Luminario Ballet was founded in 2008 to represent the vibrance, diversity, artistic creativity, and technical excellence unique to Los Angeles here in Southern CA, across the US; and abroad.
Luminario is a women, POC, and LBGTQ led contemporary ballet company performing at the highest level with our ballerinas “en pointe”; Luminario is also a thrilling aerial dance company à la Cirque Du Soleil with exceptional aerialists and acrobats. Luminario Ballet is a concert ballet/aerial dance company and is also a company working commercialy who can provide dance and aerial for music videos, TV, film, commercials, and commissioned collaborative works.
The choreographer's works in Luminario’s repertory range from the past 50 years including a wide variety of women, POC, and LBGTQ choreographers such as: Los Angeles modern dance legend Bella Lewitzky, San Francisco Ballet’s Michael Smuin, Jamal Story, ballet Maestro Stefan Wenta, Cirque du Soleil’s head choreographer Debbie Brown, Adrian Hoffman, Damien Diaz, Alexandre Magno, Bianca Sapetto, Dreya Weber; and the award winning artistic director Judith FLEX Helle’s classical to dance theater and aerial dance choreography - whose wild imagination and passion for our culture won the accolade of ‘cultural ambassador abroad’ from the US State Department in 2020, trusting Luminario Ballet to tour India as representatives of US democratic values of Equality, Justice, and Diversity.
Our rainbow cast is made up of all races, allowing the audience to see themselves mirrored in our dancers and aerialists.
Like Los Angelenos, our dancers and aerialists come from around the US, and, the world.
Luminario Ballet inspires at home with our ability to take widely varied commissioned work opportunities; whether choreographing and dancing a Western cowboy theme to Aaron Copeland’s “Rodeo” on the stage of the LA Philharmonic for symphony fans; performing in a rap music video by a Black artist, or pop stars Coldplay; or taping contemporary ballet to rock music for virtual reality Xbox subscribers, the 12-18 year old male audience not typically thought of as ballet fans; or in theaters all over with our eclectic dance theater pieces such as “The Last Supper”- a grunge music opus about when Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene went to Coachella.
Luminario Ballet provokes audiences towards policy change with our NASA inspired ballet about climate change, "TRAILS".
Every year since 2009 we’ve produced low cost shows in local theaters and festivals including The Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center, the Ford Amphitheater, NoHo’s El Portal, UC and Cal State theaters. Any family can afford them. We mak sure to reach out to underserved areas that they have access to see our work; it's well known that dance inspires and lifts up those who experience it.
From 2010-2021, Luminario’s rehearsal home was South of Mid-City, on West Adams Bl, in the West Adams Arts District; we’d always leave the door open so kids and their parents walking by could come in and watch; and over the years we did many low-cost studio performances attended by the neighborhood, audiences from down the street in South LA; and from all over LA County. Although we lost the West Adams space in Fall 2021 due to the pandemic, we found a rehearsal home at the Brewery Arts Complex in DTLA, at Brockus Project Studios, where we benefit from discounted rent, and can still present in-studio shows for free or minimal ticket price for the general pubic.
We’ve established relationships with local dance schools for underserved kids, bringing them to our shows. For young people especially, seeing the wonder of the ballerinas “en pointe”, the power of the ballet men lifting the ballerinas high over their heads, the muscular, gravity-defying aerialists- opens a door to a profession they might not have access to anywhere else.
We always take the time to engage these kids, telling them how to make their way in our world, to work hard, becoming as disciplined as any athlete. Dance can truly open the door for some of these kids, as a way out of the neighborhood and into the wide, international world of arts and culture, where performers speak many languages, and become citizens of the world.
Why do we need support?
After the closures of 2020-22, we’re only now in 2024 getting back to work, and even venue produced shows in Los Angeles and across the US do not cover the expenses of rehearsing the shows, tech, office staff or marketing.
The dancers are almost back to where they were prior to lockdown; but prices for things have increased- gas, rent... pointe shoes! We gave a much needed and much deserved raise to our dancers and aerialists last year, and it's still not close to what they really need to survive in Los Angeles, one of the top 3 most expensive cities in the US.
Now we are tasked with climbing back up the mountain in a fraught, unstable time. We may be leaders in the dance community, but our finances are still fragile, and we need real support from everyone, everywhere, at every level- especially the high levels to sustain us.
We want to continue our mission of representing Los Angeles, home to some of the world’s finest dancers, athletes, Olympians and as much as we’ve given of ourselves to the community, and the audience with our bold, unique programming, low cost shows, workshops, and mentoring- we are counting on the wider LA community now to give back to us, support and help us survive economically to present more of their favorite dance shows here in 2024-2025 and beyond.
Dance speaks every language; dance inspires; dance moves people emotionally; dance brings us together. Luminario Ballet really truly represents Los Angeles- from Stravinsky to Led Zeppelin, Vivaldi to Weezer, Schubert to Nina Simone! We want to continue to be the unique, artistic, athletic, gorgeous, Unstoppables our audience has come to expect.
May The Journey Continue….. and please join us on that journey!
Join our Board! Donate! Volunteer! staff@luminarioballet.org
