UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts and ‘Ignite Dance’ Reflect OC’s Dance Ecosystem

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9 hours ago
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A 35th anniversary celebration at Irvine Barclay Theatre highlights how local institutions, including UC Irvine, sustain dance across the region.

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Zachary Medina in a performance of "Cryptoglyph" (2006), choreographed by UCI Distinguished Professor Lar Lubovitch. Photo by Rose Eichenbaum, courtesy of UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

By Kaitlin Wright for UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts

On Jan. 23, Irvine Barclay Theatre will mark its 35th anniversary with “Ignite Dance: A Celebration of 35 Years of Dance in Orange County,” a one-night program bringing seven dance organizations onto a single stage. Spanning classical ballet, Chinese dance, Bharatanatyam, modern and contemporary work, the evening reflects the range of movement that has shaped dance in the region for decades.

Taken together, the program also offers a snapshot of how dance in Orange County is sustained through a network of educational institutions, performance venues and local arts organizations that have grown alongside one another over time. One of those anchors is UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, whose artists, students and alumni appear throughout the evening.

“At UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, we are deeply focused on preparing students for professional lives in the arts,” said Tiffany Lopez, Claire Trevor Dean of the Arts at UC Irvine. “A production like Ignite Dance exemplifies what we strive for as both artists and educators, connecting rigorous training to real-world practice and showing how students and alumni contribute meaningfully to the broader arts community.”

Alongside UC Irvine’s Department of Dance, the program includes Festival Ballet Theatre, Backhausdance, The Wooden Floor, Chinese Dance Company of Southern California, Arpana Dance Company and Smuin Contemporary Ballet in partnership with National Choreographers Initiative.

A Celebration Rooted in Place

Michelle Maasz Brouwer is the director of programming at Irvine Barclay Theatre and a graduate of UC Irvine. Photo by Emily Zheng, courtesy of UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts

“Ignite Dance” was conceived by Michelle Maasz Brouwer, director of programming at Irvine Barclay Theatre and a graduate of UC Irvine’s dance program. For her, the anniversary was an opportunity not only to celebrate the venue’s history but to honor the artists and organizations that have shaped it.

“Dance has always been part of the Barclay’s core DNA,” Brouwer said. “In the ’90s and early 2000s, we were really on the map as a West Coast anchor for contemporary dance.”

Every ensemble on the program has a longstanding relationship with the Barclay.

“Every single person on this lineup has produced performances at our venue,” she said. “This was about recognizing who has been here over time.”

Rather than curating around trends or touring availability, Brouwer said she focused on local organizations deeply embedded in Orange County’s cultural life.

“I wanted to amplify local voices,” she said. “There is so much meaningful work being made by artists who are already here.”

She describes the Barclay as a “third space” — a place outside of home and work where people gather, connect and share experiences.

“People come together here,” Brouwer said. “They gather with loved ones. They make memories.”

By presenting multiple dance forms on a single bill, “Ignite Dance” invites audiences to encounter traditions they may not otherwise experience, reflecting the diversity of the community itself.

Molly Lynch, seen here teaching a ballet class at UC Irvine, is a professor at Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Lynch is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the National Choreographers Initiative. Photo by Skye Schmidt, courtesy of UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts.

A Continuum Shaped by UC Irvine

Few people embody the intersection of UC Irvine and the Barclay more fully than Molly Lynch, a professor in UC Irvine’s Department of Dance and the founding artistic director of the National Choreographers Initiative.

Lynch earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees at UC Irvine and has spent decades working across the region as a performer, artistic director, educator and administrator. When Irvine Barclay Theatre opened in 1990, she was leading Ballet Pacifica, which became the first dance company to perform on its stage.

“I’ve been essentially producing and presenting dance at the Barclay since they opened,” Lynch said.

In 2004, Lynch founded the National Choreographers Initiative, which has been housed at the Barclay since its inception and will again be this summer. Through the initiative, choreographers and dancers have been given time, space and resources to develop new work; many of them have gone on to leadership roles in the field.

“You have to have local arts organizations in a community to build arts audiences,” Lynch said. “These (organizations) are here on a regular basis. They lay the groundwork.”

That philosophy also informs her teaching at UC Irvine, where she encourages students to think expansively about careers in dance.

“I’m very interested in helping dancers understand all the different options available to them. Whether it’s being a dancer, a teacher, a choreographer, a company director, going into arts administration, thinking about physical therapy, writing about dance, going into marketing or fundraising,” she said. “Performance is one path, but it’s not the only one.”

