Artistic Director of Ballet Pacifica Resigns

Ballet Pacifica’s artistic director resigned Tuesday amid a financial crisis that has forced the Orange County dance company to cancel its spring season and its nationally regarded summer program for developing new works.

Christina Lyon, a former dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, quit -- effective immediately -- less than two months after she was tapped to replace Molly Lynch, a 15-year veteran of the dance company who resigned last year over artistic differences with Ballet Pacifica’s board of directors.

Facing a $200,000 shortfall in its $1.7-million budget, Ballet Pacifica’s board announced Friday that it would cancel seven shows set for April and May in Los Angeles and Orange County. Also scrapped was the Pacifica Choreographic Project, an annual workshop at which well-regarded artists are invited to develop new ballets for the company.

“It’s a crossroads, a time of upheaval for us,” said board President Janet Ray. “With the cancellations, we will be much stronger, we’ll have money in the bank and we can move forward.”

Ray said the cost savings will allow Ballet Pacifica, founded in 1962, to regroup for a new season this fall. She said the company’s financial problems have been brewing for some time, the result of fundraising efforts not keeping pace with an expansion initiated three years ago.

In 2000, the board hired a consultant to help it assess its place in the community and its goals, Ray said. An effort to create “a world-class dance company” emerged, and with it Ballet Pacifica’s annual budget grew by about $600,000 -- money that was spent on more staffing, marketing and performances.

But subscription and donation goals lagged. Then, last summer, the troupe’s largest donor pulled his financial backing. “At that point,” Ray said, “we were in serious financial straits.”

Ray said Lyon’s resignation was a surprise and that a national search for her replacement would begin immediately.