Steps in a familiar pattern

In a bid to keep her most innovative idea alive from her days leading Ballet Pacifica, Molly Lynch will head a new National Choreographers Initiative, Lynch and supporters announced Monday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

The project is to begin July 6 and culminate in a series of works created by four choreographers to be presented July 24 at the Irvine theater.

The new initiative resembles the annual summer Pacifica Choreographic Project that Lynch created in 1991, four years after she took over artistic direction of the Irvine-based Ballet Pacifica.

Every year, she brought in four choreographers to create new works for the troupe. The project brought the small company national attention.

But after Lynch resigned in October over artistic differences with the board of directors, the new administration dropped the program and canceled the remainder of the troupe’s season.

The idea to keep the project going, Lynch said in a separate interview, “came from some people in the community who wanted to see this continue.”

“This is not about starting a company,” she said. “This is coming from community members taking the initiative to request that we do this. The difference is the national aspect to it. We’re reaching out to other companies and directors and to dancers in companies across the nation. We’re expanding on what we’ve done in the past. I’m excited about that and the response we’ve gotten already.”

The Irvine theater will serve as the presenter.

“Essentially, we’ll provide the administrative and accounting services and some promotional help,” said the Irvine theater’s president, Douglas C. Rankin.

“An amazing confluence of necessary resources came together in a very short period of time,” he said. “All the appropriate conversations have been had with Ballet Pacifica, so nobody feels ill at ease about anybody else. We’re very pleased to be associated with it.”

Following Lynch’s resignation, Ballet Pacifica appointed Christina Lyon as its artistic director. But she, in turn, resigned less than two months later, after the board scrapped pretty much all of the troupe’s plans because of a $200,000 shortfall in its $1.7-million budget. Gillian Finley, who also heads the Ballet Pacifica Conservatory, is serving as interim director while a national search for a replacement is underway.

Half of the new project’s budget, which will total approximately $110,000, has already been raised, according to Anne Nutt, a former Ballet Pacifica board president and one of the initiators of the program.

“I had half the budget before we went to the Barclay,” Nutt said. “Otherwise, it’s too much of a risk. It would be a shame to lose something like this from Southern California.”

Three of the four choreographers have been confirmed: Peter Pucci, founder of Peter Pucci Plus Dancers, based in New York; Ann Marie DeAngelo, former associate director of the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago; and James Sewell, artistic director of James Sewell Ballet in Minnesota. The fourth may be Lynne Taylor-Corbett, who has choreographed for several companies, including American Ballet Theatre, but she had not confirmed by press time.

All four have participated in previous Ballet Pacifica workshops. Each will be able to choose the style and theme of his or her work. They will also retain the rights to their ballets and will be able to license them to other companies.

“There are certainly possibilities in how to continue this,” Lynch said. “I have ideas even to expand. But first things first. We need to see what response and community we get and see what the reaction is before we continue it.”

Lynch denied reports that her resignation from Ballet Pacifica was prompted by the board’s favoring story ballets over shorter contemporary works, such as those created in the choreographers project.

“I would say my resignation was about more than just doing big story ballets,” she said. “I tried to say it politely in saying it was because of ‘artistic and professional reasons.’ There was more to it than that. But I would not be doing this if Ballet Pacifica had not already clearly said they were not going to do it.

“As for Ballet Pacifica, I hope it can continue. I have great respect for Gillian and appreciation for what we’ve accomplished in the past. My intention is not revenge. My intention is to continue doing what I can do to support dance.”

Because Lynch is no longer associated with a company, dancers for the choreographers project will be selected through an open application and audition process April 18 at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine. There is a $10 audition fee for each dancer. Applications can be mailed to: National Choreographers Initiative, 3334 E. Coast Highway, #276, Corona del Mar, CA 92625. Information: (949) 675-4579.