Considered a leading laboratory for new dance in the U.S., the National Choreographers Initiative (NCI) is celebrating 16 years of doing just that. NCI Founder and Artistic Director Molly Lynch, an award-winning chorographer and artistic director, launched the effort to give choreographers a place to experiment and challenge themselves in order to develop new works and sustain the future of dance. The Southern California project has garnered national influence in the process.
Lynch has invited four choreographers – Julia Feldman, Alan Hineline, Alex Ketley and Tom Mattingly – and 16 professional dancers from ballet companies across the county to participate. Each choreographer is given complete freedom to choose the style, music and theme of the work. It is a laboratory for the choreographers to develop their movement and ideas, and they retain the rights to license and promote the works they have created to other companies.
Participants in the project have become resident choreographers for major organizations throughout the country, and several have founded their own companies or have become artistic directors of other companies. Last year, Amy Stewart (’08) became artistic director of Sacramento Ballet, and Ma Cong (’08) made his Broadway debut as choreographer for M Butterfly.
The intensive three-week process at the dance studios of University of California Irvine from July 8 to July 27 culminates in a public performance at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday, July 27 at 8 p.m. The evening culminates in a question and answer session moderated by Lynch, giving the audience the opportunity to discuss the process with the four choreographers.
Lynch explains her reasons for creating NCI:
“NCI is a unique collaboration. The choreographers have the ultimate freedom to create and experiment, and the non-commissioned and non-competitive setting encourages them to grow and further develop their artistic vision. The dancers also benefit greatly from the creative process. At the end, there is a dance creation that’s not predetermined – it’s the heart of their artistic expression, and it is energizing.”