Come see what we've been up to this summer!

Come see what we’ve been up to this summer!

State Street Ballet’s Summer Intensive Program is in full swing. Now in our 15th year of offering an intensive dance workshop over the summer -- we have grown into a noteworthy and prominent program that is recognized across the country.

This year we are hosting a very talented group of 67 dancers from California, Colorado, New Mexico, New York and more. Several of them are hoping to gain one of the coveted apprenticeships for our 2010-11 season. At the end of our intensive program, we select a few of the best students to stay on for the year as apprentices to our professional company.

Summer Intensive Program Performance
State Street Ballet's Summer Intensive students will participate in a fully staged performance on Friday, July 16, 2010, at 6 PM at the Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, University of California Santa Barbara. Performances include Classical Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, and Jazz.

Tickets can be purchased at the door an hour before the performance:

Adults $20; Children/Students $15 (under 12 yrs old)

State Street Ballet's Summer Intensive Program stands out from among other comparable summer dance programs because its final production takes participants onto a professional stage with full lights and costumes. You won’t be disappointed when you come to see what we’ve been up to this summer.

Not Your Grandmother’s Ballet!

Things are quieting down at the State Street Ballet studios after an intense weekend of Evenings performances. Evenings is the in-studio performance series performed and choreographed by State Street Ballet dancers.

These programs are a great way to see a different side of our dancers, from their creativity in their own choreography to their versatility as they tackle different styles of dance rarely seen in tradition ballet performances.

One patron said approvingly, “This is not my grandmother’s ballet.” State Street Ballet prides itself on preserving the classics while also creating a series for new and cutting edge work like our Evenings series.

Dancer, Katie McDermott talks to us about her experience performing in Evenings

How do performing pieces choreographed by fellow dancers differ from what you are used to doing in a more traditional performance setting?

Working for your peers is an interesting experience. I am performing pieces that my friends choreographed so I feel a lot of pressure to do a great job for them. Evenings is especially physically difficult because we put everything together in a week or two. Practicing 5 different pieces that use polar opposite techniques can be taxing on the brain to learn and the body to practice.

How do you compare performing at the studio to performing in a theatre like The Granada?

I love inviting people in to our studio to let them see the behind the scenes of where we practice. As a performance venue I am very comfortable in the studio but I also get more nervous for Evenings performances.

Why is that Katie?

The studio is a smaller more intimate experience. Being able to see and hear everything happening in your audience is nerve-racking. At a big theatre like the Granada I feel less connected to the audience, but in the studio it is so up close and personal.

Tell me what you feelings about the Evenings program?

Evenings is an opportunity for all of us to be doing what we love during the off-season, and it feels great to be trying out different styles of dance. It is amazing to me that given the opportunity to choreograph and perform whatever inspires us, the program is so diverse. I suppose that just further highlights how individual we all are.

Our next Evenings performance will be scheduled for November 6, 2010
Want to hear more? Make sure you are on our email list and become our friend on facebook.

New Evenings video and postcards

The postcards are a bit late for this one, but they're finally done. If you're on our mailing list, expect to see one soon. For a preview, check out our Facebook event page.

We also hope you'll enjoy a new highlight reel of past Evenings:

Evenings: April 9

Join us at the Gail Towbes Center for Dance to see new choreography created and performed by the dancers of State Street Ballet.

Evenings is a casual, elegant evening of new dance served with wine and refreshments. 

Stay after the performance to meet the dancers.

$25 at the door
$20 reserved in advance (email, Facebook, or phone)

Review: Cinderella

The Santa Barbara Independent Reviews Cinderella



Marina Fliagina, Sergei Domrachev (on the ground), and guest artist Ezlimar Dortolina

State Street Ballet’s Cinderella
Granada Theater, February 21-22, 2009
Reviewed by Melissa Lynn Block

State Street Ballet’s Cinderella, staged at the Granada last weekend, was like the theater itself—a faithful retelling of an old story, but with plenty of colorful surprises.

