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Molly Lynch Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

July 21, 2026
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Portrait of Molly Lynch, smiling, wearing red-framed glasses, dangling beaded earrings, and a maroon top with a colorful geometric pattern, against a softly blurred outdoor background

Molly Lynch

UC Irvine Professor of Dance receives top honor from CORPS de Ballet International

Molly Lynch, Professor of Dance at the UC Irvine Claire Trevor School of the Arts (UCI Arts), has been named a 2026 recipient of CORPS de Ballet International's Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her decades of contributions to ballet in higher education.

“I am truly honored to be recognized by CORPS de Ballet,” shared Lynch. “This is an organization of my colleagues in higher education, so this is so meaningful to be acknowledged by them.” 

Lynch is an award-winning choreographer and artistic director with more than 50 years of experience creating, producing and presenting dance. She joined UC Irvine's Department of Dance in 2006 and teaches ballet, pointe, ballet repertory, senior seminar and arts management. She served as chair of the dance department from 2018 to 2023 and as associate dean of undergraduate affairs from 2015 to 2018.

A male dancer lifts a female dancer overhead in a dramatic pose, her arms outstretched, as an ensemble of dancers in flowing blue dresses moves across a darkened stage.

UC Irvine dancers perform Moonlight, an original work choreographed by Molly Lynch, at Dance Visions 2025. Photo by Rose Eichenbaum.

Since 2004, Lynch has been founder and artistic director of the National Choreographers Initiative (NCI), an internationally recognized program supporting the development of new choreography. NCI received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 2015.

Before coming to UC Irvine, Lynch served as artistic director for Ballet Pacifica from 1988 to 2003, establishing the company as Orange County's leading professional dance organization. Her Pacifica Choreographic Project, the predecessor to NCI, worked with 40 emerging choreographers and premiered more than 40 new ballets. She has choreographed over 50 ballets for companies including Singapore Dance Theatre, Sacramento Ballet, Nashville Ballet, BalletMet and Ballet Pacifica.

Molly Lynch demonstrates a ballet pose in a studio while students at the barre and around the room watch attentively. Dressed in black with red glasses.

Molly Lynch instructs students in an advanced ballet class at UCI Arts. Photo by Skye Schmidt.

A UCI Arts alumna, Lynch earned her M.F.A. in dance and was a 2023 Lauds & Laurels recipient for exemplary achievements by an arts alumnus from the UCI Alumni Association. Her many accolades include the 2001 Choo San Goh Award for Choreography, the Irvine Barclay Theatre's Jade Award in 2008 and the 2017 Arts Orange County Lifetime Achievement Award for Arts Visionary.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have furthered the growth of ballet in higher education through teaching, choreography, administration, mentoring or research, and who maintain a lasting relationship with the professional ballet world.

To learn more about Molly Lynch, visit her Department of Dance bio page here. To learn more about CORPS de Ballet International, Inc., visit corps-de-ballet.org.