Choreographers Institute

Kate Hutter Mason

Board Member

Artistic Director 2005-2015
LACDC Co-Founder 

Kate Hutter Mason is founder and owner of Stomping Ground L.A. – a community arts complex founded in 2020 on the native lands of the Kizh, Chumash, and Tongva Nations known as El Sereno/East L.A. As a foundational experience for this next step in her artistic and entrepreneurial career, Kate co-founded the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company (LACDC) in 2005, and held the Artistic Directorship from 2005 - 2015. Today, she serves as the President of the Board of Directors. Additionally, Kate works in the corporate sector applying her skills learned in non-profit arts as Director of Strategic Initiatives for the aerospace design and manufacturing company, Click Bond, that was founded by her parents and is in its 2nd generation of leadership as a family-owned and operated company. Kate is thrilled to hold many careers in balance and see how each is informed by the other including continuing to instruct dance, choreograph, and be the mother of two spirited and wonderfully free willed children, Charley and Rory, with her husband Eric.

Kate is an alumnus of the Walnut Hill School and a graduate of the University of Southern California with a BFA in Theatrical Design. Kate also holds an MFA in Dance and Choreography from Purchase College, SUNY. Kate has presented her choreography at prestigious venues throughout L.A. including the Broad Stage, Celebrate Dance at the Alex Theater, Ford Amphitheatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A. Theatre Center, Diavolo Dance Space and Highways Performance Space. Kate was also the movement director for the band Foster The People on their 2013 Summer Tour and part of the Move campaign by indie clothing retailer Alternative Apparel. Kate has been a visiting artist at USC, UCLA, California State Long Beach, Santa Monica College, Scripps College, Chapman University, Ohio State University, Wayne State University, and Loyola Marymount University.

*Photo by Malachi Middleton

Jamila Glass

Artistic Director

• Founding Company Member in 2005
• Artistic Director in 2021
• Co-Founder Los Angeles Choreographers Institute in 2024

Latest creations for LACDC: 

• Take What You Need (2025) - Choreographer
• It's Not You, It's Me (2024) - Choreographer | Interview | Rehearsal Trailer
• ECHOES (2024) - Director | Watch the Film | Behind-The-Music 

Filmmaker and Choreographer Jamila Glass is known for creating cinematic journeys of movement, shaping characters, and building worlds that reflect what makes us human. In addition to creating work as the Artistic Director of L.A. Contemporary Dance Company (where she joined in 2005 as a founding member), she has choreographed extensively in film and television. Her choreography work includes projects on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, BET, and PRADA, earning recognition in The New York Times, L.A. Times, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, and Mashable.  She also choreographed and co-directed two commercial campaigns for Splice, the music industry’s leading royalty-free sample library, and recently began a collaboration with Airbnb Originals, which creates extraordinary experiences exclusively for Airbnb.

Glass began her formal training as a nine-year-old scholarship student at The Discovery Dance Group in Houston, Texas. She continued dancing in her spare time as a vocal music major at the multi-Grammy award-winning High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Jamila graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Cinema-Television (Film & Video Production) and a Minor in Advertising.

As a performer, she has worked with Ryan Heffington, Galen Hooks, Nina McNeely, Kathryn Burns, David Dorfman, Adam Parson, and Mecca Vazie Andrews.  Other credits include Netflix Original film Mascots from Christopher Guest, American Horror Story, Paul McCartney, Kelly Rowland, Colbie Caillat, Foster the People tour, Mastercard, American Apparel, Samsung, & The New York Times bestselling photography book Dancers Among Us.

Beyond the stage, Jamila, a director/screenwriter, has produced films through her production company The Cutting Room where she has directed 21 critically-acclaimed short dance films, a television pilot, and 2 music videos that have garnered international praise, including film screenings in London, Paris and Lebanon. Her previous work as a freelance editor includes documentary shorts, national radio commercials, and an award-winning independent television network. Her directorial work for LACDC includes ECHOES, INSECTOS: arte y vida (both commissioned by the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain), and then life was beautiful, and SUMMON (featuring the music by Emmy and Oscar award-winning and Grammy-nominated Kris Bowers).  

As a curator with LACDC, Glass has partnered with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain for the past four years, fostering artistic dialogue between Spanish and American dancers and choreographers through annual commissions.  She is also the co-founder of the Los Angeles Choreographers Institute, an intensive leadership development program incorporating a holistic approach to the business side of dance-making.  She previously served as LACDC's Media Director and Summer/Winter Intensive Director, elevating the company's visibility across continents.  

