Step by step: Laguna Dance Festival celebrates 20 years of showcasing the art
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It’s not uncommon these days to hear the concern that Laguna Beach may reach an inflection point in which its artists simply can no longer afford to live there.
The community has expressed a desire to build new and preserve existing artist live-work housing, and that could be a step in the right direction, but two decades ago, the town was fortunate that a leader in dance decided to retire in the community.
Jodie Gates, who starred as a principal ballerina with the Joffrey, Frankfurt, Pennsylvania and Complexions Contemporary ballets, had come to town in 2005 just as her performing career was winding down.
The plan had been to visit a few friends and find her life bearings post-performing career, but Gates found opportunity right at her feet. That visit turned into what will now be two decades of the Laguna Dance Festival.
“I literally was walking around Laguna because it’s so walkable and enjoying seeing the visual art, hearing about music, hearing about theater, but there was no dance,” said Gates, the founder and artistic director of the festival. “For me, it was finding a void and having the opportunity to fill it. That’s what was the kernel to starting the festival. There was dance prior to us coming in 20 years ago, but it had left and gone to Irvine, so we are the only professional nonprofit dedicated to dance. …
“I wanted to share with our community how wonderful dance is as an art form,” Gates added. “After touring the world with the Joffrey Ballet, I would go to festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland, in Spoleto, Italy, in Australia, and I just thought, ‘Wow, I want people to see what I see and experience that. Why not in Laguna Beach?’”
The 20th annual Laguna Dance Festival will take place Feb. 6 through 9 at the Laguna Playhouse. Among those taking the stage will be BalletX, Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez of the Joffrey Ballet; Viktorina Kapitonova and Daniel Rubin of the Boston Ballet; Beckanne Sisk and Chase O’Connell of the Houston Ballet; Jillian Davis, April Watson and Joe Gonzalez of Complexions Contemporary Ballet; the JA Collective, Jillian Meyers and Jake Tribus.
General admission for each day of the festival is $75, while students can get a ticket for $25. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The Sunday matinee starts at 2 p.m.
While the four-day event will be riddled with star power, a younger generation will get its chance to take the stage. Dance majors from Chapman University, UC Irvine and University of Southern California (Gates is the founding director of the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at USC), as well as Laguna Dance’s young artist scholarship recipients, will perform.
Laguna Dance will also continue to collaborate with the Laguna Beach Music Festival, which will have its own programming the following week, from Feb. 12 to 16. There will be live music throughout the whole opening night performance on Thursday, Feb. 6.
“I think it speaks to the possibilities and the potential for decades to come, how many people we can collaborate with that are local, how many great organizations can be our partners,” Gates said. “It’s exciting, I think, for the audience because our goal, our mission, is to provide entertainment. I think that often there’s a misconception that ballet is sort of rigid, or that dance is not for everyone, but indeed, our goal is to make it for everyone and to think about opportunities where the viewer has autonomy.”
The dance festival, at one point, utilized Laguna Beach High to put on shows, but a bigger stage became necessary. Doug Wilson, a board member of Laguna Dance, said even a larger venue like the playhouse makes for a unique experience as a member of the audience.
“We were used to seeing it at Segerstrom Center or at a very large ballet scene in New York City,” Wilson said. “This was a whole different venue here that made it up close. You could see them sweat. You could feel the emotion on their face. That was so exciting.”
Museum hosts ‘Nature of Dance’ Sunday
A kickoff event will take place with the “Nature of Dance” at Laguna Art Museum on Sunday, Jan. 26, at 4 p.m. Gates, working with a musician and a dancer, choreographed movements inspired by the work of Fred Tomaselli, whose work will serve as a backdrop for the performance. The Tomaselli exhibit, part of the museum’s annual Art and Nature programming, will be closing on Feb. 2.
“The idea of [Gates] creating movement in response to the ‘Fred Tomaselli: Second Nature’ exhibit was really exciting for us,” said Robin Rundle, the museum’s education coordinator, who emphasized the idea of offering another layer of interpretation for the art. “Bringing various senses and art disciplines together for programs is something I’m really passionate about.”
Tickets for Sunday’s event are $30 for general admission, $25 for museum members and $15 for students with ID.
“I think Laguna is on the cusp of a renaissance in the arts,” Wilson added. “Laguna is seeing collaboration going on like we haven’t had in the past between dance, music and the actual art, as in the art museum. That’s creating a different kind of vibe, and I think it’s going to draw more people in.
“I think we need to do a better job, though, reaching out beyond our community into the broader community to educate them on why they need to be here, and that’s something that should be on everybody’s priority list.”
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