Lineage Dance: The Art of Giving Back
For most dancers, the joy of producing and presenting their work on stage is the ultimate reward. However for Hilary Thomas, an even greater reward is found in giving back and reaching out with dance. It can truly be said that there are many people in Pasadena, California who are making a difference in the lives of others, and many who are making a difference in the world of the arts, but Hilary Thomas is doing both. Nine years ago, Hilary founded Lineage Dance, which presents benefit dance performances in partnership with nonprofit organizations and charitable causes all across the country. What began as a "one time deal" to help a local children's health organization, has now grown into a full-fledged dance company that has supported nearly 200 non-profits across the country. SUCCESS CAME FROM A GIVING PLACE "I didn't have any money to offer that first organization," explains Hilary, "so I thought -- all I can offer is my dance. I'll just put a show together and see what happens, and it was a wonderful success. It was so much fun we thought we'd do it just one more time, and that one more time has turned into 200 performances in 9 years." Hilary and her non-profit dance company have raised over $100,000 for organizations such as the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, the MD Anderson Cancer Center Young Survivors Program, the Hope and Light Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Constance G. Zahorik Breast Center at Huntington Hospital, Young & Healthy, Five Acres and many other important health, educational, arts and social service agencies. TAPPING INTO THE PASSION Even with such a serious professional agenda, one quickly discovers that Hilary's joyful exuberance and love of dance radiate abundantly from her. She began dancing at the age of two, and trained with Pasadena Dance Theatre and the Joffrey Ballet. She originally planned to pursue a career in ballet, but discovered modern dance at Santa Clara University and began choreographing her own pieces in that genre. "When I was young, my sister and I were obsessed with the TV show FAME. I can remember every dance piece and every bit of choreography. Debbie Allen was a huge inspiration to me -- she had a ballet training and took it to a slightly different place and into so many different movements." Looking back, she sees that "my version of making a dream come true came in the form of dance and music as inspired by FAME and XANADU and all these things I watched at the time. I think that was really what created my drive to dance. As I got older, and this idea of making your dreams come true seemed more ridiculous and more challenging, this whole notion of doing what you're passionate about kept creeping in."  The company's Associate Director, Caterina Mercante, who has been with Lineage for 8 years, feels a similar drive to use dance as a way to give back. "I started dancing when I was very young, 3 years old. And I never thought I would do anything else besides dance or teach. Being on stage provides this amazing feeling that cannot be duplicated in any other way -- it's just so fulfilling and fun, and being able to help and raise money for other organizations -- there's nothing like it."Lineage Dance's repertoire is athletic, energetic and emotional, and many of their dance pieces tell a story. One performance, "Healing Blue", was inspired by the life of surfer and activist Rell Sunn, who lost a long battle with breast cancer, and grew to include pieces choreographed around the stories of other women's experiences with the disease. "It is so inspiring to be able to dance their stories and see some of them in the audience and see them experience their stories on stage, and being able to touch so many people through that." Since it's premiere in 2006, "Healing Blue" has been performed across the country, benefiting a dozen cancer centers.  ON KEEPING THE PASSION ALIVE In addition to choreographing and running a dance company and traveling on weekends for performances across the country, both Hilary and Caterina are teachers at a local independent school. How do they manage to balance these careers and still fulfill their passion? Caterina ponders that question. "Managing time in a day is definitely not easy to do. Juggling a full-time job, a husband, a dog and home and everything that needs attention and care can definitely be challenging. I think the key is to find something you're really passionate about... you will create time, you will want to make time for that." Hilary agrees, "I think you need to maintain the passion and stay fresh because I know if my dance career started to feel like a burden, I could never do it. But it never does. It's so rewarding that it just never feels like work." MAKING DANCE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL Much of Hilary's time is spent creating new and exciting dance choreography and raising awareness for important causes, but the second part of her goal with Lineage is making dance accessible. They regularly offer community workshops where people of all ages can move creatively and expressively. "A lot of people get scared. We've done so many workshops with people of all abilities, people in wheelchairs even and it's so wonderful to see them come alive. Dance unleashes something in people that I don't think they realize is there, that they often kind of put a lid on... and then they start dancing and they lose that self-consciousness. It's amazing to see, and people have really been affected by it." Lineage Dance frequently performs for audiences who are unfamiliar with contemporary dance. Ultimately, their goal is to open their own performing arts center that will not only be a venue for performances but also a space to hold workshops and classes of all kinds, not just dance. There, they could fulfill their mission to bring in kids and adults who wouldn't normally be able to afford to go to a dance class or a drama class or attend a workshop. As noted by writer Veronique Chevalier, "Lineage Dance is setting a noble precedent of bringing together excellent artistry, outreach, philanthropy, and most of all, mutual understanding, with a model that I hope will be duplicated by other arts organizations the world over." See one performance, and we think you'll agree. - (it) - Compiled by Peggy Burt, Managing Director, Lineage Dance. Meet Our Volunteer Team!
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. |
Pasadena Dance Festival a Community Success!
 True to its mission to bring dance and the arts to people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds, Lineage Dance's 4th Annual Pasadena Dance Festival hit all the marks! Read more here about the festival weekend and the wonderful choreographers and dancers who performed.
Lineage Performing Arts Center Is Now Open!
 After 10 years of giving back to the community thru dance, Lineage has finally realized their dream of opening a Performing Arts Center in Pasadena. The LPAC provides the community with a warm and welcoming environment for Dance, Theatre and Music classes, events and performances. Lineage is pleased to expand on their mission of making dance and the arts available to all in this new space -- Join us if you're in the LA area!
Call To Action
You can help Lineage support non-profits thru the passion of dance!  > Sign up for their mailing list online at www.lineagedance.org and find out where their next benefit performance will be. > Contribute to Lineage Dance online or by check. > Volunteer at an upcoming event by emailing: contact@lineagedance.org.
Watch It Here: Hilary Tells Their Story
Hear more from Hilary about how her "one-time" idea turned into a full-fledged dance company that fosters pro-social action across the country.
Non-Profit Organizations Partner with Lineage
Lineage Helps Non-Profits and Your Community Thru:
> Philanthropy - Producing and presenting benefit dance concerts to raise awareness and support for your organization. > Outreach - Offering community classes and local workshops. Producing and performing at community festivals. > Education - Offering master classes, participating in residencies and providing lecture demos. For more info, contact: Peggy@lineagedance.org or call 818-749-5528. |
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