It began as Pacifica Choreographic Project and then continued with National Choreographers Project. Now, after 35 years, NCI Founder and Artistic Director Molly Lynch – the former founder and artistic director of Ballet Pacifica – has decided to make this year’s project the last dance.
NCI is an intensive, three-week program where Lynch invites four choreographers, as well as 16 professional dancers from ballet companies across the country, to participate and create new works. The project culminates in a performance showcasing the excitement of new creation—this year at the Irvine Barclay on Saturday, July 25.
To celebrate the work of NCI over the years and highlight the work of the choreographers, Lynch has invited back four choreographers from past years, including Sarah Tallman, Julia Feldman, Emily Adams, and DaYoung Jung.
Over the years, Lynch has worked with 136 choreographers and, through NCI, 185 dancers representing 60 dance companies. These artists have launched and developed their careers at NCI.
According to Lynch, who lives in Corona del Mar and teaches dance at UCI, she launched NCI not sure if it would work.
“When I started NCI, I thought I’ll give this a try and we’ll see if this works out,” recalled Lynch during a recent interview with the NB Indy. “I kind of had in my mind three to five years, and then after a while you turn around, and it’s been 20 years. People seemed to really enjoy coming to the show, and were supportive of it, but costs keep going up, donations are tough to get in this environment, and so now I think it’s time for me to step aside so that the next generation can take the reins and do their projects.”
Lynch said that NCI has evolved over the years, and there has been a marked difference from when she first created the project with Ballet Pacifica.
“With Pacifica Choreographic Project, I was really trying to develop relationships in choreography for the company and for the company dancers,” explained Lynch. “With NCI, I think that it became much more nationally recognized and broader reach because I was trying to give opportunities to emerging and mid-career kind of choreographers, but also reaching out to dancers in different companies across the country and giving them an opportunity to work with other dancers that they don’t work with, and work with other choreographers that they don’t normally work with, so the networking with NCI has been just incredible in a way. It wasn’t something that I necessarily intended. One of the main benefits of it is that choreographers meet other choreographers, dancers meet other dancers, and choreographers to dancers and dancers to choreographers, and they take those experiences back to their home companies or to other things, and so I think it’s really become more broader and reaches more of a national dance community.”
One common thread is that every year it has been four choreographers and 16 dancers, who are split between the choreographers.
“That seems like it’s worked out pretty well. We house them on campus (at UCI), which is kind of a nice thing, because then they’re all together and they’re within walking distance of the studios. Of course, every year is different, because there are different choreographers and some returning dancers and some new dancers, so it’s always a different mix.”
For the final bow of NCI, Lynch wanted to bring back four choreographers that were still actively pursuing their choreographic careers and that would represent the past 10 years of NCI. Lynch also decided that I was going to have all women choreographers this year.
“There are fewer women choreographers in ballet than men, so it’s always been one of the things that I’ve kind of wanted to do, and that I have done, is to support women choreographers. And for the last dance, let’s make it all women choreographers, and celebrate not just their work but celebrate all of the choreographers that have participated.”
Lynch said that about half of the dancers are returning to NCI and half of them are new, which is the formula Lynch has used over the years.
“We have the returning dancers who can celebrate the work that they have done at NCI before, and then we bring in some new dancers to give them the experience as we go off into the sunset.
Lynch also told the choreographers that while the idea is to create something new, she’s not looking for a celebration piece.
“I want them to come in with the idea of creating something that they want to be doing and using that opportunity to expand their choreographic voice and all of that, so it’s not coming in with any other expectations than to just work and do something of their choosing. I try to encourage them to stay open and take it as it comes. I don’t ask them for any kind of proposal, I don’t ask them ahead of time what music they might be using, I don’t ask them any theme or anything. I’m hiring them based on their previous work and the direction that I see they’re going, but when they come in, they really are given the free reign to work on whatever it is that they choose to do.”
The July 25 concert at The Barclay will be the premieres of the four dance projects that resulted from this year’s NCI. After the concert is a reception on the Barclay patio so the audience can meet and talk with the choreographers and dancers.
Tickets to the July 25 concert are $28 to $105 and include a post-performance reception. Tickets can be purchased at www.thebarclay.org.
