Jamila Glass

Jamila Glass | Photo by Zack Whitford
  • Founding Company Member in 2005
  • Artistic Director in 2021
  • Co-Founder Los Angeles Choreographers Institute in 2024

Latest creations for LACDC: 

Filmmaker and Choreographer Jamila Glass is known for creating cinematic journeys of movement, shaping characters, and building worlds that reflect what makes us human. In addition to creating work as the Artistic Director of L.A. Contemporary Dance Company (where she joined in 2005 as a founding member), she has choreographed extensively in film and television. Her choreography work includes projects on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, BET, and PRADA, earning recognition in The New York Times, L.A. Times, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, and Mashable.  She also choreographed and co-directed two commercial campaigns for Splice, the music industry’s leading royalty-free sample library, and recently began a collaboration with Airbnb Originals, which creates extraordinary experiences exclusively for Airbnb.

Glass began her formal training as a nine-year-old scholarship student at The Discovery Dance Group in Houston, Texas. She continued dancing in her spare time as a vocal music major at the multi-Grammy award-winning High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Jamila graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Cinema-Television (Film & Video Production) and a Minor in Advertising.

As a performer, she has worked with Ryan Heffington, Galen Hooks, Nina McNeely, Kathryn Burns, David Dorfman, Adam Parson, and Mecca Vazie Andrews.  Other credits include Netflix Original film Mascots from Christopher Guest, American Horror Story, Paul McCartney, Kelly Rowland, Colbie Caillat, Foster the People tour, Mastercard, American Apparel, Samsung, & The New York Times bestselling photography book Dancers Among Us.

Beyond the stage, Jamila, a director/screenwriter, has produced films through her production company The Cutting Room where she has directed 21 critically-acclaimed short dance films, a television pilot, and 2 music videos that have garnered international praise, including film screenings in London, Paris and Lebanon. Her previous work as a freelance editor includes documentary shorts, national radio commercials, and an award-winning independent television network. Her directorial work for LACDC includes ECHOES, INSECTOS: arte y vida (both commissioned by the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain), and then life was beautiful, and SUMMON (featuring the music by Emmy and Oscar award-winning and Grammy-nominated Kris Bowers).  

As a curator with LACDC, Glass has partnered with the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain for the past four years, fostering artistic dialogue between Spanish and American dancers and choreographers through annual commissions.  She is also the co-founder of the Los Angeles Choreographers Institute, an intensive leadership development program incorporating a holistic approach to the business side of dance-making.  She previously served as LACDC's Media Director and Summer/Winter Intensive Director, elevating the company's visibility across continents.  

Jamila has taught at Schools: USC Kaufman, Pace University, CLI Conservatory, UCLA, Loyola Marymount University, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Fullerton, Loyola Marymount University, Texas Christian University, Hussian College Los Angeles, Riverside Dance Festival (Florida), and Renaissance Arts Academy, and has created work for LACDC, Texas Christian University (twice), Cal State Fullerton (twice), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Co/Motion Creation Intensive (Boston).   Additionally, universities regularly invite her to conduct mock auditions for their seniors and to lead lectures on film directing and working as a choreographer in film and television.

Recent 2025 News: 

  • I observed and provided feedback to the 3rd year BFAs in a Contemporary Technique class at USC Kaufman in order to help them prepare for high pressure audition environments.
  • I held a mock audition followed by a Q&A at Cal State Long Beach (for the fifth year in a row) with their dance seniors.
  • Jamila taught technique classes and created a work on students ages 10 to 22 at the Riverside Dance Festival summer intensive in Vero Beach, Florida.  While there during a two-week residency, she also developed and premiered a 24-minute LACDC work called Take What You Need.
  • Jamila taught an exclusive multi-day workshop at CLI Conservatory in Massachusetts aimed at preparing students for audition season.  In a mock audition setting, dancers gained firsthand experience of what it's like to audition for the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company.  
  • Glass taught two lectures at Loyola Marymount University on illuminating the creator's perspective, focusing on filming, choreography, and direction and incorporating insights from her extensive experience working on set.
  • Jamila taught a workshop for the seniors at University of Southern California’s Kaufman School of Dance in order to help them prepare for audition season.  It was a full circle moment to return to her alma mater and teach in the state-of-the-art building that is now right across from where she used to take her USC film school classes.
  • After first creating a work for Cal State Fullerton's dance program in 2022, they invited Jamila to return to the campus in the Spring of 2025 to complete another choreographic residency. 

Jamila is represented by Movement Talent Agency and is a member of the Television Academy, the Choreographers Guild and SAG-AFTRA.

Watch her teaching reel, view her class schedule, and check out her latest news.

*Headshot by Zack Whitford