In a studio at the USC Kaufman School of Dance, K-pop choreographer Aiki paused her instruction to marvel at a student’s performance. Aiki had just taught a complex floor move, and fourth-year student William Okajima executed it while sending one leg skyward.

“I never thought about expressing it that way!” Aiki said through an interpreter.

The moment captured the lively exchange of movement and culture made possible by Aiki’s weeklong residency of dance workshops last month. Her classes offered USC Kaufman students a crash course in K-pop dance, a genre that puts Western dances like jazz, hip-hop and dancehall in a blender with contemporary Korean influences. In turn, the students gave Aiki a window into American dancers’ style and flair.

Aiki (Kang Hyein) is a one-name celebrity in her native South Korea. She has created signature moves for some of K-pop’s biggest musical acts, including BTS and the Refund Sisters. Her viral dance videos garner millions of views, and her combined Instagram and TikTok following numbers more than 4.4 million.

The star traveled to Los Angeles from South Korea at the invitation of USC Kaufman and the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles’ K-Pop Dance Academy. Hye Jin Lee, an assistant professor of communication at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism who was instrumental in coordinating Aiki’s visit, served as her translator during an artist talk on Oct. 25 and in conversation with the media.

But during the dance workshops, Aiki’s expression transcended language barriers.

“Dance is a second language,” Aiki said. “You’re able to communicate just by the movements. And everybody’s able to pick it up just through the counts.”

Her visit was a prelude to a dance-intensive study abroad program for USC Kaufman students in Seoul, South Korea, happening Dec. 14-22, in partnership with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange and the Dance Department at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Daily workshops will explore the relationship between K-pop and hip-hop dance, and the American and Korean dancers who participate will collaborate on a joint performance.

“K-pop has exploded as a global phenomenon in the past 10 to 15 years, and now individuals all over the world are fans of K-pop music and choreography,” said Julia Ritter, dean of USC Kaufman. “Our students understand now that a career in K-pop is a possibility, which expands pathways for them into the performing arts industry. Studying with a renowned artist like Aiki and traveling to South Korea this winter are invaluable experiences for our dancers. It makes them more versatile artists and better world citizens. When we say that USC Kaufman is international, we mean it.”

Bringing teaching talent of Aiki’s caliber to USC is part of President Carol Folt’s “USC Competes” initiative. The goal — one of five “moonshots” laid out by Folt for the university — is to increase USC’s investment in highly accomplished faculty, as well as scholarships and aid, ensuring that USC attracts and retains students who are “the best of the best” in every field.

Stepping onto the world stage

Aiki’s rise to global recognition began in 2019 when she traveled to L.A. to appear on World of Dance. The NBC reality show, which featured Jennifer Lopez as a judge, put international dance talent and teams in competition with one another. Aiki’s duo All Ready finished the season in fourth place.

In 2021, Aiki led her dance crew HOOK in the debut of Mnet’s Street Woman Fighter, a popular South Korean dance reality television show. Winning second place on the show’s first season made Aiki a household name in Korea. The show also raised the profile of choreographers in the K-pop industry.

Most K-pop hits have dedicated dances designed by professional choreographers to go viral. “Now people are aware of who’s behind the dance,” Aiki said. “Dancers have their own fandom … just like the K-pop idols.” Earlier this year, she headlined her first solo concert of dance performances for her fans in South Korea.

5 FUN FACTS ABOUT AIKI

1. Favorite American food: Mac and cheese
2. Favorite Los Angeles activity: Swimming at Santa Monica beach
3. Favorite song to sing: “Shallow” by Lady Gaga
4. Favorite K-pop point choreography: “Super Shy” by NewJeans
5. Favorite way to make a dance go viral: Keep it simple!

Despite her fame and her experience teaching dance at a university in Korea, Aiki had not previously interacted with dance students in the United States. That was one of her primary motivations for accepting the invitation from USC Kaufman and the Korean Cultural Center. She was as excited to learn from her American counterparts as she was to teach them, citing American hip-hop music and dance as among her most significant influences.

“When I first learned hip-hop dance, it was through songs by Nas and Biggie [aka The Notorious B.I.G.],” said Aiki, whose favorite contemporary acts to dance to include Beyoncé, Cardi B and Dua Lipa.

Lee, who teaches a course on the evolution of K-pop at USC Annenberg, noted that Koreans first gained exposure to hip-hop through various channels including the American military presence in Korea. “We still see the influence in today’s K-pop and Korean hip-hop songs,” Lee said.

Swapping movement styles

Aiki and Odd — Aiki’s dance assistant and a member of HOOK — prepared two dances to teach to the USC Kaufman students, one set to “BIBI Vengeance” by BIBI and the other to “3D” by Jungkook of BTS.