Jamila has taught at Schools: USC Kaufman, Pace University, CLI Conservatory, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Loyola Marymount University, Texas Christian University, Hussian College Los Angeles, Riverside Dance Festival (Florida), and Renaissance Arts Academy, and has created work for LACDC, Texas Christian University (twice), Cal State Fullerton (twice), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Co/Motion Creation Intensive (Boston).   Additionally, universities regularly invite her to conduct mock auditions for their seniors and to lead lectures on film directing and working as a choreographer in film and television.

Recent 2025 News: 

• I observed and provided feedback to the 3rd year BFAs in a Contemporary Technique class at USC Kaufman in order to help them prepare for high pressure audition environments.
• I held a mock audition followed by a Q&A at Cal State Long Beach (for the fifth year in a row) with their dance seniors.
• Jamila taught technique classes and created a work on students ages 10 to 22 at the Riverside Dance Festival summer intensive in Vero Beach, Florida.  While there during a two-week residency, she also developed and premiered a 24-minute LACDC work called Take What You Need.
• Jamila taught an exclusive multi-day workshop at CLI Conservatory in Massachusetts aimed at preparing students for audition season.  In a mock audition setting, dancers gained firsthand experience of what it's like to audition for the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company.  
• Glass taught two lectures at Loyola Marymount University on illuminating the creator's perspective, focusing on filming, choreography, and direction and incorporating insights from her extensive experience working on set.
• Jamila taught a workshop for the seniors at University of Southern California’s Kaufman School of Dance in order to help them prepare for audition season.  It was a full circle moment to return to her alma mater and teach in the state-of-the-art building that is now right across from where she used to take her USC film school classes.
• After first creating a work for Cal State Fullerton's dance program in 2022, they invited Jamila to return to the campus in the Spring of 2025 to complete another choreographic residency. 

Jamila is represented by Movement Talent Agency and is a member of the Television Academy, the Choreographers Guild and SAG-AFTRA.

Watch her teaching reel, view her class schedule, and check out her latest news.

•   @jamilaglass 
•   www.jamilaglass.com

*Headshot by Zack Whitford

Napoleon Gladney

Executive Director

Executive Director in 2019
Co-Founder Los Angeles Choreographers Institute in 2024

NAPOLEON W GLADNEY has a diverse performance and arts management background which spans seasons and international tours with dance companies including Odyssey Dance Theatre, The Dance Cartel and Backhausdance. National Broadway Tour credits include Wicked The Musical, as Dance Captain/Swing/Chistery Understudy.

In addition he has been involved in the creation of new musicals/shows Me and Caesar Lee (Choreographer - NYMTF Nominee), Dear Evan Hansen (Choreography Lab), and Better for Night (Featured Artist). His work with production companies, hip hop dance teams, and commercial projects span both coasts. Napoleon has worked with artists Agnes Carlson, Meaghan Smith, and Shinedown. Other projects include promos for the FIFA World Cup, music videos for Funny or Die, and commercials for Budweiser and iBillionaire.

As a choreographer and teacher, Napoleon has had the opportunity to travel to teach classes and set choreography on dance companies, teams, university programs and studios around the United States. And was the Program Coordinator and a Full-Time Faculty member for Hussian College LA’s Commercial Dance Program.

As an arts administrator Napoleon has stage managed the mobile opera Hopscotch by Los Angeles’ The Industry and created or held positions for non-profits the Theater at the 14th Street Y and LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture in New York City; MUSE/IQUE, Grand Performances, and Greenway Court Theater in Los Angeles. He has been the Audience Development Manager and Cultural Equity Producing and Programming Manager for Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University and is currently Executive Director of LA Contemporary Dance Company and Director, Theatrical Programming & Presentations for the Kimmel Cultural Campus.

Katy Dammers

Session Leader

• Panelist - Los Angeles Choreographers Institute

Katy Dammers is the Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Performing Arts at REDCAT, CalArts’ center for the visual and performing arts in Los Angeles. Her curatorial practice presents, organizes, and contextualizes contemporary art in performance commissions, exhibitions, festivals, site-specific installations, and publications. She has held past leadership positions at The Kitchen, FringeArts, and Jacob’s Pillow. Dammers has also worked as a creative administrator, and was the General Manager for choreographers Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener from 2014-2022, in addition to organizing projects with Jennifer Monson, Donna Uchizono, and Tere O’Connor. A writing fellow at the US National Center for Choreography, her essays about dance have been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Motor Dance Journal, and MOLD as well as edited volumes by University of Akron Press and Princeton University Press. Dammers was a member of the Inland Academy and holds degrees from Goldsmiths College and Princeton University.

