Corona del Mar resident Molly Lynch is a Professor of Dance at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine. Now that school is out for the summer, Lynch can take a nice long vacation.
Or maybe not.
Lynch is the founder and artistic director of the National Choreographers Initiative, a summer choreography and dance intensive where four chorographers and 16 dancers from throughout the country come to Orange County for three weeks to create original dance performances. Lynch is on site every day to oversee the creative process.
NCI culminates in a performance at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday, July 26.
This is the 21st National Choreographers Initiative, which Lynch calls “a unique and creative forum for some of the best choreographers in the country to develop their movement ideas and themes. It’s an intensive process that is equally fun and rewarding for me, the choreographers, the dancers, and the audience.”
According to Lynch, the dancers and choreographers work Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“It’s sort of what I call summer camp for professionals,” said Lynch. “It’s pretty intensive. They have class in the morning, then they have an early rehearsal period, and then a brief lunch break, and then an afternoon rehearsal period.”
And because the four choreographers are sharing dancers, the dancers are usually working with two choreographers.
The NCI process began months before the choreographers and dancers arrived in Orange County.
“The choreographers submit a bio, and then some samples of different works that they’ve choreographed so I can see where they’ve been in their choreographic career and what direction they might be going,” explained Lynch. “I review all of those things, and I try to think about choreographers that have had different influences, or that have gone to different programs, so that there would be variety in terms of what the audience might see.”
Once Lynch selects the four choreographers, she makes sure they can come in with an open mind and not feel pressured so they can use NCI as an experimental exploration.
“They can be working on something of their choosing, something that would take them the next step forward in their choreographic process,” said Lynch. “They can try different things and if something doesn’t work, they can throw it out after a couple of days and start over.”
“I’m sure that they come in with some potential idea about what they might want to be working on, but then they get here, and they have seen the dancers that they can work with, so they can try a couple of different things so that they don’t have to be locked in to doing one thing,” added Lynch. “I’m not asking them what they’re going to do. I’m not expecting them to come to me with a proposal. That’s really up for them to kind of figure out.”
Artistic Cross-Pollination
And as far as the dancers, Lynch said more than 120 dancers applied for the 16 spots. She likes to have several returning dancers who have gone through the NCI process in the past, but she welcomes new dancers because it brings new blood and new energy and new enthusiasm, so there is a mix of the returning and new dancers. She also brings in dancers from different companies around the country.
“I think that’s always kind of interesting, because it sort of cross pollinates between the dancers and the different companies that they come from and the different choreographers that they’ve worked with.”
Ultimately, said Lynch, the creation of a new work becomes a collaborative process.
Lynch is there every day, opening the studios in the morning and locking them at night. “I go in and out of all the rehearsals. I teach class in the morning. Yeah, I’m there all the time,” stated Lynch.
It’s a big time commitment, admits Lynch, but it’s also a fun commitment.
“I am supporting people creating new work, and that’s really what it’s all about, is to try to give choreographers and dancers the space and time to be able to create new work and new work of their choosing,” said Lynch. “It’s a labor of love, but it’s also fascinating to watch different people work and support their process. And that’s really what I’m doing, is to try to support the process in the best way I can.”
Once the three weeks are up, it’s showtime. Each choreographer has time to work with a lighting designer, and they rehearse in the Irvine Barclay Theatre the afternoon prior to the final performance that evening.
Lynch is there to welcome the audience and explain the background about the NCI process. She introduces each choreographer prior to their piece, and that choreographer can then give a little context about what the audience is going to see.
“You don’t have to tell people what it’s about, but you can tell them that you came to work with a certain piece of music, or you came to work on something that you’re commissioned to do later on, and you wanted to experiment with it,” said Lynch. “Or you came with the idea of doing a piece that was going to be in three movements, and you got two of the movements done. And then the audience gets to see the piece. And then at the end of the evening, all four of the choreographers and I come on stage so that the audience members can ask questions or give feedback or whatever about the pieces that they’ve seen throughout the night.”
Ultimately, said Lynch, “It’s good for the choreographers because they get a little bit of feedback, and they own the piece. It is their work. And so when they leave, they get a video of their piece, and then they can choose what they want to do with it, whether they want to finish it and premiere it with another company, or take parts and pieces of it to work with. It’s really theirs to manipulate and to create work from.”
Over the past two decades, Lynch has seen the development of choreographers and dancers who have participated in NCI.
“I’ve watched dancer become choreographer become artistic director or choreographer become a choreographer with other companies and then become an artistic director—all through the connections that they make at NCI.”
To experience the culmination of the NCI experience, purchase tickets to the July 26 performance of NCI: Discovery 2025 at TheBarclay.org. Tickets are $28 to $80.
NCI 2025 Choreographers
Natasha Adorlee is an Emmy Award-winning choreographer, filmmaker, composer, and educator based in San Francisco. A first-generation Asian American woman, she was the final Artistic Fellow with Amy Seiwert’s Imagery. Natasha began choreographing in 2016 while maintaining an award-winning dance career with Robert Moses’ Kin, ODC/Dance, Kate Weare and Co., and The San Francisco Symphony. After winning over 10 international awards for her acclaimed short film Take Your Time in 2018, she has become a sought-after filmmaker, choreographer, and composer.
