Brockus’ projects are flourishing

Deborah Brockus’ dance empire is about to expand again.

Brockus already runs a locally based jazz-dance ensemble (the Brockus Project Dance Company) and produces a multi-company showcase called “Spectrum: Dance in L.A.” four times a year at the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood. (Spectrum #13 runs Saturday and next Sunday.) This year, she also launched a teenage “Spectrum” titled “New Perspectives” (penciled in for two new editions at the Ivar in 2003) and “Caught Between,” a collaborative multimedia Ivar event also scheduled to repeat next year. Besides these public performances, she arranges master classes for the local dance community with major visiting companies.

If all that weren’t enough, Brockus will be running a new quarterly series called “Split” at the Alex Theatre in Glendale starting Jan. 10. “Split” teams three locally based choreographers or companies with one from elsewhere: Robert Gilliam, Jamie Nichols and Brockus’ own troupe as the home team and the Forces of Nature company from New York as the honored guest on the inaugural program.

Even before this announcement, Brockus was presenting more local dance than any other individual or institution. Now, nobody even comes close.

-- Lewis Segal