Molly Lynch is an award-winning choreographer and artistic director, with over 40 years of experience creating, producing and presenting dance. She is currently a Professor in the Dance Department at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at UC Irvine. Ms. Lynch is the Founder and Artistic Director of the National Choreographers Initiative.
Ms. Lynch was the Artistic Director of Ballet Pacifica from 1988 to 2003. During her tenure, she established Ballet Pacifica as Orange County’s leading professional dance company and one of the area’s top arts organizations. Among her innovative trademark programs was the Pacifica Choreographic Project. Under Lynch’s direction, the company worked with many choreographers, premiered more than forty new ballets and restaged some of America’s most beloved classics by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor and Choo San Goh. Ms. Lynch has choreographed new ballets for Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, Festival Ballet Theatre, Nashville Ballet, BalletMet (Columbus, OH), Dance Collage (Hermosillo, Mexico), Academies of Ballet in Philippines (Manila), Singapore Dance Theatre and the University of California, Irvine.
She began her dance training with Lila Zali, received a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet and performed as a soloist and principal dancer with the Louisville Ballet and Ballet Pacifica for over 10 years. In 1992, Ms. Lynch was given the esteemed Outstanding Alumnus Award from UCI and was named one of OC Metro magazine’s “Ten Women Who Make A Difference.” She is also the recipient of the Red Cross Clara Barton Cultural Arts Award, Boy Scouts of America Women of Excellence Award, 2001 Choo San Goh Award for Choreography, 2007 Outstanding Arts Organization Award for her National Choreographers Initiative from Arts Orange County, and she was honored with Irvine Barclay Theatre’s prestigious Jade Award for her extraordinary leadership and creativity in 2008.
In 2009 and 2014, she received the CTSA Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence from the Division of Undergraduate Education. In 2017, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Arts Visionary from Arts Orange County.