Meet Hayden Rivas | Dancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hayden Rivas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I remember being both inspired and stumped when answering this question in October of last year. As an artist, it’s always a goal to be able to articulate what our role is as an artist in society. At USC Kaufman, we even have a class called Colloquium in which we address the artist’s role in society. With that being said, I feel as though my journey as an artist and creative is evergrowing. From being told that I’d never be a dancer at Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Summer Intensive, thinking that I wasn’t good enough at local competitions, and dealing with imposter syndrome while at USC, this journey is an evolving entity and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. In a club application a couple of weeks ago I stated that to me, everything is like a puzzle and my goal is to find a way to solve it no matter the circumstances that come up. As a college student, I am not only pursuing a BFA in Dance, but I am also working towards my Master in Studies in Law, going to be working as a Resident Assistant for the third year in a row, and serve as a student worker for Kaufman’s Dance Operations, Communications, and Student Services Departments. All of these different facets work their way in which I approach art. The dedication, drive, resilience, and vulnerability that all of these positions have taught me inevitably have worked their way into the mindset I have with the arts. As a junior in college, a lot of people have asked what I want to do post-graduation. What I find interesting is that I hope to work in film and television, on concert dance stages through dance companies, as well as in the musical theatre industry. As my goal in high school was to be as well-rounded as possible, I hope to continue to push to be as malleable as I can. In addition, when I was growing up in the industry, I never saw people who looked like me in any of these fields. Due to this, I hope that I can show the younger generation that as an Asian-Canadian, it’s possible to achieve the goals that we put forth for ourselves.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love showing my friends around Los Angeles. What I always say is that there is something here for everyone. Recently, I have been really interested in the flea market scene and you can usually see me at Silverlake Flea Market. If we were staying around campus, I would most likely take them to one of the museums close to USC such as The Natural History Museum, California Science Center, and California African American Museum. However, there are also amazing food options around such as Bacari and Ebaes. I had mentioned that you can occasionally find me bouldering at Cliffs of ID, surfing at El Porto, or hanging out with friends throughout the city. As an artist, I try my best to take in as much art as possible whether that be at The Broad, LACMA, Music Centre, Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, The Wallis, Hollywood Pantages Theatre, The Dolby Theatre, or even my closest movie theatre located in Downtown LA. I also am a sucker for Griffith Observatory and will find every excuse to see the city from above.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I will say this time and time again, however, I would not be where I am today without the support of my parents. I mentioned this in my first article but I cannot thank them enough for allowing me to pursue my BFA in Dance at USC. I hope to echo their values and support the people around me as they do. I also want to give a huge shout-out to my grandparents who have been by my side since the beginning. To all of my past dance teachers, I want to say a huge thank you. Thank you for believing in me, trusting me, and always pushing me to chase my goals. To all of my friends at USC, you all inspire and push me to new heights every day. It’s an absolute dream to be here at USC and I push to take advantage of every second that I have here.

Website: https://www.haydenrivas.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haydenrivas/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haydenrivas/

Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/haydenrivas

Image Credits
Photos by Hannah Doerr, Diego Lopez, Rose Eichenbaum, Leigh Hillary Lee, Shimon Karmel, Emiko Ohta