Thirty Years of ‘Brilliance’ with State Street Ballet

State Street Ballet closes out its 30th season with The Brilliance Program: Balanchine, Arpino, and Beyond, a title meant to characterize the works featured on the May 9-10 performances at the Lobero Theatre – but also apropos for the company’s spectacular season, the first full one under the leadership of Artistic Director Megan Phillips and Executive Director Cecily MacDougall. The shows reach back in time to classical ballet and peer into the future with the premiere of a very modern piece that breaks ground on the creativity of modern movement. Pieces by two of ballet’s most influential choreographers – George Balanchine’s Who Cares? with music by Gershwin, and Gerald Arpino’s Birthday Variations, set to a score by Verdi – are capped off by Kassandra Taylor Newberry’s brand new very contemporary piece called “To Do Less With a Certainty.” 

We caught up with MacDougall a few days before the premiere. 

Q. Why now for this decision to perform works by Balanchine and Arpino – classic works by famous choreographers – for the first time as a company?

A. One of our broader goals is to bring in outside choreographers both classic and contemporary. So putting pieces by these well-known choreographers on our schedule, along with a world premiere we commissioned, shows that we want to continue to be an incubator for new voices propelling the art form forward. It’s a really big deal for us, a huge step in the direction of growing from a regional company to something more nationally renowned. Our audiences will get a lot out of seeing choreography that is so timeless – Who Cares? is 55 years old, but it still feels fresh. Our dancers have been getting a ton out of the process of learning the choreography and in rehearsals in terms of artistic growth. It’s incredibly challenging, which is also true of the Arpino piece, but in a very different style. It’s almost like watching an Olympic sport where you’re a little bit on edge in the breathtaking moments that you’re not quite sure if they’re going to pull off – the big dives and the gymnastics.

How do these works fit together? 

What they have in common is that they really do represent the highest standards of artistic excellence. We’re opening with Birthday Variations, which is not only really beautiful, but a natural fit to close out our own 30th anniversary with something very classy to remind our audiences just how breathtaking ballet can be. Who Cares? is one of Balanchine’s most iconic pieces, neoclassical ballet but with a twist of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, which will give the audience a really different feel. We love the juxtaposition of these two different decades of ballet history that are still so impressive to watch. We’re closing out with a brand new very contemporary piece from Kassandra Taylor Newbury, one of the hottest voices in dance creation today. It features sound excerpts, including spoken word, that have been mixed together, and features as well all of our company members plus two of our professional track dancers. It’s a lot of bodies on stage, and they’re doing a very specific movement comprised of patterns that create different shapes. It gives a little insight into where the art form is going, and shows how we’re pushing the limits as the dancers go from pointe shoes to bare feet, and from lifts to very grounded – and even doing back flips. It’s a good visual of the dynamics of our company and what these dancers are able to do. 

Opera Santa Barbara Orchestra, conducted by artistic director Kostis Protopapas, will be playing the scores live. They’re the fourth different musical ensemble of the season. What was the thinking there?

When we received the special funding for the season for the orchestras, we wanted to maximize the impact by spreading it out. We’ve hired a couple hundred different musicians between these different orchestras over the season, which helps to build partnerships and collaborations, and expose our dancers and the community to these different orchestras. The opera has hired us for a few of their shows before, so it’s great to have to go both ways. 

These performances mark the end of your and Megan’s first full season running State Street Ballet. How happy are you with what you have accomplished?

It feels really good. Almost all of our dancers are coming back next season, which is a great sign. Ticket sales are up, and we received amazing feedback on this season. Our board is growing and there’s a lot of great energy there. And we’re really excited about what we have planned for next season: more collaborations, a couple new commissions and some other name choreographers whose work we have never performed before. It’s been a huge learning experience for both Megan and I, but we’re both so thankful for the support of this community. It feels like we’re at a really great launching point. 

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