Moving Forward
Benjamin Millepied and Jennifer Smith celebrated their visionary new initiative with dinner and performances set at the oceanside estate
Written by Elizabeth Varnell
The sprawling grounds of Bellosguardo and the Pacific Ocean beyond were the setting for a gala launch of The Santa Barbara Fund for New Choreography founded by Benjamin Millepied and Jennifer Smith on Thursday, July 16. The celebratory dinner, cohosted by Belle Hahn, Cindy Robinson Mullen, Lily Hahn Shining, and Smith drew members of L.A. Dance Project, the artist collective cofounded by Millepied, and the region’s arts supporters to the historic estate. A program of open-air performances launched the initiative dedicated to commissioning new works, an artistic exchange with the coastal city and a forthcoming dance festival in Santa Barbara.
After cocktails on the estate’s veranda, guests gathered on the grand lawn to see excerpts from the Millepied-choreographed triptych Reflections, as well as portions of Resonance, a work created by a handful of choreographers as part of the Getty-organized PST ART collaboration, and Hymn to Freedom, also created by Millepied to the Oscar Peterson civil rights anthem. When Peter Forbes McDowell, LADP’s director of development, took the stage, he said the surroundings brought to mind a particular adjective: “The main word that I can think of is expansive. We have an expansive ocean, we have an expansive lawn, and we have an expansive dream for dance and for the arts.”
Millepied called Hymn to Freedom “a stunning piece of piano and jazz and very much reflective of how this place in California makes me feel.” But before dancers Robert Hoffer, Shu Kinouchi, Audrey Sides, and Hope Spears began the piece, Millepied himself was inspired to perform. “We were rehearsing this afternoon, and I guess I’ve danced over the years only for special occasions but I couldn’t help performing tonight. I really did stop dancing 17 years ago, though, so I’m more improvising a dance for you, for this event, for this incredible setting,” he said. To the strains of three of Bach’s Cello Suites played by SUUVI, he danced a solo. And the surprises kept coming. Over a dinner prepared by Miles Robbins, he announced that he would soon premiere a new ballet in Paris titled Summerland, inspired by his time living in Toro Canyon.
Smith called it “the most magnificent Montecito evening of dance, inspiration, friends, and food and an idea planted in 2017 that took root and grew into the most beautiful dream realized this evening at this spectacular site.” She and Millepied bonded over their shared love of Santa Barbara, first discovered during a conversation at a photo shoot, and began imagining how to bring more dance to the region. “We dreamed of one day having a festival and tonight the concept was seeded with this gala celebrating the new fund to create two brand-new dance pieces that will premiere next summer in Santa Barbara at a newly created weeklong international dance festival founded by Benjamin and me.” The evening benefited the new fund, and guest Connie Callen won the top auction prize, a dinner in Paris with the LADP cofounder. Smith said the initiative is well on its way to realizing the vision she and Millepied have nurtured over the years for the formation of the new dance showcase. “With LADP, plus other international, national, and local dance companies participating, it will be a very special festival celebrating art in all its forms. With dance comes music, visual storytelling, costumes weaving fashion, and also lighting and set design — all the disciplines together.”