Santa Barbara is in the middle of a dance renaissance, and Devyn Duex, the founder of Nebula Dance Lab, is very close to its creative epicenter. On Thursday, November 7, the organization will celebrate its 10th year of existence with a new show at the Lobero featuring a retrospective of the choreographers and dancers the program has championed for the past decade. Pieces by Erin Martinez, Emily Tatomer, Meredith Cabaniss, and Duex will share the bill with works by Montreal-based Edgar Zendejas and Indy Dance award winners Shelby Lynn Joyce and Weslie Ching. Several youth companies will also get a chance to strut their stuff, including PantherDance, State Street Ballet Young Dancers, and Santa Barbara Dance Arts.
Under Duex’s leadership, Nebula has become a haven for collaboration and a home for creativity of all kinds. Like the heavenly phenomenon from which the group takes its name, Nebula radiates forces of its own while at the same time attracting the energy of others. The program’s title, Kairos, is Greek for a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of some crucial action. After 10 years of continuous calibration to the multiple frequencies on which Santa Barbara’s dance scene vibrates, Nebula appears poised to seize this decisive moment and take us on another 10-year journey of even more breathtaking achievement in the movement arts. The show is Thursday, November 7, at 7 p.m. at the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.). Tickets and information can be found at lobero.org or by calling the box office at 963-0761.