•   @katydid_katydoes 
•   www.katydammers.com
•   www.redcat.org

*Headshot by Katy McCaffrey

Rick Gradone

Session Leader

Rick Gradone (art direction and costume design)
Collaborations with LACDC: and then life was beautiful (dance film & live performance)

Rick Gradone is a Los Angeles based Art Director and Creative Consultant. He recently transitioned into Art Direction to combine his 27 years of working on set as a hair and makeup artist with his equally long experience of costume and production design, writing, and direction.  A committed storyteller, he has a deep understanding of how all the parts of design create the fantasy from the hard-won experience of doing all of those parts. As a stylist he has worked for scores of magazines including VOGUE, HARPER’S BAZAAR, IN STYLE, INTERVIEW, VANITY FAIR, ROLLING STONE, I-D, DAZED AND CONFUSED. He was a founding member of the music project HI FASHION and has toured the world performing and creating spectacles that incorporate costume, dance, and set design in venues including MARDI GRAS in Sydney, THE MILKSHAKE FESTIVAL in Amsterdam, and YO SISSY in Berlin. He wrote and performed SEMI-PERMANENT, a one man show that won Outstanding Solo Show at the New York Fringe Festival. He was a founding member of Mobius Group, a New York based theater group that produced work with award winning playwrights Eric Bogosian, Warren Leight, and Richard Nelson among others. Theater Design credits include Atlantic Theater Company, Columbia University, Running Sun Theater Company, and Local 112. He is deeply committed to storytelling through expressive art forms and he is proud and honored to work with LACDC.

•   @bustedhair 
•   rickgradone.work/

Karyn D. Lawrence

Session Leader

Karyn D. Lawrence is an award-winning lighting designer based in Los Angeles. She has extensive experience lighting theater, dance, events and theme park attractions. Selected regional/local theater credits include Center Theatre Group, Deaf West Theater, South Coast Repertory, La Mirada Theatre, East West Players, Boston Court Pasadena, Antaeus Theatre Company, Ebony Repertory Theatre, and International City Theatre. She is the resident lighting designer for the New Swan Shakespeare Festival in Orange County. In addition to lighting for the stage, she is Radiance Lightworks' lead lighting designer for Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights each year. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Design at California State University Los Angeles. Her work has also been seen in Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Romania. When she's not teaching or designing, she enjoys spending time with her family and riding her horses in the mountains near her home. 

• kdlightingdesign.com 

Rebecca Lemme

SI Faculty

Rebecca Lemme is a choreographer, performer, educator, and visual artist. Founded in 2014, she is also Artistic Director of the performance group Acts of Matter. Her choreographic work has been commissioned for numerous universities and professional companies, and she teaches extensively in Release, Ballet and Improvisation. Significantly informed by both Release and Laban/Bartenieff techniques, she has created a unique movement style for the stage and the classroom that encourages investigation, problem solving, and versatility. Rebecca holds a BA from Princeton University in English and Theater and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Choreography.

Rebecca is an Associate Professor of Dance at California State University, Long Beach. She has been a full-time faculty member at California Institute of the Arts, where she also taught during her MFA candidacy. Additionally, Lemme has been on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Roosevelt University, Hubbard Street’s Lou Conte Dance Studio, Visceral Dance Center, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago.

Rebecca has been commissioned and presented by LA Contemporary Dance Company, Heidi Duckler Dance Theater, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, Los Angeles Theater Center, River North Dance Chicago, Thodos’ New Dances, California Institute of the Arts, Loyola Marymount University, Columbia College Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Grand Valley State University, The Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival, and was a finalist chosen to present choreography for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010: Chicago. Her work with Acts of Matter has been performed throughout Southern California and Chicago and toured to New Mexico in Fall 2018. Thematically and physically, Rebecca’s work is grounded in an unfettered willingness to attempt something while accepting the possibility of its failure. This physical exertion—this act of trying—is the core of humanity in her work.

Rebecca has toured nationally with contemporary repertory companies Luna Negra Dance Theater, River North Dance Chicago, Hedwig Dances, among others, working with and performing choreography by Jose Limon, Robert Battle, Daniel Ezralow, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Eduardo Vilaro, Frank Chaves, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, and Alejandro Cervera.

