October 5, 2016

Leading the USC Trojan Marching Band, and escorted by USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Glorya Kaufman strode to the podium to officially open the new, 62,000-sf Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, the first new school established by an endowment on the USC campus for 40 years. Among the crowd of several hundred, were USC Trustees, administrators, professors, students and luminaries of the worlds of art and dance, including legend choreographer, and now teacher at the school, William Forsythe, who declared, "It's unbelievable, it's state of the art . . . It makes everything in the professional world look shabby. It's the most perfectly designed building—the acoustics, the floor, the sound system, the lighting, everything is perfectly balanced. You don't get tired in the building, because the interior is all curves." The three-story state-of-the-art dance facility features a studio/performance space with telescoping seating and five medium and small dance studios, as well as classrooms, a wellness/strength training space, and a 1,500-sf lobby/exhibit space.