Leah Hager Expands Her Practice Through Dance and Research
Leah Hager recently received the Medici Circle Foundation Scholarship, which supported her summer dance research and enabled her to attend the Orsolina 28 Jiří Kylián Summer Intensive in Italy and the Bates Dance Festival in Maine. Through these experiences, she explored the development of an artist’s creative voice and gained new perspectives on the relationship between dance, research, and artistic practice.
Her summer opportunities were further supported by the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at the University of California, Irvine, allowing her to travel to both Italy and Maine for intensive study. Working with renowned faculty at each program, Leah expanded her technical and artistic knowledge while forming connections and experiences that she describes as lifelong memories.
Leah is now pursuing a double BFA in Dance Performance and Dance Choreography at UC Irvine, where she combines rigorous dance training with opportunities to develop her choreographic practice and participate in research. She describes the opportunity to train, create, and conduct research in the same academic environment as “an absolute dream.”
As she continues her studies, Leah is excited to discover new choreographic approaches and further develop her artistic voice through both performance and research.
We congratulate Leah on these exciting achievements and look forward to following the continued development of her distinctive voice as a dancer, choreographer, and emerging artist.