Since its doors opened in October 2013, The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has curated influential performing arts lineups of admired Los Angeles-based dance companies. Widely hailed as one of the country’s leading venues for dance, The Wallis strives to be a site for the convergence of relevant, dynamic performing arts: strengthening their local and global community as dance companies take the stage and bring forth conversations of social impact. This year was no different in fulfilling that mission. The Wallis recently brought their fall programming to a close with performances by two eminent local companies whose missions align closely with theirs.

In its Wallis debut Ballet Hispánico presented an evening of dance that explored the diversity of Latinx cultures and brought innovative ways of experiencing and sharing a cultural dialogue. For fifty years Ballet Hispánico has been the leading voice intersecting artistic excellence and advocacy, and is now the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures.

The program began with Michelle Manzanale’s, Con Brazos Abiertos exploring humility, nostalgia and humor the iconic Mexican symbols that she was reluctant to embrace as a Mexican-American child growing up in Texas. Followed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s, Tiburones which addressed the discrimination and stereotypes placed upon Latinx culture and the power the media has in portraying these themes diminishing the voices of Latinx artists. Closing the show was 18+1 by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, a piece that celebrates Gustavo’s 19 years as a choreographer and the vulnerability, care, and hope that comes with each artistic endeavor.

Led by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett, BODYTRAFFIC has conquered the contemporary dance world with its stunning performers, technical mastery, and commitment to the most challenging repertoire. The acclaimed company returned to The Wallis with an eclectic program that included a world premiere of Love.Lost.Fly by Micaela Taylor, BODYTRAFFIC’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence; the West Coast premiere of Baye & Asa’s rhythmic and bold The One to Stay With; and an encore performance of Matthew Neenan’s whimsical and joyous A Million Voices, inspired by the great music of Peggy Lee. Bursting with cutting-edge “vivid theatricality,” BODYTRAFFIC takes the stage with compelling works that embody the company’s energy, sophistication, and sheer joy in dancing.

In an effort to celebrate the power of performance and the strength of dance in Los Angeles, BODYTRAFFIC held a Dance Industry Meetup on October 22. Dance industry creators, performers, students, and administrators were called to purchase a ticket to the Saturday matinee and gain free access to a special meetup with BODYTRAFFIC’s dancers and staff before the performance.

Continuing to inspire the next generation of dancers and dance lovers, The Wallis and Debbie Allen have teamed up once again to bring forth a FREE monthly dance series, Sunday Funday. The fun, family-friendly classes held outdoors on the Promenade Terrace feature dance styles such as African, Flamenco, Hip Hop, Sala, and Vogue. Classes, available to all ages and dance levels, are offered February 12, March 5, April 9, May 14 and June 11, 2023.

Making its Wallis debut Feb 17-18, Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles is a repertory ballet, aerial, and modern dance company founded in 2009 by Judith FLEX Helle and the Charles Evans Foundation NY. The company’s two programs include Heroes, Sheroes, and Eros, in which a collective of Luminario Ballet choreographers and special guests explore the tangled paths of history/herstory/ourstory; and The Last Supper – a rollicking tale of Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene’s visit to the Coachella Music Festival in 2017. This wild tale of the ages looks at themes of personality, Black Lives Matter, relationships, sexuality, drug addiction, betrayal, and resolution through explosive, emotional dance theater choreography from ballet to acrobatics to aerial dance. For tickets, ranging from $29 to $79, please visit TheWallis.org or call 310-746-4000.

Blue13 Dance Company is an American dance ensemble living at the intersection of diaspora and disruption. Led by Achinta S. McDaniel, the company employs a powerful specter of joy and resistance through rhythm, “Bollywood,” and emotional expression. Blue13’s work rejects monolithic representations of both Indianness and contemporaneity and reveals complexities intrinsic to South Asian and intersectional identities through provocative and boundary-expanding contemporary works. May 12-13, the company will premiere a new work as well as Restless Autumn, Restless Spring and excerpts from 1947, Shaadi and Terpsichore in Ghungroos. For tickets, ranging from $29 to $79, please visit TheWallis.org or call 310-746-4000.

June 9-11, Alonzo King LINES Ballet performs Deep River, a new work featuring Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer set to a score by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran. This is King’s second collaboration with Fischer and his ninth collaboration with Moran, created in celebration of LINES Ballet’s 40th anniversary season. For tickets, ranging from $39 to $125, please visit TheWallis.org or call 310-746-4000.