There's No Stopping BODYTRAFFIC

BODYTRAFFIC has arrived. The edgy contemporary troupe, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has a repertory stocked with works by choreographers like Kyle Abraham, Loni Landon, Sidra Bell and Richard Siegal. The New York Times has praised its “wonderfully precise dancers”; the Los Angeles Times has called it “one of the most talked-about young companies nationwide.” It attracts top-notch dancers from all over the world. And it’s helped put L.A. on the map as an emerging concert-dance destination.

Reshaping the L.A. dance scene has been part of BODYTRAFFIC’s mission from the beginning. In fact, Lillian Barbeito, who co-founded the company with Tina Finkelman Berkett, says they were inspired to create the troupe because “the type of work we’d always dreamed of didn’t exist in L.A. yet.” A seasoned bunhead but self-described “closet modern dancer,” Barbeito moved to La La Land from NYC in 2001, shortly after 9/11, to work at the University of California, Los Angeles, and with some local dance groups. (Currently, she’s a professor at Loyola Marymount University.) She noticed that the European aesthetic she loved was missing from the L.A. dance world. When she met Berkett in a ballet class, she knew she’d finally found her “artistic soul-mate,” she says. The only problem? Berkett lived in NYC, performing with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance. “I flippantly said, ‘You should move here and we’ll start a company,’ ” Barbeito remembers.

Photo by Joshua Sugiyama
Joseph Kudra, Lindsey Matheis and Joseph Davis in Arthur Pita’s “Death Defying Dances”

“L.A. has never been considered a destination for world-class dance, and now it’s

really happening,” Barbeito says. “Venues here aren’t just outsourcing talent from the other major cities—they’re actually presenting local dance now. And Tina and I are so proud to have been a part of paving the way.”

Giving Back

“We love to work hard in the studio,” Barbeito says, “but we also see the bigger picture.” It’s that sense of perspective that motivates BODYTRAFFIC’s outreach projects. In 2015, BODYTRAFFIC dancers spent six weeks as cultural ambassadors to the Middle East through DanceMotion USA, teaching dance and movement to differently abled dancers in Israel and Jordan. The company also does educational outreach locally, offering master classes, workshops and lectures to both pre-professional dancers and a wider range of audiences and communities.

The Right Stuff

What does it take to become a successful member of BODYTRAFFIC? According to Barbeito, “technical prowess and facility are a given.” However, a strong personality and a sense of theatrical presence are also important. “Really, it comes down to chemistry,” Barbeito says. “We love people who are vivacious and understand who they are.”

A version of this story appeared in the May/June 2017 issue of
Dance Spirit.