•   @actsofmatter
•    www.actsofmatter.com

Rachelle Rafailedes Mucha

Session Leader

Panelist - Los Angeles Choreographers Institute

Rachelle Rafailedes Mucha is a native Ohioan who began her formal dance training at an early age. She has since received her BFA from The Juilliard School in 2009, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, where she was awarded the Martha Hill Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in dance. In her professional career spanning over 15 years, Rachelle has been fortunate to perform works by renowned choreographers including: William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Millepied, Merce Cunningham, Justin Peck, Martha Graham, Shannon Gillen, Antony Tudor, and Emmanuel Gat, among many others. She was a member of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham from 2009-2013 and is a Bessie Award winning collaborator for Abraham’s The Radio Show.  Rachelle joined L.A. Dance Project in 2013 and became a rehearsal director in 2018. Rachelle danced with L.A. Dance Project until October 2020 when she joined L.A. Dance Project’s administration as the Director of Foundation and Government Grants and Director of Artist Residency Programs.

• *Photo by Morgan Lugo

Brittany Perry-Russell

Session Leader

Brittany Perry-Russell is a Texas native and the ultimate multi-hyphenate—an actor, producer, dancer, and choreographer with an expansive career across film, television, and live performances. As a professional dancer, she has performed on some of the world’s biggest stages alongside Beyoncé, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Pharrell, Dua Lipa, Cardi B, Selena Gomez, and many more.
Her choreography credits include major television projects such as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The CW’s All American, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, and the Viola Davis pilot Black Don’t Crack.

Brittany began her acting journey with roles in films like Tropic Thunder, Will Ferrell’s The Campaign, and the Whitney Houston-led remake of Sparkle. She went on to secure recurring roles in fan-favorite series including GLEE, Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, and the NAACP Image Award-winning comedy Family Reunion, where she starred opposite Loretta Devine and Tia Mowry. Brittany also led Carl Weber’s The Preacher’s Son and holiday hit A Stone-Cold Christmas, before being handpicked by Robert Rodriguez to star in the Netflix blockbuster We Can Be Heroes.

Her guest-starring appearances include Grey’s Anatomy, Fresh Off the Boat, CSI: NY, The Maya Rudolph Show (pilot), and, most recently, Season 2 of the highly anticipated series Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton.

In 2024, Brittany expanded her creative reach into producing, partnering with visionary media company Anonymous Content to develop her first feature film, Cliqueless. A true creative force, she continues to chart her own path in entertainment—bringing dynamic storytelling and multidimensional artistry to everything she touches.

•   @bperryrussell
• *Photo by Lee Gumbs

Maxwell Transue

Collaborator

Composer

Collaborations with LACDC: of touch of time (2024) | Rehearsal Trailer

Maxwell Transue is a composer and sound designer specializing in making immersive, thematic music and sound by weaving together layers of organic and synthetic elements, complex rhythms, and atmospheric textures.  His work is featured internationally in films, live theater, dance works, marketing content, and music artist recordings.  His music and sound is currently being used in works by dance companies BeMoving and Kaufman School of Dance, and by choreographers and filmmakers Bret Easterling, Jermaine Spivey, Spenser Theberge, Robert Bruce Hope, and The Kusanagi Sisters. As an independent artist Maxwell has performed alongside major artists such as Slow Magic, Low Leaf, Goodnight Cody, and Monster Rally. Maxwell DJ's, and produces house and electronic dance music under the artist moniker, Jurassic Spine.

•   @jurassicspine
•   www.maxwelltransue.com
• *Headshot by Gahyae Ryu

Kelsey Vidic

Session Leader

Kelsey Vidic (costume design)
Collaborations with LACDC: GLHF, Naneh, Tainted, Well Weathered, Terra, and The Only Constant.

Kelsey Vidic was born in Florida. Her opera-singing grandmother fueled a childhood curiosity. As her interests matured she interned with Brevard Music Center, STAGES St. Louis, Gomez-Gracia in London and the Santa Fe Opera for two seasons. After honing her costume construction skills, she desired a life of design. She received an MFA in Costume Design at the University of Texas at Austin.

Narrowing her degree expanded her path of artistry.

Working with bodies, textiles and space opened doors to work with companies such as the Intel Corporation, Opera på Skåret in Kopparberg, Sweden, American Players Theatre and with the Rude Mechanicals at the Guthrie Theater, all under varying job titles. Vidic currently works as the Costume Designer and Shop Manager for the Dance Department at California State University, Long Beach. Most recently, her MFA Thesis project, Adrift, was chosen to be displayed as a part of USITT’s Emerging Artist Exhibit in the Prague Quadrenniel, 2019.

She is open to all possibilities as a designer, working to merge her spatial design, costume design and construction, and newly found weaving practice in performative spaces. She will continue to listen with her eyes and always prefers the present moment.

•   @kvidic 
•   kelseyvidic.com