Guest artist Ezlimar Dortolina held the show’s center as the story’s ever-hopeful, ever-faithful heroine. The stepsisters—danced by John Christopher Piel and Sergei Domrachev—were clothed in hilarious drag, complete with complicated hoop skirts, piled-on makeup, long nails, and squeezed-together cleavage. With his subtle but skillfully timed mincing, ill-conceived flirting, and pouting, Piel provided a nice foil to Domrachev’s broad physical antics and facial expressions.

Read more of the review.

Feature: Cinderella preview

The Santa Barbara Independent previews Cinderella:

Marina Fliagina, John Christopher Piel, and Sergei Domrachev as the Stepmother, and two Stepsisters.

Cinderella at the Granada
by Justine Sutton
After its Santa Barbara premiere in 2005, SSB’s Cinderella went on to a highly successful tour of the East Coast, and this fall the show will head to Colorado, Wyoming, and other points east. But first, Cinderella will waltz across the stage at the company’s new home theater, the Granada, this weekend.

Read more of the feature.

Feature: The Nutcracker

More Nutcrackers than you can shake a stick at. Theater schedules are very tight in December, even for small towns!

Dueling Nutcrackers Vie for Audience
by Cathy Murillo

Because of an unavoidable scheduling conflict, both Santa Barbara Festival Ballet and State Street Ballet will present their respective Nutcrackers on December 13 and 14, at essentially the same curtain times. Heightening the sense of competition, State Street Ballet will forego its Hollywood-themed presentation of art deco sets and 1930s costumes, so both productions will be turned out in traditional fairytale ballet style.

Read more of the feature.

Review: Swan Lake

The Santa Barbara Independent reviews Swan Lake:

Mio Kondo, guest artist Yevgeni Anfinogenov, Victoria Luchkina 

(photo David Bazemore)

Swan Lake

Granada Theater, October 12, 2009

Reviewed by Elizabeth Schwyzer

It’s a big year for State Street Ballet: the company is celebrating its 15th anniversary, moving to new studio space, and stepping into its role as one of the resident companies of the newly restored Granada. Last weekend’s production of Swan Lake was SSB’s way of acknowledging a historic moment in its development—a statement of its ability to do justice to the world’s most popular ballet and to the classical tradition that remains at the foundation of its work, and to attract a large audience.

Read more of the review.

Feature: Swan Lake

The Santa Barbara Independent's feature on our Swan Lake as well as our new studio:

Victoria Luchkina as Odette/Odile (photo by David Bazemore)

State Street Ballet’s Swan Lake

by Justine Sutton

This fall, State Street Ballet (SSB) is celebrating 15 years in Santa Barbara, stepping onto a larger stage at the Granada, and moving into a new studio space on Las Positas. It’s enough to make even the most seasoned dancer’s head spin.

Read more of the feature.

Review: Carmina Burana

Carmina Burana, photo by David Bazemore

The Santa Barbara Independent reviews Carmina Burana:

An Historic Occasion

Granada Theatre, May 31, 2008

Reviewed by Charles Donelan

Along with a professional orchestra assembled for the occasion and three superb vocal soloists, the Santa Barbara Choral Society and State Street Ballet created a lively, coherent, and wholly satisfying new version of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. With the chorus standing on risers behind the dance stage and the orchestra below in the Granada’s amazing adjustable pit, the stage proper became a dream space in between — the perfect location for the unfolding of William Soleau’s world premiere choreography.

Read more of the review.

Noozhawk.com's review of Carmina Burana:

Carmina Burana Doubles Its Magic

Granada Theatre, May 31, 2008

Reviewed by Margo Kline

Carmina is a kind of beautiful monster. It is an immense musical work, and Soleau created an equally profound dance vocabulary for it.

Read more of the review.

