Specialties
Motion Pacific is a community organization and dance studio for Every. Body. We queer the arts to build the world in which we want to live—joyful, liberated, and just. Through public events, Queer programming, and classes for all levels, we build community and collaborate to create spaces of belonging.
History
Established in 1998.
Motion Pacific dance studio opened on January 16th, 1998, founded by dancers Greg Favor, Molly Heaster, and Carmela Woll. The goal was to establish an outstanding facility and dynamic program that would inspire and train all levels of children and adult dancers in a variety of dance styles, while providing plenty of opportunities for students to showcase their skills in community performances. Motion Pacific succeeded in bringing traditional studio dance (jazz, tap, ballet) into the same location as street and ethnic dance, resulting in unique artistic collaborations and exciting cross-training for the dancers.
In 2009 Abra Allan took over Motion Pacific as Owner/Director. With Abra came the addition of Motion Pacific's presenting programming.In 2010, Motion Pacific formed an advisory committee, articulated a mission, vision, values and major goals. In 2014 Motion Pacific became a non-profit.
Meet the Manager: Collette T.
Collette is a dancer, choreographer, and instructor based in Santa Cruz, CA. She is the current Director of Motion Pacific Dance. Collette views dance as a source of healing, community, collaboration and inspiration. From 2010-2012 Collette studied dance at Cabrillo College where she received both the Roberta Bristol Award and Tandy Beal Scholarship. She then graduated with her BFA in Dance from San Diego State University in 2014 and received the “Outstanding Graduate in Dance” award. That same year, she co-founded E&C, a dance performance collective, in partnership with Erin Reynolds. Collette Tabone has also been a member of Cid Pearlman Performance dance company since 2014 and has danced in works premiering in Sweden, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Cruz and was nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award for Ensemble Performance for Two, a duet, in 2019.