The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance is hosting a Cypher Celebration today at 5:30 PM and 7:30 PM. Stemming from hip-hop and Black dance practices, the celebration is described as...
Amy O’Neal: “Part live performance, it’s part club, it’s part theater, it’s part performance art experiment.”
That’s Amy O’Neal, the Director of Cypher Celebration and a lecturer in hip-hop, house, and contemporary improvisational dance. Annenberg Media spoke with her about the celebration:
Amy O’Neal: “It’s a live event that’s centering black social dance practices specifically for well, let me say, black social dance practices, specifically the cypher, which is the circle, an improvisation or a freestyle ritual that is done in hip hop house, locking, popping, breaking all the forms that come out of hip hop culture.”
While the event is inspired from a culture that first appeared decades ago, this event is very new.
Amy O’Neal: “Cypher celebration was started fall of 2021 to give our BFA students an opportunity to showcase their freestyle cipher skills. Because most of our performance and forward facing dance events are them either performing choreography from our well-renowned faculty or guest artists, or performing their own work so that people don’t really get to see the artistry that they have in this other realm.”
An event like this that draws inspiration from a minority group may sometimes toe the line between appreciating and appropriating the culture, but O’Neal says this is not the case.
Amy O’Neal: “With this event in particular, because we do so many different things, we want to. Uh, center, the cypher the main driving force of the creativity in the room. And all forms are welcome. If somebody wants to put their ballet shoes or their pointe shoes on and get in, they can put their tap shoes on. They can.”
At the event, there will be a live DJ and video projection and mixing. The audience is encouraged to move around at the event in order to get multiple vantage points of the performance.