Feature: Carmina Burana

Victoria Luchkina, photo by Rose Eichenbaum

The Santa Barbara Independent's feature article on Carmina Burana:

State Street Ballet Unveils a New Carmina Burana at the Granada

Feature by Elizabeth Schwyzer

This weekend, in partnership with the Santa Barbara Choral Society (SBCS) and Orchestra, [State Street Ballet] unveils its latest production and its most dramatic project as of yet: an original, full scale, evening-length production of Carmina Burana at the Granada.

This is one of the largest original theater productions ever staged in Santa Barbara, and certainly the largest yet at the newly renovated theater. With 20 dancers, 100 singers, and 53 musicians, it’s unprecedented in scope and ambition, and it’s happening on a scale that would not have been possible in any other theater space in town.

Read more of the feature.

Feature: Carmina Burana in 13 days

In 13 days:

125 singers
24 poems
8 timpani
3 tambourines
3 bells
3 glockenspiels
2 snare drums

An assorted collection of

bass drum
triangle
antique cymbals
crash cymbals
suspended cymbals
ratchet
castanets
sleigh bells
tam-tam
tubular bells
xylophone

1 very nervous tenor

and
State Street Ballet

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. William Soleau's choreography.

Tickets available now at the Granada Theatre.

News: Two new board members join State Street Ballet

State Street Ballet welcomes its two newest board members: Arlyn Goldsby and Benjamin Jerry Cohen.

Arlyn Goldsby is the owner of Objects in Montecito, the eclectic boutique on Coast Village Road. She was on the Board of Women’s Economic Ventures and very much involved with the Compeer Program at the Music Academy of the West. She and her husband Marlowe support Cottage Hospital, and the building of the new Granada Theatre.

Her interest in ballet was stimulated by her grandfather who had a box at the Metropolitan Opera. Every year from the age of eight, she traveled from Cleveland, Ohio to New York to watch the opera and to see her aunt who was a ballerina with the Corps de Ballet at the Metropolitan and also the Ballet Russe.



Benjamin J. Cohen is Louis G. Lancaster Professor of International Political Economy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he has been a member of the Political Science Department since 1991. He was educated at Columbia University, earning a PhD in Economics in 1963. He has worked as a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1962-1964) and has taught at Princeton University (1964-1971) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University (1971-1991). A specialist in the political economy of international money and finance, he serves on the editorial boards of several leading academic journals and is the author of twelve books, including most recently The Geography of Money (1998), The Future of Money (2004), and International Political Economy: An Intellectual History (2008). He has won numerous awards and in 2000 was named Distinguished Scholar of the year by the International Political Economy Section of the International Studies Association.

Since 1999 he has served on the Board of Directors of the Music Academy of the West, where he has been Treasurer for the past seven years. He also serves on the Board of the Channel City Club. He and his wife, the historian Jane Sherron De Hart, have been long-time subscribers to the State Street Ballet, which they regard as one of Santa Barbara’s prime cultural assets.

Review: Evenings 2/08

The Santa Barbara Independent reviews our February 29, 2008 Evenings:

One Enchanted Evening

Studios of Gustafdance Dance

Reviewed by Ellen K. O'Connell

The aptly titled Evenings was an informal affair where everyone seemed to know each other, and the sense of community was centered on a creatively versatile group of young dancers who comprise Santa Barbara’s only full-time professional ballet company. The dancers performed their own work in the company’s normal rehearsal space while guests filled up the lobby until there was standing room only.

Read more of the review.

News: Evenings on February 29

Our second Evenings program of the 2007-2008 season is just a week away on Friday, 7:30PM, February 29, 2008. Held in the studios of State Street Ballet at 322 State Street, Evenings showcases our dancers in their own choreography. With light food and wine, and audience seating at an intimate distance from the performers, you'll enjoy an elegant, casual evening with your friends and our dancers.

Because it's not part of our regular dance series and is more informal, dancers are encouraged to experiment with their choreography. You'll see a wide variety of dance not seen at our regular performances as well as more contemporary work as they try out new dance ideas on a smaller, friendlier audience first. You could be the first to see the seeds of a new ballet to come.

