Mapping LA’s growing dance scene

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Los Angeles is known as the entertainment capital of the world… for its creative output in film, theater and art.

But, the city’s reputation in dance is starting to grow as well.

At the high end, there’s a lot more programming at the Music Center of L.A. and at universities and art centers. But, there are also smaller companies cropping up all over town.

Now, USC is trying to get its arms around the burgeoning local dance scene with a new survey and full-on digital Dance Map.

KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis sits down with Sasha Anawalt , head of the Dance Map LA project, to talk about how data is used to track an art scene that stretches across an entire city.

(Photo: Charlie Hodges, rehearsal director and dancer for the L.A. Dance Project, on the roof of the Ace Hotel in downtown, Los Angeles; photograph by Anne Menke.)