Santa Barbara Dance Theater: A Place for Us

A Place for Us

Santa Barbara Dance Theater – 2024 Fall Season

November 15th – 17th, 2024

This year marks Santa Barbara Dance Theater’s 48th Anniversary season, and fourth season under Artistic Director Brandon Whited (Assoc. Prof./Chair of Theater & Dance). The evening features two of his works expanded and redesigned, along with a re-staging/expansion of SBDT Dancer and Guest Choreographer Nicole Powell’s A Warm Window, which premiered in Spring 2024 as a commission for State Street Ballet’s concert “Other Voices.”

Powell’s A Warm Window is a piece about resilience. A reflection on personal moments of struggle, joy, and the complexity of emotions. It is a celebration of humanity and all of its flaws. The piece follows the path of reflection, monotony, and loneliness to a place where all of those complex, deep-rooted feelings can give us strength and joy. All we endure is what makes us who we are, and there is so much beauty and power in the celebration of that resilience.

Whited’s HER is an expanded and reimagined iteration of the Her (abridged) which originally premiered in January of 2022.  With new lighting design by Vickie Scott (Studio Professor), and projection design by Design student Elijah Frankle, HER revisits the original themes of building community and mutual support amongst women in the face of ongoing and pervasive injustice and legislated restrictions on personal health, and body autonomy.  Developed in partial collaboration with the dancers to include their creative voices and reflect individual personalities within the group, the piece contrasts gestural explorations of strength and assertiveness, with durational group partnering focused on giving and receiving support.

Miles to Go premiered in last year’s season ‘The Ties that Bind,’ and is remounted for this season with new lighting and projections by Scott and Frankle respectively.  Underscored with music by composer Michael Wall, and a collage of audio clips, the work draws from the lived experiences of choreographer Brandon Whited, and dancers Derion Loman and Calder White who originated the work. Miles to Go utilizes duet form and interactive sound design to illustrate the physical, mental and emotional trauma experienced by the LGBTQ+ community as a direct result of ongoing and increasing violence, discrimination, and attacks on civil rights through overwhelming legislation. While both traditional and social media keep us informed, the endless onslaught has real ramifications.

In a year of incredible socio-political strife, and falling on the heels of a Presidential election that will prove to be a profound inflection point for our country, A Place for Us offers a quiet reprieve and retreat into an evening of beauty and poignant self-reflection, but does not shy away from the real work we still have to do.

Performances will be held at UCSB’s Hatlen Theater for November 15th – 17th.  With a run time of approximately 75 minutes, shows are at 7:30pm Nov. 15th and 16th, and 2:00pm Nov. 16th and 17th.   The Saturday matinee performance will be followed by a post-show discussion with the artists.