Born in the Black and Brown queer night clubs of Detroit, Chicago, and New York City, in the early 1970’s, House dance has become a global phenomenon connecting people of all identities and cultures.  This two-day workshop explores historical context, practices, foundational drills, cypher/improvisation psychology, and the hybridization of forms that make House dance what it is. Amy and Moncell will merge and exchange their combined experiences in multiple dance forms and practices to facilitate this exploration. Open to all levels of practitioner and all dance styles/forms. Bring some water and a towel. The floor at Stomping Ground is marley, so bring some kicks with clean slick soles or some socks you like to dance in. BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ affirming.

Proof of vaccination or negative covid test is required. Masks are optional but highly recommended. The space is open and breezy with space to distance if needed. 

Amy and Moncell are both on faculty at the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and are in regular conversation and collaboration in their teaching practices. They bring multiple perspectives to the practice of House and honor the history and lineage of the form while encouraging the evolution of the culture.

MONCELL DURDEN is a dance educator, choreographer, ethnographer, embodied historian, author and associate professor of practice at University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman International School of Dance. Moncell specializes in pedagogical practices that prove cultural and historical context in what he calls the morphology of Afro-kinetic memory. Moncell teaches practical and theoretical classes in the U.S. and abroad; an expert in locking, house, hip-hop, authentic jazz, and party dances from 1900 to the present. He has published articles in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches and the Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America, Rooted Jazz Dance, and the Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance. 

 AMY O’NEAL is a dancer, choreographer, curator, and educator merging the social and exploratory natures of hip hop culture and contemporary dance since 2000 to challenge notions of race, gender, and the sampling nature of creativity. She has toured her experimental concert dance work nationally and internationally and works in music videos, film, and virtual reality. She is the founder of The Hybrid Lab: Conversations in Merging Dance Cultures, a new production hub for creation, curation, and education. Amy is on faculty at the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance where she teaches technique classes in hip hop, house, contemporary, improvisation, composition, bodyweight fitness, and lectures on Black social dance history, culture, and media literacy. She continues to work to acknowledge her positionality to Black social dance culture as a guest practitioner, educator, and advocate.