossing the Rubicon (2017),...

Faculty

Summer Dance ‘Intensive’ Embodies Improvisation

S. Ama Wray, Ph.D., associate professor of dance, was featured in the El Paso Herald-Post for her work conducting an Embodiology workshop at The University of Texas at El Paso's Fox Fine Arts Center. "A half dozen or so pairs of bodies set in a circle moved in tandem though almost never in sync...

Faculty

Choreographers Get Lab Time to Experiment Without Restrictions

Professor Molly Lynch, chair for the Department of Dance, is featured in "Voice of OC" for her upcoming National Choreographers Initiative 2019 showcase. By Kaitlin Wright "Molly Lynch, professor and chair of UC Irvine’s Department of Dance, has over 35 years experience creating, producing, and...

Faculty

Dr. S. Ama Wray is Making New Global Strides

In May 2019, Associate Professor of Dance at UC Irvine, Dr. Ama Wray, was invited to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Good-Global Summit at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. This Summit aims to amalgamate the work of both scientific and artistic innovators in hopes of utilizing AI in...