“We wanted to show USC Kaufman students what kind of dance moves are considered cool, hip and trendy [in K-pop] right now,” Aiki said.

The choreography immersed the students in K-pop’s intricate movement vocabulary. One moment, they sliced the air with arms as rigid as knives. The next, they were loose as rag dolls, folded forward with heads sweeping in figure eights. They twerked, they whacked, they slithered on the floor.

“There are a lot of different gestures involved, very specific and detail-oriented,” Aiki said. “You have to memorize so many different movements for a very short run of the music.”

Aiki noted that because K-pop dance performances tend to be highly synchronized, dancers in Korea are often confined to specific movements.

“When they’re taught to move in a particular way, they’ll copy it, but they’re not able to freely express beyond that,” Aiki said. “But here, I was able to see how students were able to bring their own personality. Even though it’s the same instruction, they would express it in a very different way and bring their individuality into the performance.”

Aiki wrapped up the week with a dance workshop in the USC Kaufman courtyard open to all USC faculty, staff and students. She taught “point choreography” — dance moves that accompany the chorus or hook of K-pop songs. These combinations are easy to execute and memorize, making them accessible even to those without dance experience and lending them viral appeal.

Aiki said she appreciated the opportunity to enrich the USC community’s knowledge of K-pop and forge new bonds, finding her interactions at USC to be warm and welcoming. “I really appreciated … that students were so polite and nice,” said Aiki. “I was able to feel the respect that they had for me as an artist.”

Aug. 11, 1973, is widely regarded as a pivotal day in the emergence of hip-hop.

At a back-to-school party in a South Bronx community room, DJ Kool Herc famously used two record turntables to extend the “breaks” (percussive interludes) of soul and funk songs — an innovation that gave rise to hip-hop’s musical signature.

His aim? To make the dance floor erupt with energy.

Dance has been a foundational element of hip-hop since this critical moment. “There’s no party without dance first and foremost,” said d. Sabela grimes, an associate professor of practice in the USC Kaufman School of Dance.

Far more than just a diversion, hip-hop dance is also a window into understanding the social and cultural forces that created hip-hop and continue to drive it.

But as hip-hop’s 50th anniversary is celebrated across the country this year, dance has not often been at the forefront.

“Nationally, there seems to be a tendency to celebrate rap music or hip-hop music a little bit more than other cultural elements,” said grimes. He and his fellow hip-hop faculty members “wanted to have a more dance-focused celebration of hip-hop history,” he said.

That impulse prompted grimes to curate “Hip Hop 50,” a three-part series of free, on-campus events (reservations required) commemorating 50 years of hip-hop dance and exploring its impact as a global phenomenon.

‘HIP HOP 50’: USC Kaufman and Visions and Voices are planning a series of panels, dance workshops and performances to mark the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Find details and RSVP on the Visions and Voices website.

• SEPT. 20: “Celebrating Hip Hop Dance Scholarship”
• SEPT. 30: “A Birthday Party for Hip Hop”
• OCT. 4: “Celebrating Collaboration & Community”

The festival of panels, dance workshops and performances — which has installments on Sept. 20, Sept. 30 and Oct. 4 ­— is being presented by USC Kaufman in partnership with USC’s arts and humanities initiative, Visions and Voices, and is co-sponsored by the Center for Black Cultural and Student Affairs and La CASA.

“Hip Hop 50” will offer the USC and greater Los Angeles communities a gathering point “to share their love [for hip-hop] and physicalize how deeply they’ve been impacted by hip-hop,” said grimes. “‘Don’t tell us — show us.’ That’s the power of what we get a chance to do.”

Knowledge reigns supreme

The first “Hip Hop 50” installment on Sept. 20, which will take place at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, is centered on celebrating hip-hop dance scholarship.

DJ Lynnée Denise, a visiting professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., who studies the dynamic interplay between DJs and dancers in hip-hop culture, will present a “musical essay.” E. Moncell Durden, a USC Kaufman associate professor of practice, will co-lead a panel discussion on the recently published Oxford Handbook of Hip Hop Dance Studies with the book’s two editors, Imani Kai Johnson and Mary Fogarty.

The book — which includes a chapter by Durden and covers everything from movement vocabularies to the influence of hip-hop dance on global culture — is “the most expansive and comprehensive compendium of hip-hop dance studies to date,” said Julia Ritter, dean of USC Kaufman.

Ritter explains that there hasn’t previously been such a comprehensive anthology because academic dance departments have historically been slow to embrace hip-hop as a scholarly subject.

