Life & Work with Judith FLEX Helle of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Judith FLEX Helle.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
After a 35 year career performing as a dancer and aerialist nationally and internationally, I founded Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles in 2009 with Charles Evans Jr.
I had run a dance company in the ’80’s as a 20-something while I was a dancer at the Deutsche Opera Berlin, but had never run a non-profit dance company in the US, and there was a steep learning curve.
I’d never raised a dollar fundraising, and little did I know how much additional admin work there would be!

Fast forward 15 years, I have a wall full of awards for my work including
Top 5 Best Choreography and Dance Company from Beverly Hills Outlook 2011 (Schubert’s “Winterreise”),
Dance Magazine’s Top 5 Women in Dance Leadership in SoCal 2014,
The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, 2022,
The United Nations Humanitarian Award (for my climate change ballet, “TRAILS”), 2022,
and, a Commendation from LA City Council for 15 years of excellence in providing the City of Los Angeles with accessible, entertaining, top quality ballet and aerial dance.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Hah!
This is a road I would NOT recommend to anyone.
This road is complicated, difficult, opaque, and the rewards impossible to get without tremendous help from all sides.
Non-profit dance companies are typically led by people like me- former dancers with little or no education, whose only experience in the dance world is… dancing.
The amount of business information required to launch and then succeed as a dance company director is not available in any “dance director for dummies” book, and the competition for producing dollars, rehearsal space, dancers, and stage time is intense.
The critics (whoever is left- news outlets rarely have dance critics anymore) can make or break your dance company with a single review- and sometimes, they’re sour because they just had a stomach ache when they sat down to write… but that’s what’s on the internet forever.
Dancers have a haphazard life- attrition can be high and keeping them in a group a challenge. Los Angeles has a robust commercial dance industry and the best dancers are often pulled away to fulfill more lucrative contracts on a tour, movie, or even a theme park job! So, getting the best dancers and keeping them is also a major challenge.
Studio space is expensive- and Luminario Ballet’s needs more complex as we require a 20 foot plus high ceiling to attach our aerial rigging as well as a sprung dance floor for our dancers.
Mood and emotion can affect the amount of power and energy I might have day to day, and it takes a lot of courage to keep on keepin’ on.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have always been an artist- I grew up playing instruments (piano, violin, guitar), making visual art (drawing, painting, sculpture, BFA from Art School/ Film Major); and had dance lessons (ballet, modern, jazz) since age 4 before getting my first paid dance job in a 6 night per week show at age 19.
I then turned my attention to becoming a professional dancer for hire and worked my buns off to get to the top and stay there! The average dancers trains for about 10-15 years before getting a job- if they ever get one, and the performing career is short-tyically 10 years or less- I played mine out for 35 years!
AND I’m known for being an OG in aerial dance! I started performing on doubles trapeze on tour in Germany in my early 20’s, way back in 1980!
When I started Luminario Ballet, our most favorable reviews came for my aerial dance work, such as “Lift Ticket”, for which I received a 2012 World Choreography Award nomination, and “LedZAerial” a ballet/aerial work to the music of Led Zeppelin.
But!
What I am most proud of is the creation of a high level human, my daughter Iris, who heads up a department in a top level aeronautical aviation company.
I was a single mom and getting her raised right, into university, and into the work force was incredibly difficult and filled with sacrifices (mine) to ensure her complete ability to pursue a career in the man’s world of aeronautical aviation.

Apparently everything sets me apart from others:
I had a dual decades long professional career as both a dancer and an aerialist;
I then became a show producer, award-winning choreographer;
have taken my local company on tour nationally (CA, TX, FLA, NY)
and internationally (Mumbai and Goa, India);
produced, directed, and choreographed an award-winning dance film (“L’Invalide” you can watch it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Tv8Q3opBaK0?si=ILJrTgnGqfnmLyU9 ); written an autobiography (teasers at https://judithflexhelle.com )
and was a single mom whose kid grew up to be a superstar in her field.
I’m also a fun, humorous person who sees the idiocy in our world, tries to help fix it, but still can laugh and have fun with my friends, family, colleagues.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was an artist and a jock growing up.
I was a deep thinker and preternaturally physically coordinated. I was super-hyper-energetic and so my dichotomy was intense focus and concentration on sitting still making art, and huge bursts of physical energy dancing all over the place or playing sports.
In high school my best events were track and field- sprinting, high jump, long jump; and gymnastics- balance beam.
I was obsessed with reading and although I didn’t go to university I read a book a day from Jr High through High School, and am still a voracious reader.
I am interested in Science; particularly comparative zoology, ecology, environmentalism; I yearn to do more to help people understand how we must change our dependence on PLASTICS to biodegradable materials we can use instead (hemp!! bamboo!! mangroves!!) which restore not destroy / pollute our planet; and I’d like to have us reduce our world population to bring back wild lands and the wild species who live there.
I love animals, and they love me.

My superficial interests are travel, fashion, and jewels. I love those too.
My deep interests are my friends. They fascinate me and I can’t do enough for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://luminarioballet.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luminarioballet/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luminarioballetLA/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/luminario-ballet-of-los-angeles/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LuminarioBallet
• Other: https://judithflexhelle.com

Image Credits
Luminario Ballet photographers:
Ted Soqui Photography
Emerson Chen
Paul Antico
Scott Belding