Award-winning entertainer Debbie Allen knew she had no time to waste when she saw the flames from the fires of Pallisard approaching her neighbourhood.
The fire that began on the morning of January 7th was whipped by the Santa Ana storm, unlike what residents had seen before.
“This was a brooch,” Allen said. “I could see it from the window on my balcony. My mother was 101 and I knew I couldn’t ruin it.”
Like the thousands of residents of the Pacific Palisades area, award-winning, versatile actors, dancers, choreographers, directors, producers, singers and writers were forced to evacuate.
That same day, the Eton Fire ignited on the hill above Altadena. Echere Williams and her family were forced to evacuate as the flames burned homes and businesses in a community northeast of Los Angeles.
Williams’ home and her mother and sister’s home were among over 6,000 homes destroyed in the fatal Eaton fire.
The fires burned for weeks, and they continued to burn for weeks, becoming two of California’s most deadly and destructive records, and Allen wondered what he could do to bring hope and light to a desperate time .
“It felt like we had to do something,” Allen said. “We feel the pain of what is lost, but we also know that there is something that can give people something that can lift them up.”
Allen has launched “Dancing in the Light: Healing ber the Arts.” This is a free community dance series for people affected by wildfires. Williams and her family are among the participants.
“Even if the dance is, please quote that it’s not about you and that it’s not about you,” Williams said. “You can just stand on the sidelines, sit in the bleachers, or be shaken up by movement, find that community, be in front of the uplifting music and what’s in a place where you really want to find you There is a spirit and some of it in what you think is lost.”
Fire victims and their families will be invited on Sunday at Debbie Allen Dance Academy to watch free dance classes and Super Bowl.
