Irvine Barclay Theatre

Event Guide

Table of Contents

A Note From Molly Lynch, Artistic Director

Program for July 26

Molly Lynch, Artistic Director

Choreographers

NCI 2026 Dance Ensemble

Design Team

NCI Advisory Committee

NCI Donors

Past NCI Choreographers

National Choreographers Initiative: NCI Discovery 2026 - The Last Dance!

Sat. Jul 25, 2026 at 8pm

A Note From Molly Lynch, Artistic Director

Welcome to the 22^nd anniversary of the National Choreographers Initiative! We are excited to be sharing the joy and creative process of dance with you. Thank you for joining us and supporting the artists and their collaborations.

We are celebrating all the choreographers and dancers that have participated in the past! Over the 22 years with NCI and 13 years of the Pacifica Choreographic Project/Ballet Pacifica, we have hosted 136 choreographers (53 women), 215 dancers from 61 different companies. We have showcased new works, many of which have been produced by companies throughout the United States and abroad. It has been wonderful to see the careers of the choreographers and dancers develop into roles as directors, choreographers and dancers with many companies.

When I first began the initiative, I wanted to create a laboratory that would foster the development of new works without the strict deadlines and expectations of a premiere.

This project is made possible through the vision and commitment of the NCI Advisory Committee. The partnership with Irvine Barclay Theatre has been central to the success of NCI, as they act as our fiscal agent and present the Discovery showing. We are also grateful to UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts - Dance Department, which provides the studio space for our rehearsals.

NCI’s Discovery showing features new work from four returning and innovative choreographers – Emily Adams (2022), Julia Feldman (2019), DaYoung Jung (2024) and Sarah Tallman (2015) – created during a three-week intensive process with 16 professional dancers from 10 different companies and freelance work. I hope you will engage in our creative process and share your thoughts with us at the reception following the performance in the IBT lobby/patio.

I extend my sincere thanks to all of the individual donors who contribute to this project! We could not do NCI without your support and involvement! Thank you for joining us and for supporting dance!

Thank you for joining us and for supporting dance!

Program for July 26

NCI DISCOVERY '26
22nd Anniversary

Molly Lynch: Artistic Director
Monique L’Heureux: Production Director/Lighting Designer
Kaity Kistler: Costume Coordinator
Brooke Lester-Lawsin: Assistant & Social Media
Skye Schmidt Varga: Photographer
Aaron Cota: Videographer

Choreographers

Emily Adams, Julia Feldman, DaYoung Jung, Sarah Tallman

Dancers

Iori Araya, Gabrielle Collins, Alyssa Eyster, Amelia Grubb Hillman, Lucia Lorenzo, Alyssa Manguiat, Darcy McLoughlin, Gabrielle Mengden

Nicolas Bierwagen, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Logan Hillman, Rhys Hudson, Marco Lorenzo-Giguere, Trevor PinterParsons, Ian Rotheroe, Michael Stadtherr

PROGRAM

You Never Know

Choreographer: Glenn Edgerton

Music

Max Richter: “Beginnings and Endings,” “Wershe & Son,” “I Will Not Forget You”; Vicente Avella: “Infrared”; Message To Bears: “Closed Doors”

Dancers

Brooke Gilliam, Elizabeth Kanning, Alyssa Manguiat, Darcy McLoughlin, Rachele Perla, Emily Speed, Nicolas Bierwagen, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Isaac Jones, Sean Sessions, Hunter Solomon, Spencer Wetherington

‘past’ unfinished love letter

Choreographer: Makino Hayashi

Music

Robert Bush: “Between Worlds”

Dancers

Amelia Grubb, Logan Hillman, Gabrielle Mengden, Nathan Young

-INTERMISSION-

Armor Off

Choreographer: Morgan Sicklick

Music

human gazpacho: “Dusty Cartridge”; Sergey Cheremisinov: “Crystal Echoes,” “Lavender”; Kirk Osamayo: “Autumn Leaves,” “Polaroids,” “Melancholy Fear,” “Shooting star”

Dancers

Spencer Wetherington

Amelia Grubb, Logan Hillman, Elizabeth Kanning, Rachele Perla, Sean Sessions, Emily Speed

The Word Was Made Flesh

Choreographer: Natasha Adorlee

Music

Ben Frost: “All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated”; Rival Consoles “Unfold”; Souad Massi: “Raoui”; Ran Bagno: “Masculine”; Samuel Barber: “Agnus Dei”

Dancers

Brooke Gilliam, Alyssa Manguiat, Darcy McLoughlin, Gabrielle Mengden, Nicolas Bierwagen, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Isaac Jones, Hunter Solomon, Nathan Young

We carry grief in our bones.
Ancestral, unspoken, alive.
It speaks in breath, in touch, in the way the body yields or resists.
Still, we move. Not to resolve, but to listen.
To trace where it lives and maybe, for a moment offer it back to the earth.
Love is made flesh. Grief is made flesh. Resistance is made flesh.

Q & A with Molly Lynch, Emily Adams, Julia Feldman, DaYoung Jung, Sarah Tallman

Molly Lynch, Artistic Director

Choreographers

NCI 2026 Dance Ensemble