MEET THE TEAM

E. MONCELL DURDEN

FOUNDER/DIRECTOR

E. Moncell Durden is a dance educator, choreographer, ethnographer, embodied historian, author and associate professor of practice at the University of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman International School of Dance. He specializes in pedagogical practices that prove cultural and historical context in what he calls the morphology of Afro-kinetic memory.

A highly sought after instructor, Durden teaches practical and theoretical classes in the U.S. and abroad and is an expert in locking, house, hip- hop, authentic jazz, and party dances from 1900 to the present. He is a member of Mop Top Crew, the pioneering NYC Hip Hop dance group, and alumnus of Rennie Harris Puremovement, the Philadelphia-based hip-hop theater company. Before joining the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance faculty, Durden taught for seven years at Drexel University. He held appointments at the Yale School of Drama, Wesleyan University, and Bennington College. He has published articles in Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches, Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetics and Equity in the Twenty-First Century, and the The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America. He is currently writing an article for the Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Dance. His groundbreaking documentary, Everything Remains Raw: A Historical Perspective on Hip Hop Dance, was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Vladivostok, Russia as a work in progress to screen at their 2013 film festival.  

In 2010, Durden founded INTANGIBLE ROOTS , an organization dedicated to the education and preservation of Afro-Diasporic social dance formations.

  • Liezel Marie, Administration/Research

    Liezel Marie aka LaydeeLiz, an Professor, educator, choreographer, Director, visionary, & Los Angeles native with a B.S in Kinesiology Dance and M.A in Education Curriculum & Instruction. Represented with Go2Talent, She taught Hip Hop Dance, Modern, Dance Appreciation & Choreography at Cal State Northridge, Glendale Community College, LACHSA, Interlochen Performing Art & Las Vegas local schools. Had the honor of choreographing for dance competitions and conventions such as World of Dance, Hip Hop Internationals, Club Jete, Choreographers Carnival, Soul de Soul, Dance Excellence, Step of Hope and Maxt Out. She was a Raw Artist Hollywood Of the Year nominee, dancer for the SuperBowl, dancer for Universal Studios Hollywood & Disney. Choreographer and instructor on Carnival Cruise Lines, choreographer and directed for Kidz Roc, Los Angeles WNBA Sparks and SparKids, Los Angeles Clippers, Harlem Globetrotters, and Nike. She worked with artists such as Latin Grammy Award Winner Chocoquibtown, American Idol singer Chris GoLightly, broadway star Matt Zarley, Lanita Smith, Loren Smith, Alexa Friedman, Danity Kane & Jessica Sanchez . Her greatest goal & passion is to teach, build empathy, grow and learn from other lived experiences, educate, inspire dancers, inspire non-dancers and artists all over the world to keep loving dance and more. To find out more visit: www.LiezelMarie.com

    “Through empathy, education & empowerment, we believe that creating a safe space and providing a meaningful experience to artists, educators and their families to be our top priority for our financial services. We understand that talking about Money can be intimidating. It’s always been a “taboo” to talk about personal finances, however in order to do better, we have to be better by going to the right specialists. When you are not feeling well, you go to the doctor to diagnosis to find out what they can do help. When you want to build wealth, you go to a wealth building strategist to diagnosis to find out what they can do to help. ” – Liezel Marie & Jonathan Lorico If you are interested in these services please click here.

  • Ardyn Flynt, Editor

    Arden self-identifies as a "corporeal conversationalist." She received her B.F.A. in dance from USC where she trained concurrently in ballet and house, resulting in a keen interest in the synthesis of dance forms traditionally positioned as binaries of one another. She teaches globally utilizing two movement systems – William Forsythe’s Improv Technologies and d. Sabela Grimes’ “Funkmental MediKinetics.” Arden has dance professionally for choreographers Amy O'Neal, Juliano Nunes, Ayodel Casel, Ebony Williams, and Azure Barton among others. Arden is the in-house choreographer and dance captain for the musical artist Sean VanDerWilt, and she recently performed at ROLLING STONE’s 2022 Creator Issue Event. She regularly works with choreographer Ebony Williams in both dance and creative positions such as DOJA CAT’s Coachella 2022 (assistant choreographer), WARNER BROS/UNIGRAM "Collision" Residency (associate choreographer, dancer), KID CUDI 2022 Tour Skeleton Crew (associate choreographer). She was recently the associate choreographer for artist MILLI at HITC Festival 2022.

  • Elizabeth Rodriguez, Administration/Personal Assistant

    Elizabeth “EastLos” Rodriguez is an educator, professional dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Los Angeles. Having worked with inner-city non-profits since age 10, and thus being awarded the 2012 Kohl’s Regional Volunteer of the Year Award, Elizabeth has always been committed to the empowerment of the youth and using the performing arts to build personal and artistic goals. After taking free Hip Hop classes from a local non-profit, Elizabeth diverted all her efforts to dance education which lead to the opportunity to study and perform with Open House, Versa-Style Next Generation, Physical Poets, and Inner-City Arts Repertory Dance CO.

    Elizabeth brings 10+ years of teaching and performing experience and has been instrumental in designing and administrating course syllabi for multiple programs, coaching new teaching artists and mentoring young artists into becoming tomorrow’s professionals and continues to fuel her passion for dance education, injury prevention, and the preservation and education of Hip Hop dance and culture. Elizabeth received her B.F.A in Dance and B. A in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles.