Ballet Pacifica faces financial woes

Suzie Harrison

Lila Zali brought the art of dance to Laguna Beach in 1962 when she

founded Ballet Pacifica in a small dance studio on South Coast

Highway. Much has changed since those early days, including Zali’s

death on Jan. 4, 2003. Now, the ballet troupe is facing financial

trouble and has had to cancel its spring season.

When Zali retired as artistic director in ‘88, Molly Lynch, a

longtime student and dancer with the company, became the artistic

director. In ‘95, the ballet moved to its new facility in Irvine. The

Ballet Studio has remained in Laguna Beach and works in conjunction

with Ballet Pacifica.

After Lynch’s resignation in 2003, Christina Lyon, a former dancer

with the American Ballet Theatre, took over. That was until Jan. 20,

when she resigned.

Seven shows scheduled for April and May in Orange County and L.A.

were canceled as the company faced a considerable shortfall to its

$1.7-million budget.

Kathy Kahn took the reigns from Zali in ’90 as artistic director

of the Ballet Studio.

The company is facing financial woes, and though it does not

directly affect the dance studio in Laguna, she feels a lot of grief

and disappointment knowing how Zali would feel, Kahn said.

“As far as I know, it hasn’t affected me personally, except seeing

the company in distress, and I am sad for Lila,” Kahn said. “It would

have been [horrible] for Lila to see it fall apart.”

“They still perform my children’s ballet and will in the spring,”

Kahn said. “But they have canceled the spring season as far as the

concert series. I guess the Pacifica Choreographer Project has been

canceled, too.”

The canceled project usually brings in four nationally known

choreographers in the summer, she said.

“The only thing that will be performed the rest of the year is the

children’s series,” Kahn said. “It’s still happening, as far as I

know.”

Kahn is hoping that Ballet Pacifica can hold it together and that

she will see them re-emerge stronger in the fall.

Sally Reeve and her husband, Douglas, helped start the dance

company. They did publicity and worked many years in different

capacities.

“It’s very sad, very hard on us because we were so involved from

the very beginning,” Sally Reeve said. “Losing Lila and seeing the

company go down [was very hard]. We knew it was inevitable because of

the programming.”

She said the company was like home -- it was like a family.

People want to see traditional ballet, and Zali knew that, Sally

Reeve said.

“We’re surprised it lasted as long as it did,” Sally Reeve said.

“The main problem was the format. I don’t think they ever present the

classics except the ‘Nutcracker.’”

From what she had heard and what Zali was telling her, they don’t

want to do the “tutu” ballets, they want to do the new work.

Adding some modern and new choreography but still using mostly

traditional pieces would have been better, Sally Reeve said.

“The two things that Lila was most proud of was that she created

so many dancers who went on to a professional level and how proud she

was that [Ballet Pacifica] was still going after all these years,”

Kahn said. “I feel pretty sad to see what’s happened.”