Hybrid Cohort Info

Guest Workshop: Dancehall with Nina Flagg

Nina Flagg is a LA native, Dance Artist, Choreographer, and Educator. Her movement foundations began with Gymnastics, Classical Ballet, and Modern Dance followed by studies in West African Dance, Tap, Jazz, and Hip-Hop/Street Dance. She attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA) and excelled under the tutelage of the acclaimed LACHSA dance faculty. After graduating from LACHSA, she went on to obtain her BA in Sociology with a Specialization in Communications from UCLA.

Over the past two decades, Nina’s work has evolved as an embodied intersection between multiple movement traditions, explored through the lens of Hip-Hop consciousness. The plurality of her training and practice has lent itself to a diverse career in concert dance, television, and academia. As an educator, Nina has been on faculty at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), UCLA, and Connecticut College and served as guest faculty for Bennington College and LMU. She has worked with such artists as Prince, Tina Turner, Bette Midler, Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Solange, Will Smith, and J Balvin. Her choreography has been featured on The Grammy’s, TV Land Awards, ABC, ESPN, NBC/Peacock, Flight Path Dance Company, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Her television appearances include The Oscars, The Today Show, MTV’s TRL, and Good Morning America. In summer of 2021, Nina appeared in the documentary film AILEY which was released in theaters nationwide after its premier at Sundance Film Festival.

Currently, Nina is continuing her practice as a dancer, choreographer, pedagogue, and guest artist for organizations such as CLI Studios, LA Dance Project, and Everybody Dance LA!. In January of 2023, Nina joined the faculty of USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, teaching courses in Hip-Hop and Dancehall studies. As a BIPOC artist and educator, Nina remains passionate about creating curricular strategies for equitable, multi-generational engagement in dance education and live performance.

Guest Workshop: Self-Defense with Professor Zahalea

Heavy is her crown yet; she wears it like a feather. Soft, strong, spiritual and sensual. To have the strength to move mountains. To have the knowledge to teach a nation. To nurture, like they were her own. A fun woman a cussin’ women but, an honest woman. A humbled woman. One who knows her worth because she has paid dearly for every ounce of it. She is fierce so she can be compassionate. She is passionate so she can be rational. To be wild and free is her warrior way. Full of fire because her passion for surviving and living, burned brighter than her fears. Wearing her scars like a backless dress, this Warrior Empress is building an empire with some of the stones that were thrown. She is Zahalea.

Professor Zahalea currently holds the rank of 7th Dan. Blood, sweat, tears, dedication, sacrifices, and hard work, allowed the divine timing and alignment of Professor Zahalea to respectfully be a bonified master instructor/practitioner who has earned her space on the panel with legendary heavy hitters. She is authentically a 2nd generation of Sanuces Ryu Ju-Jitsu. The roots and rivers of her foundation come from her instructor/father Grand Master Urban Muhammad. The hours of training that was endured on and off the matt. Giving and receiving. Touching and going. Taking strikes, applying joint locks, embracing the matt work, and becoming one with weaponry. Being the only female warrior, Professor Zahalea discovered a path that would allow her to use her strength and gracefulness in a way that would move and drop a person three times her height and weight. It wasn’t easy, but it was very beneficial. To have been battle tested in the streets. To have survived obstacles that one may not fathom on where to start. She has the confidence to stand alone. To have people try to push you out. To tell you that you do not belong. Yet, to have people praise you for your work. To have people love and respect you. The Yin and Yang of life. Professor is balanced. She has the humility to provide a safe space for those in need to learn self-defense for their spirit, mind, and body. Professor Zahalea, as she is affectionately called by her students and community, is a three-time hall of famer, a receiver of prestigious awards, and a humanitarian for which Zahalea will continue to serve and be forever grateful.

Guest Workshop: Restorative Yoga with Liza Gesuden

Liza Gesuden is a second-generation Pinay educator with over twenty years of classroom experience in Southern California and the Bay Area. She is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher and this year, she will complete her 300-hour certification. Yoga has been instrumental in keeping her connected, grounded, reminded of her purpose as an educator. She is currently teaching and learning with her 7th graders in Long Beach, California.