ADMISSON & CAMPUS ACCESS:
Admission is free. Reservations are required. Campus access is limited to registered guests and USC students, staff, and faculty with current USC ID. 

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DESCRIPTION:
“An occasional party where random ideas turn into music and movement.”—The New York Times

Bringing together artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines since 2015, LayeRhythm creates interactive, improvisational street/club music and dance experiences that dissolve the boundaries between audience and performers. Making monthly interactive performances at Meridian 23 and Nublu, as well as appearances at venues and festivals like Jacob’s Pillow, SummerStage, and Lincoln Center, and presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, the project is commited to diversity and collaboration. Founded by artistic director Mai Lê Hô, the New York City–based jam session embraces the belief that live dance and music are potent agents of healing, transcending physical and emotional boundaries.

In SWITCH, the audience becomes LayeRhythm’s muse. Through interactive games, audience ideas are collected and announced by the MC, inspiring performers to transform them into music, lyrics, and movement on the spot. Rooted in freestyle movements like house dance, litefeet, and flexn, LayeRhythm events transcend traditional performances—they are collaborative experiences where audiences actively shape outcomes with their words, ideas, and movements, shining a light on BIPOC creatives and historically underrepresented artists. This celebrates the transformative power of improvisational music and dance pioneered by Black and Latinx communities, fostering an ecosystem that forges bonds, cultivates an environment of creativity and joy, and grows a community that is inclusive, supportive, and fiercely independent.

Mai Lê Hô is a French-Vietnamese street/club dance artist and educator, and the founder and artistic director of LayeRhythm Production, Inc., an acclaimed, cutting­-edge monthly jam session that layers live musicians and vocalists with freestyle dancers. Since its creation in 2015, the project has been presented at venues/festivals such as the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, 92NY Harkness Dance Center, NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, Gibney, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Church (Sag Harbor, NY), Jacob’s Pillow (Becket, MA), and the Bridge Street Theatre (Catskill, NY).

Presented by USC Visions and Voices. Organized by the USC Kaufman School of Dance.

Photo (Axel at the Lincoln Center) by Lauriane Ogay and courtesy of LayeRhythm.