Fall Arts Preview: Dance

With the start of fall-and the start of Arts & Lecture’s grandiose 50th anniversary season-comes a string of dance programs, workshops, performances, and fundraisers that will delight even the most ungraceful of appreciators. It all kicks off this Saturday, September 12, with Santa Barbara Dance Alliance’s 15th annual DaM: International Dance and Music Festival at the Marjorie Luke Theatre. Boasting representation from 17 different cultural groups, the worldly all-day event starts off with free lessons at 2 p.m. After that, the pros take over with a series of performances at 5 p.m. A week later, on Saturday, September 19, Center Stage Theater hosts a grand-scale Salsa Night Benefit for the invaluable arts facility. Also that night, the Luke offers up an evening of traditional Spanish dance with a program titled Balie, Amor, y Juventud. And from Saturday, September 26, through Sunday, September 27, the Lobero comes alive with the sounds and sights of flamenco at the 10th Annual Flamenco Arts Festival, which features two days of technique and choreography workshops, as well as the California premiere of Compa±-a Mar-a Juncal’s Tercera Llamada. Also that weekend, Yoga Soup welcomes Nectar; Love and War into its Parker Way studio for a night of performance art, spoken word, and dance on Saturday, September 26.

Come October, Arts & Lectures heats things up with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s Fondly Do We Hope : Fervently Do We Pray, a dance theater piece that celebrates the triumphs of President Abraham Lincoln, directed by acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones. On October 10 and 11, State Street Ballet returns to the Granada with its rendition of The Jungle Book. And Wednesday, October 21, the theater welcomes the Kennedy Center’s resident company, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, as it makes its S.B. debut. Rounding out the month of dance is the Flying Karamazov Brothers, who bring 4Play to the Granada Theatre on Friday, October 23.

Not long after, State Street Ballet and Michigan’s Eisenhower Dance Ensemble team up for Motown in Motion at the Lobero Theatre on Friday, November 6. Arts & Lectures brings the contemporary dance visionaries of London’s DV8 to the Lobero Theatre for three nights of performances from Wednesday, November 18, through Friday, November 20. On Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, UCSB’s Theater and Dance Department unveils its Fall Dance program at Hatlen Theatre. And the Granada spreads some holiday cheer on Saturday, December 12, and Sunday, December 13, with State Street Ballet’s annual production of The Nutcracker.