Building Careers Close to Home

For Zachary Medina, who graduated from UC Irvine in 2024, those pathways have unfolded close to home. Now a company dancer with Backhausdance, Medina grew up in Southern California and hoped to remain in the region after college.

“I did audition out of state if opportunities came up,” Medina said. “But ideally, Orange County was home.”

In “Ignite Dance,” Medina will perform a solo from “Cryptoglyph,” choreographed by Lar Lubovitch, renowned dance artist and distinguished professor of dance at UC Irvine. The work was first introduced to him as a student through UCI’s dance department concert, “Dance Visions.”

“I’m very honored to revisit the work,” Medina said. “Coming back to it professionally has been about taking what I learned in school and reexamining it in a new way.”

He will also perform with Backhausdance in Jennifer Backhaus’ “Hive.”

Medina credits his training at UC Irvine with preparing him for professional life.

“I feel very fortunate to be thriving in my professional career right now,” he said. “The training really prepared me for what comes after graduation.”

His path reflects how training institutions like UC Irvine connect with local companies, allowing artists to build sustainable careers within the region.

Work Beyond the Stage

Stacy Fireheart is a graduate of UC Irvine and the lighting designer for "Ignite Dance." Photo courtesy of Irvine Barclay Theatre.

“Ignite Dance” also highlights the many artists who shape dance outside of performance. Stacy Firehart, the lighting designer for the program, began her studies at UC Irvine as a drama major before discovering lighting design.

“I still wanted to stay in theater,” Firehart said. “Lighting gave me a creative outlet.”

After completing her graduate training at UC Irvine, Firehart worked as a master electrician at Irvine Barclay Theatre before building a career designing primarily for dance. She is now the resident lighting designer for Backhausdance and teaches and designs at UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach.

Firehart credits her time at UC Irvine with preparing her for professional collaboration.

“We received critical feedback on everything we did,” she said. “That kind of feedback is extremely valuable. Without it, how are you going to grow?”

She also regularly encounters other UC Irvine alumni in the field.

“You start working with people and then realize you share the same background,” Firehart said. “There’s a similar level of professionalism and artistry.”

PHOTO 1: Dancers from Smuin Contemporary Ballet in "Sextette," created during the National Choreographers Initiative in 2021. PHOTO 2: Backhausdance artists on stage. The company will present "Hive" at Ignite Dance. PHOTO 3: Festival Ballet Theatre dancers on stage. The company will perform an excerpt from "Sleeping Beauty." PHOTO 4: Dancers from The Wooden Floor in performance. At "Ignite Dance," 28 dancers will present excerpts from "Pieces of Wood." PHOTO 5: Dancer from Chinese Dance Company of Southern California. The company will perform "Pulse of the Land." PHOTO 6: Dancers from Arpana Dance Company in performance. The company will present "Thillana." Photos courtesy of Irvine Barclay Theatre

A Shared Ecosystem

Together, the organizations represented in “Ignite Dance” reflect the many ways dance functions in Orange County — as a professional art form, cultural expression, educational tool and community gathering point.

“I didn’t want this to be about one aesthetic or one tradition,” Brouwer said. “It’s about showing what exists here.”

For Lynch, watching former students share the stage and work in art underscores the importance of sustained local investment.

“It’s very rewarding to see,” she said. “The next generation is coming up and doing this work.”

“Seeing our students and alumni share the stage in a program like Ignite Dance underscores the importance of professional pathways in arts education,” Lopez said. “These experiences reflect how we prepare artists not only to perform, but to build sustainable, connected careers within the communities they call home.”

That continuum will be visible again later this season when UC Irvine’s Department of Dance returns to Irvine Barclay Theatre with “Dance Visions 2026,” presented Feb. 19–21. The annual concert features original faculty choreography performed by UCI’s dance students in a blend of contemporary and classical forms. The program offers another lens into how emerging artists are shaped within the same ecosystem that supports professional companies that will share the Barclay stage this month.

As “Ignite Dance” approaches, the program serves as both a celebration and a reminder: dance has long brought people together in Orange County. Together, Irvine Barclay Theatre, UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts and the other local organizations represented onstage help sustain a creative ecosystem that brings dance to life across Orange County. It is shaped by collaboration, access and the simple act of gathering to experience movement together.