Lula Washington Receives UCLA’s Chancellor’s Award

On May 17^th, Lula Washington, UCLA class of ’76, M.A. ’84, and member of the UCLA Black Alumni Association, was honored with the UCLA’s Chancellor’s Medal – the highest recognition awarded by UCLA to its alumni.   Ms. Washington received the award for her community service, working and promoting dance for over 33 years in South Los Angeles.  Prior to the awards ceremony, Ms. Washington, who comes from a low income family, talked with students about working her way through UCLA while she majored in dance, and how her Afrocentric approach to the discipline was not always welcomed by the dance department faculty at the time.  After graduation, in 1980, Lula and her husband, Erwin Washington, founded the Lula Washington Dance Theater.  The company has grown to international acclaim, touring worldwide, but has always maintained home base in the inner city community of South Los Angeles.

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