This Evenings celebrates the art of the port de bras, the carriage of the arms and head that fills all of that incredible dance technique with meaning and expression. So you'll see many different pieces from the dancers that explore the use of the head and arms, culminating in former SSB dancer Gary McKenzie's tribute to French cabaret singer Edith Piaf.

Doors open at 7:00PM. Tickets are $25 at the door, and $20 with advance reservations. RSVP to evenings@statestreetballet.com or call (805) 965-6066. The SSB studios are located at 322 State Street.

Review: Ballroom

Diana Law's Love's Avalon, photo by David Bazemore

The Santa Barbara Independent reviews Ballroom:

Ballroom, presented by State Street Ballet

Lobero Theatre, Saturday February 9, 2008

Reviewed by Elizabeth Schwyzer

Now celebrating its 15th year, State Street Ballet is known for stretching audience expectations of the art form. Its most recent program, a series of shorter works inspired by the swing dance era collectively titled Ballroom, took as its mission melding two very different dance forms: classical ballet and swing dance.

Read more of the review.

The Ballroom program consisted of Victoria Simon's Come Dance with Me, Nancy Colahan and Christopher Pilafian's Dream Dancing, Diana Law's Love's Avalon, SSB artistic director Rodney Gustafson's Stravinsky's Tango, and Robert Sund's B.A.N.D.

Review: Nutcracker 2007

Ryan Camou as Drosselmeyer, photo by David Bazemore

The Santa Barbara Independent reviews SSB's Hollywood Nutcracker:

The NutCracker, presented by State Street Ballet

Lobero Theatre, Saturday, December 15

Reviewed by Ellen O'Connell

Playing with tradition is a bold move, and one Rodney Gustafson, artistic director of State Street Ballet, is not afraid to try. Last weekend, the company presented its annual holiday production — a 1930s Hollywood twist on The Nutcracker. There are quite a few versions of the Christmas classic dancing through Santa Barbara this time of year, and it can be hard to keep them all straight, but State Street Ballet’s variation is unmistakable; Gustafson reinterprets the traditional story using gangster rats in zoot suits and Ethel Merman-style synchronized swimmers as snowflakes.

Read more of the review.

Steps: State of the Art

Where is ballet today? Where did it come from? And where is it going? New York City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel offers some ideas in his Aspen Ideas 2006 talk. Discussing and demonstrating ballet technique and repertory, Woetzel lucidly articulates the state of ballet today.

Go to the Fora.tv website to find a higher resolution video that's also downloadable to your iPod.

Feature: The cat is out of the bag

In a feature article about the Santa Barbara Chorale Society, the Santa Barbara Independent reveals the exciting, new collaboration between State Street Ballet and the Chorale Society on a new production of Carmina Burana, to be choreographed by William Soleau whose Carmen we presented recently. This production will also be our first regular performance in the new Granada Theatre.

So mark your calendars for May 31 and June 1, 2008 for a world premiere ballet performed to live music, including a 125-person chorus in a brand new performance space designed especially for such productions. We'll keep you up to date on the ins and outs of Carmina Burana as it evolves as well as when you can purchase tickets for what promises to be a spectacular production.

Santa Barbara Choral Society Prepares for a Breakthrough Year

Feature by Charles Donelan

But it is the spring sequence of programs, and its culmination with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Granada with State Street Ballet on May 31 and June 1, that marks this 60th anniversary year as a potential breakthrough one for the organization. Choreographer William Soleau recently scored a distinct hit with his Carmen, which State Street Ballet performed at the Lobero. With 125 SBCS members, many in full costume and playing supporting roles onstage while the dancers do their thing, Soleau’s Carmina Burana is unquestionably the most ambitious multimedia production of the year, and will be a supreme test not only for both organizations, but for the Granada as well.

Read more of the feature.

Feature: Carmen at Ford video

In case you missed our performance of William Soleau's Carmen at the Ford Amphitheatre, LA36 filmed the performance, and has just released it online.