Talent Beats Out Tutus and Tiaras in West Coast Premiere of ‘Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends’

Wow. Just, wow! Sometimes there is no better word to describe an experience than that simple little palindrome. Such was the case with Wednesday night’s performance of Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures at the Granada. (See my preview interview with Tiler Peck here.)

The whole show was fantastic, but “Time Spell,” a toe-tapping, crazy circus of mind-boggling fabulousness choreographed by Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers, and Tiler Peck (along with some credit acknowledgement of collaboration and improvisation by the 11 talented dancers, including the three choreographers, all of whom let their personalities shine on stage) was off-the-charts amazing. 

I’ve been a fan of dance since I was such a little girl that I had to sit on my grandmother’s lap in order to see the stage, and “Time Spell” was without a doubt one of the coolest performances I’ve ever been to.

For one thing, it had a little bit of everything: ballerinas, break dancing, tap dancers, a jazz segment, contemporary movement, and incredible singers Aaron Marcellus and Penelope Wendtlandt playing with their voices and their bodies in ways I’ve never seen before. 

There were tap-dance platforms quickly coming on and off the stage, pushed by dancers who were creating their own worlds of tonal music and movement, then meshed with quick ballet spins, and some electric connective moments where the ballet dancers tapped on pointe and riffed off the tappers’ movements — all while the singers were mixing the soundtrack of live music to sync with the percussive tap beats. 

Third in a program of four different dances, “Time Spell” truly was a showstopper. I’m not really sure why it wasn’t the finale. 

The rest of the show was also quite enjoyable, starting with “Thousandth Orange,” choreographed by Peck, and the only piece she didn’t dance in. Featuring six dancers, a piano, and a string quartet on stage, it was a mix of melodic music and dissonant notes and a fascinating mashup of ballet and contemporary dance. 

Next up was “Swift Arrow,” a stunning tribute to the human body and what it can do. It was danced by Peck and Roman Mejia and choreographed by Alonzo King, whose Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a longtime Santa Barbara favorite and frequent visitor to UCSB Arts & Lectures programming. 

The finale was “The Barre Project, Blake Works II,” choreographed by William Forsythe and danced by Peck and Mejia, joined by Lex Ishimoto and Brooklyn Mack. An outgrowth of a COVID collaboration — when dancers worked at the barre from their homes, often substituting household furniture for their studio equipment — it’s a moving piece of work that was originally conceived for the screen and translated well to the Granada stage. But even after a short intermission, it was tough to follow the drama and the fresh energy of “Time Spell,” and I felt like this work would have been much better served, and received, if it had been presented in third position rather than as the finale. 

That being said, it’s hard to find any complaint at all with getting to watch the West Coast premiere of such a fabulous evening of dance performances. As Arts & Lectures’ Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta M. Billeci said in her introduction to the program, “It’s incredible that our little town gets this world-class talent here on our stage.” And she’s 100 percent right.