Ballet Pacifica Suffers $1-Million Fire Loss : Dance: The blaze destroys the Laguna Beach troupe’s warehouse, which included decades’ worth of costumes and scenery. But the studios and dancers are unharmed.

Orange County’s oldest ballet company lost all of its scenery and costumes--31 years worth--when the Ballet Pacifica warehouse burned to the ground in Wednesday’s fire. It was an especially damaging blow as the scrappy troupe had been working harder than ever in recent years to raise its profile in the county’s arts community.

Three dancers with the company-- David Lawrence, Kelly Leonardi and David Miller--had been living in apartments at the warehouse, at 586 Canyon Acres Drive. All three were uninjured but were left homeless.

The Ballet Pacifica studios at 1863 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, several miles away, were not damaged. Neither was the Moulton Theatre, at which the company performs (see story, F12.)

But according to artistic director Molly Lynch, the loss of the warehouse and its contents amounts to more than $1 million for the troupe, whose annual budget is $320,000. Beyond that, the warehouse contained “the history of the company,” Lynch said Thursday, sadness and exhaustion audible in her voice. “It was all our scenery and costumes. The building itself was our greatest asset, and we almost owned it. We had less than $1,000 left to pay off.”

She said, however, that the company’s next production--a series of “Nutcrackers” Dec. 16-23--will go on at the playhouse as scheduled.

“The show must go on,” Lynch said. “That’s sort of my job today. I have to try to sit down and make a list of costumes and see what I can pull together. I need to get volunteers to help make costumes to replace what we need for ‘Nutcracker’ . . . We’re going to have to retrench and start anew.

“It’s going to be a struggle,” she acknowledged.

Lynch said the building alone recently had been appraised at $450,000 and “we had more than 100 ballets in our repertory. Just ‘Nutcracker’ alone was probably $100,000 worth of costumes. All those hand-made tutus!”

Originally called the Laguna Beach Civic Ballet, Ballet Pacifica was created in 1962 by Lila Zali on a budget of $1,500. Zali had danced with the Mordkin Ballet, the forerunner of what is now the American Ballet Theatre, from 1937 to 1940 when she left to join the De Basil Ballet Russe as a soloist.

Zali created the bulk of the Laguna company’s repertoire, which consisted of such staples as “Nutcracker,” “Giselle” and “Les Sylphides.” She also inaugurated a popular children’s series. Zali ran the company until her retirement in 1988.

Growing ambitions already were apparent in 1974 when the company changed its name to Ballet Pacifica. A major step was taken when Lynch came in to replace Zali, whom she had assisted from 1980 to 1983. Lynch began expanding the repertory almost immediately by commissioning new work from younger American choreographers.

In 1991, Lynch initiated an annual summer choreographer’s workshop, bringing up-and-coming choreographers to Orange County to create new work for the troupe. Some of the new ballets have become part of the repertory.

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* ART SITES SPARED: The Laguna Art Museum, the Art Institute of Southern California and art festival grounds apparently suffered no major damage. F13

* SHOW TO GO ON: While some members of Laguna Playhouse frantically packed boxes, others doused flames to save the theater. F12