“In World of Dance, teams from around the
country compete in front of a TV audience and
celebrity judges
Jennifer Lopez,
Derek Hough and
Ne-Yo. Dance
teams go through
several rounds
of competition
to vie for the
grand prize:
$1 million.”
August/September 2019 69
On Season 1 in 2017, The Posse’s seven
nimble 13- to 16-year-olds wowed the judges
with dances marked by graceful moves,
impressive synchronization, exciting acrobatics
and clever use of props. (This
included an intricate dance where all the
girls held ropes and quickly wove around
and between each other on the stage, all
the while staying remarkably untangled.
In another dance, they all appeared with
shirts (over their leotards) printed with
words representing teenage anxieties, like
“Freak,” “Loser” and “Ugly.” As the dance
progressed, one girl at a time would remove
her shirt, demonstrating her confidence
and empowerment through dance.
Two years later, Kuzia showed up at
Season 3 of World of Dance with another
team, JDC (Junior Dance Company),
which included two dancers from the
Posse team. Performing to songs like
Jesse J’s “Who You Are” and Leikeli47’s
“Look,” the girls made it much further
in the competition, making it all the way
to Episode 8, “The Cut,” which aired
in April. (You can watch all episodes of
Season 3 on NBC.com/worldofdance.).
“We were one point away from divisional
finals,” said Kuzia. “I was really
proud of them.”
SUCCESS ON THE NATIONAL STAGE
The World of Dance appearances were
among many highlights of Kuzia’s career,
which comprises 32 years as a dancer
and 18 as a choreographer. The artist,
who grew up in San Jose, has won numerous
dance awards and scholarships, and
trained many other winners of both. Her
students have been accepted into prestigious
dance programs like American
Ballet Theater and Alvin Ailey.
Kuzia received her Bachelor’s degree
in Dance from San Jose State University,
where she was a member of their modern
dance troupe, University Dance Theatre,
under the direction of Julliard alumni
Gary Masters. After graduating, she continued
her training at Edge Performing
Arts Center in Hollywood, one of the
nation’s leading dance studios, where she
trained under and assisted some of the
country’s best choreographers.
She also danced in San Francisco with
Funkanometry SF in their all-female hip
hop group, De La Femme. There, she says,
she learned to blend ballet, hip hop and contemporary
styles. She also loved being close
to one of the hubs of the dance industry.
“The fact that I’m just so close to San
Francisco is amazing for me,” said Kuzia,
who has been able to join well-known
local companies and see many different
high-level shows “I think that, for a
while, I wasn’t aware of how lucky I was
to be in such an artistic community, one
that helped spark the fire in me.”
In 2006, Kuzia and her husband Jason,
a motion picture and event production
designer, opened Nor Cal Dance arts.
The studio had been formerly owned by
Kuzia’s original dance instructor and
mentor, Sheri Sampson. Under the name
of Born to Dance, Sampson’s studio was
where Kuzia learned to dance from her
toddler through her teen years.
“Sheri was moving to Georgia, and so
she asked me if I wanted to own the studio,”
said Kuzia. “She gave us a deal on it.”
Kuzia, who credits Sampson with her
passion for dance, also had grown up believing
that she would one day own the studio.
“I was a very stubborn little kid, and
Sheri and I would get into fights,” said
Kuzia, explaining she and Sampson had
somewhat of a power struggle at times.
“One day, when I was about 10, Sheri
pointed to the sign that said ‘Sheri’s
Born to Dance’ and said “Does that say
‘Tawnya’s Born to Dance’ on the wall?”
“And I told her, ‘No, but it will!’ “