Dance forms like hip-hop that originate in disenfranchised communities of color “don’t find their way into institutions and academies as readily as Eurocentric forms do,” Ritter said. “This is what we’re trying to push against” by spotlighting hip-hop dance scholarship at the festival, she added.

In addition to exploring hip-hop dance theory, the Sept. 20 event will also include hip-hop dance practice. Active hip-hop dance workshops will be open to all attendees — no prior dance experience required.

A heartfelt homage

The second installment of “Hip Hop 50,” which takes place in McCarthy Quad on Sept. 30, will be a dance-focused birthday party for hip-hop that celebrates kinetic innovation. Some of L.A.’s most respected hip-hop dance artists and community dance organizations will perform their own tributes to hip-hop, as will USC Kaufman students.

“We’re asking the performers that we invited to come to this party to give us a kinetic love letter to hip-hop,” grimes said.

Tiffany Bong is an assistant professor of practice at USC Kaufman whose community-based, cultural education company UniverSOUL Hip Hop will perform at the event. The group’s offering will be a snippet from their theatrical show “H.O.P.E.,” which debuted in June at the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar.

The show — a mashup of choreographed and freestyle house, hip-hop, krump, locking and breaking, along with spoken-word storytelling — explores hip-hop dance as a vehicle for cultivating joy within struggle. Bong conceived the show during the pandemic as a way of restoring hope in a time of loss and hardship, particularly among communities of color.

“One of the things I realized was so important in the process of hip-hop is that it’s a practice for cathartic release, so that we’re not holding these emotions in our bodies,” Bong said, adding that the hip-hop cypher (the circle where freestyle dancers gather) offers a “safe and healing, restorative place … to tell our stories through movement.”

Attendees of the birthday party are invited to witness the performances and join the cypher with the special guests, which will also include b-girl Nancy “Asia One” Yu, street dance ensemble Versa-Style Legacy and freestyle/street dance artist K’niin.

The power of community

The third and final “Hip Hop 50 event” on Oct. 4, held at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center, will celebrate collaboration and community within hip-hop dance.

“[From] the beginning … hip-hop has been able to bring communities together, especially communities that were disenfranchised,” said Daria Yudacufski, executive director of Visions and Voices.

Shamell Bell, a USC alumnus and lecturer of somatic practices and global performance at Harvard University, will discuss street dance as a form of grassroots political action that can unite and empower BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.

Hip-hop dance as a collaborative art is also a focus: Musician Ahmad DuBose-Dawson and dancer Yoda Jones will lead Everything Raw, an event inspiring improvisation and cross-pollination between artistic forms. A live band playing spontaneous music will provide the soundtrack for attendees to dance alongside USC Kaufman students and faculty. Students from the USC Thornton School of Music are invited to sit in with the band, while students from the USC Roski School of Art and Design are invited to contribute to live painting and art making.

“Hip-hop is rooted in improvisation, coming out of Black musical styles like blues, jazz, soul, R&B, funk and gospel,” said Jason King, dean of USC Thornton. “The opportunity for students to jam together and to come together and to collaborate across schools, under the banner of this form that hip-hop has opened up in our culture, that’s really exciting to me.”

The celebration continues

“Hip Hop 50” is one of several hip-hop-themed Visions and Voices events happening this fall. On Oct. 19, New York-based Ephrat Asherie Dance, a company that focuses on African American and Latinx street and social dances, will perform in Bovard Auditorium. Their show “UNDERSCORED” will feature five generations of New York City club dancers, ages 28 to 80, showcasing breaking, hip-hop, house, vogue, waacking and hustle.

“This performance does a beautiful job of acknowledging the broader history of hip-hop, especially amongst LGBTQ+ people and women,” said Yudacufski. “When you watch the show, all you want to do is dance.”

“These events are our attempt to pay some degree of tribute to the massive influence and massive legacy of hip-hop on the world, on the country, on L.A., and on USC and our students.”

— Josh Kun, vice provost for the arts

On Dec. 2, Tariq Trotter (aka Black Thought), the co-founder and lead emcee of the hip-hop musical group the Roots, will join King in Bovard Auditorium for a conversation about Trotter’s forthcoming book, The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are.

In the spring, the Cypher Summit Block Party on Mar. 2, led by Bong, will celebrate women in hip-hop. The event, held at the Glorya Kaufman International Dance Center during Women’s History Month, will feature performances by the Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective and USC Kaufman artist-in-residence Toyin Sogunro, as well as an intergenerational panel discussion and a participatory sisterhood cypher and closing dance party.

“These events are our attempt to pay some degree of tribute to the massive influence and massive legacy of hip-hop on the world, on the country, on L.A., and on USC and our students,” said Josh Kun, USC’s vice provost for the arts, professor in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and chair in cross-cultural communication.