As L.A. Dance Spaces Shutter, Dancers Keep Moving Through a Funding Drought
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Andrew Pearson '09 (second from left), founder of Bodies in Play, appears alongside fellow L.A. dance figures Rosalie Tucker of Pieter Performance Space, Lena Martin and Mandolin Burns of Crawlspace, Dani Burd of Indigo Dance Company, and Adie San Diego in a Los Angeles Times feature on the region's evolving dance scene. Courtesy of Los Angeles Times.
UCI Dance alumnus Andrew Pearson '09 featured in Los Angeles Times report on L.A.'s shifting dance landscape
Andrew Pearson '09, a UC Irvine Department of Dance alumnus and founder of the L.A.-based dance collective Bodies in Play, was recently featured in a Los Angeles Times report examining how the region's dance community is adapting amid a wave of company closures and shrinking arts funding. Pearson, who trained under Horton technique instructor Loretta Livingston and went on to perform with Bodytraffic and L.A. Contemporary Dance Company for seven years, spoke to the resilience and resourcefulness that define L.A.'s dance scene even as venues and institutions close.
"I like to think of L.A. as the wild west, so there's this entrepreneurial spirit in L.A. and in art in L.A.," said Pearson.
The feature also noted that Bodies in Play officially became a nonprofit organization on May 27, 2026, marking a major milestone after a decade as an independent, project-based collective — a fitting next chapter for a UCI-trained artist helping shape the city's dance future.
As L.A. Dance Spaces Shutter, Dancers Keep Moving Through a Funding Drought — Los Angeles Times
