Fall 2025 Lecture Series
Free Admission to All Events
You are invited to join us for intriguing events and engaging discussions.
Masters of Dance
You are invited to attend and participate in our exciting free series of lectures and master classes. See the Dance Department website or call 310-434-3467 for more information. Seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.
Cati Jean
Classical Floor Barre/Classical Barre au Sol
Dance educator Cati Jean will offer a comprehensive conditioning experience for both
the mind and body, grounded in the principles of traditional Classical Ballet and
the Boris Kniaseff method. Performed on the floor rather than at the barre, this method
enhances proper alignment, full-body coordination, strength, and control, targeting
the feet, ankles, legs, back, and especially, the core to promote flexibility and
safe hip rotation. Exercises are designed with repetition, breath control, and energy
awareness, helping dancers internalize precision while reducing injury risk. Jean
has studied Barre au sol in the South of France since childhood. In Paris, she trained
daily in the Kniaseff method with her mentor, Jacqueline Fynnaert, a Floor Barre teacher
at the Paris Opera. Jean continues her training with Odile Bastien, who studied under
Nina Vyroubova (Etoile at the Paris Opera and Kniaseff’s wife). Jean’s teaching reflects
this deep lineage and tradition.
Wednesday, October 1 | 10:15 a.m. | Free | Core Performance Center, CPC 304
Myles Jean Lavallee
Contact Improvisation
Los Angeles-based artist and choreographer Myles Lavallee will lead a guided contact
improvisation class that explores the conversation of dance and movement through the
lens of call and response. With a focus on weight distribution, the class will engage
in structured tasks and explorations that deepen understanding of how to lead and
be led — sometimes simultaneously — and dive into the textures of touch, timing, and
tone to discover the dynamic range of partnering through physical dialogue. Lavalle
premiered Leaving With Hope with LACDC and performed alongside RZA in A Ballet Through
Mud. He has worked with renowned choreographers Crystal Pite and Ohad Naharin, and
performed with Para.Mar Dance Theatre, Bodytraffic, Post:Ballet, Ishida Dance, and
Heidi Duckler Dance. Lavallee has danced and led workshops at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
(LGBC) de Montréal and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC), and was twice commissioned
to create original works for Ballet Arizona’s Innovations program.
Thursday, October 23 | 12:30 p.m. | Free | Core Performance Center, CPC 304
Malia Baker
Jazz
Malia Baker will present a high-energy, technically grounded Jazz class that begins
with a 30+ minute physiotherapy-informed warm-up to fully activate the body. Across-the-floor
sequences will emphasize musicality, directional changes, and weight transfer. The
class ends with a performance-style combination, encouraging observation, self-expression,
and refinement. Baker is a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher who lives
in Los Angeles. Her recent credits include choreographing and dancing for Purple Disco
Machine at Coachella 2024, Sofi Tukker’s “Spiral” video with Heidi Klum, and Mariah
Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You (25th Anniversary) video. Baker has taught
internationally at schools, studios, and conventions, and regularly teaches at TMILLY,
Millennium Dance Complex, and Movement Lifestyle. In 2023, she joined Bob’s Dance
Shop as a dancer, choreographer, and “LadyBob.”
Thursday, November 23 | 10:15 a.m. | Free | Core Performance Center, CPC 304
Sponsored by the SMC Associates and SMC Dance Department.
Special Events
Soudi Jiménez
Culture, Identity, and Resilience: Taking a Look at the Migrant Experience in L.A.
Honoring Latinx Heritage Month: Author and award-winning journalist Soudi Jiménez
will talk about L.A.’s many Latinx communities — including Salvadoran, Guatemalan,
Oaxacan, and Peruvian populations — their resilience, and their fight for cultural
recognition of their ethnic identity and contributions to the United States and its
society. Jiménez recently published Ecos migrantes (“Migrant Echoes,” Traveler Publishing
House, 2025), has covered stories since 2012 on the Latinx community for the Los Angeles
Times, and has received top awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications
and the Los Angeles Press Club. Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Department of
Modern Languages and Cultures, and the Spanish Club.
Thursday, September 25 | 11:15 a.m. | Free Humanities and Social Science (HSS) 104
Amadour
A Conversation with Artist Amadour
onoring Latinx Heritage Month and LGBTQ+ History Month: Multidisciplinary artist Amadour
— an SMC and UCLA alum whose creative practice spans music, visual art, and writing
— will present a unique look into a selection of their work and their artistic process
and cross-disciplinary approach. A cofounder of Who Is Seen magazine, Amadour has
exhibited at Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo, Japan), Galería La Cometa (Bogotá, Colombia), FF
Projects (San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico), and Emma Scully Gallery (New York, USA).
Their work has been featured in frieze, Artillery Magazine, and ARTnews Japan, and
included in the permanent archive of the Getty Research Institute Library. Sponsored
by the SMC Associates.
Thursday, October 9 | 11:15 a.m. | Free | Hybrid
Online: see smc.edu/events for details; On-campus: Theatre Arts, Main Stage
Concrete Hope
Félix Quintana & Alkaid Ramirez in Conversation
Erika Hirugami — the Curatorial Director of FotoSocal and Curator of the “Concrete
Hope” exhibitions at SMC — will be joined by artists Félix Quintana and Alkaid Ramirez
to talk about the personal, social, and cultural influences on their art. Hirugami
is the Founder of CuratorLove and Co-founder of UNDOC+Collective. Sponsored by the
SMC Associates and SMC Art Department.
Wednesday, October 15 | 5 p.m. | Free | Barrett Art Gallery at SMC Performing Arts Center
Part of the “Concret Hope” Exhibition: Aydinaneth Ortiz & William Camargo in Conversation
Aydinaneth Ortiz and William Camargo will discuss their socio-political photography practices.Sponsored by the SMC Global Citizenship.
Thu, November 6 | 2 p.m. | Free | Art 214
Kyle Parker
From Startup to Fruition: Improving Mental Health Through Culturally Competent Haircare
ClipDart CEO Kyle Parker will talk about his effort to connect underserved communities
with culturally competent barbers, and how the app he developed expanded into a flourishing
business-to-business hair services company and a nonprofit providing mental wellness
haircare nationwide. ClipDart grew out of Parker’s personal battle with haircare inequity
as a college student in rural Iowa, where barbers did not know how to properly cut
Black hair. His organization collaborates with colleges, universities, homeless services,
and senior centers to promote wellness, one haircut at a time. Sponsored by the SMC
Associates, SMC Cosmetology Department, and SMC Communication and Media Studies Department.
Tuesday, October 28 | 11:15 a.m. | Free | Humanities and Social Science (HSS) 104
All programs are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Soudi Jiménez
Culture, Identity, and Resilience: Taking a Look at the Migrant Experience in L.A.
Honoring Latinx Heritage Month: Author and award-winning journalist Soudi Jiménez will talk about L.A.’s many Latinx communities — a variety that includes Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Oaxacan, and Peruvian populations — their resilience, and their fight for cultural recognition of their ethnic identity, as well as recognition of their contributions to the United States and its society. Jiménez recently published his first book, Ecos migrantes (“Migrant Echoes,” Traveler Publishing House, 2025), and has covered stories since 2012 on the Latinx community for the Los Angeles Times. His articles have received top awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications and the Los Angeles Press Club, and his 2023 report on the conditions of Venezuelan migrants in Bogota, Colombia, was funded by the “Emerging Media Leaders” grant initiative of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Sponsored by the SMC Associates, SMC Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, and the Spanish Club.
Thursday, September 25 | 11:15 a.m. | Free | Humanities and Social Science (HSS) 104