As a performer, Natasha has danced a vast repertoire of works and contributed original choreography, sound design, and art direction to over 20+ ODC/Dance repertory works. In addition, Natasha has created over 20 original dance-based works spanning stage, film, and immersive performance mediums. In 2024, Natasha was awarded the Grand Prize at the Palm Desert Choreography Festival for Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon and received an NEA Grant, a Dresher Fellowship, and a Jacob’s Pillow Choreographic Fellowship. She is currently pursuing a prolific creation period while sharing her deep knowledge of movement and film with the greater community through Dance on Camera workshops. Natasha also serves as an Artistic Advisor for Ballet22.
lenn Edgerton has had an international career as a dancer and director. At the Joffrey Ballet, he performed leading roles – classical and contemporary – for 11 years under the mentorship of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino. He danced the classics of John Cranko and Sir Frederick Ashton along with innovative choreographers like Twyla Tharp, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor and Laura Dean. In 1989, Edgerton joined the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), where he was immersed in the repertory for five years. After retiring from performing he became the Executive Artistic Director of NDT 1 leading the company for a decade and presenting the works of Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, Johan Inger, Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, among many others.
From 2006 to 2008, he directed the Colburn Dance Institute at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, while teaching at UCLA and CalArts. Edgerton joined Hubbard Street as Associate Artistic Director in 2008. From 2009-2020 served as Hubbard Street’s Artistic Director bringing the company to world-wide recognition while fostering the next generation of dancers and choreographers. Many of those dancers turned choreographers are leading the dance field today, like Alejandro Cerrudo, Rena Butler, Robyn Mineko Williams, Penny Saunders, Emilie Leriche, Alice Klock and Florian Lochner among many others. As of fall of 2020 he joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK as an instructor, teaching ballet with an emphasis on the work of Jiří Kylián and Gerald Arpino. In 2022 Edgerton was invited by American Ballet Theater to teach company class and set the iconic work of Jiří Kylián’s, Sinfonietta. Glenn has continued on at the University of Oklahoma and is currently an Associate Professor of Ballet.
Morgan Sicklick is originally from Woodcliff Lake, NJ, and received her training at the Irine Fokine School of Ballet. She graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance and a minor in Marketing from Butler University in 2013, performing works by Paul Taylor and Nacho Duato. Morgan received multiple performance and academic awards and earned a Butler Summer Institute Research grant in 2012. In August 2013, Morgan became an inaugural member of Kansas City Ballet’s (KCB) Second Company. Her repertoire with KCB includes works by Michael Pink, Victoria Morgan, Septime Webre, George Balanchine, Todd Bolender, Devon Carney, and Anthony Krutzkamp. Morgan also performed with Moving Arts in July 2015.
In 2015, Morgan joined Wonderbound in Denver, CO under the leadership of Garrett Ammon and Dawn Fay. She has originated 20+ roles in works by Garrett Ammon and Ballet Master/Assistant to the Artistic Director, Sarah Tallman, and performed at the 2017 Vail Dance Festival with Wonderbound.
As a choreographer, Morgan has created works for Wonderbound, various dance schools, and independent artist collectives and set an original work on KCB’s Second Company. Most recently, she choreographed for KCB’s 2024 production of New Moves and created a piece for New Paradigm Dance Theater’s participation in the 2025 Regional Dance America MidStates Festival. Morgan has taught ballet, pointe and pre-pointe, repertoire, and contemporary movement and partnering to students of all ages throughout her career. She currently serves as Board Secretary for New Paradigm Dance Theater and was on the Board of Directors for Kabbalah Experience, a non-profit organization for adult spiritual education.
Makino Hayashi is a choreographer based in Portland, OR. She was born in Kumamoto, Japan where she began ballet at Kumamoto Ballet Studio. She moved to the U.S. and has danced professionally with Colorado Ballet from 2002-2008 and with Oregon Ballet Theatre since 2010 and has performed primarily soloist and principal roles. She retired from OBT in 2023. She has guested with several companies in the U.S. and Japan. She has been choreographing and teaching contemporary and ballet at all levels since 2014. Her recent choreographic work “The Message 2024” has world premiered for Oregon Ballet Theatre Made in Portland in Portland, OR in June 2024. She also choreographed “The Rose” in 2023, “What do you see…” in 2018, and “Brothers and a Sister” in 2014 for OBT. “What do you see…” was performed for Women Choreographers PNW in May 2024 and Union PDX in 2022 in Portland, OR.
She choreographed “Inside Voice” for Boulder Ballet New Moves in Boulder, CO, and “Seven Wonder” for Oregon Origins Project II in Portland, OR in 2023.
She will be choreographing a new work for Nevada Ballet Theatre in 2025 spring. Her work “Footprints” for the Inspire Dance Centre senior group got into the top 12 at the YAGP Huntington Beach, CA competition. “Be You” was performed for OBT2 performance OBT2 Raw Pieces of Eight in 2021. Makino’s dancing roles include works by Nacho Duato, William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Matjash Mrozewski, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Nicolo Fonte, Helen Pickett, Jennifer Archibald, Rena Butler, and Christopher Stowell. She has guested with; Washington Ballet in Washington DC, Festival Ballet in Rhode Island, The State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara CA, and Okamoto Ballet in Fukuoka Japan.
