Tag archives: dance

Stepping Up
By Richard Mineards   |   May 17, 2018

State Street Ballet hosted its third annual showcase of contemporary choreography, Modern Masters, in the intimate setting of the New Vic. The highly entertaining show featured a diverse mix of dance movement featuring works by seven choreographers, including pieces by New York’s William Soleau, the new co-artistic director, Montreal’s Edgar Zendejas, Autumn Eckman from Tucson, […]

Stewards of Modern Movement
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 10, 2018

State Street Ballet (SSB) was just a little bit ahead of the curve when it premiered an evening of modern dance called Women’s Work just two years ago, shortly before the marches began following the presidential election and the revelations of rampant sexual harassment leading to the #MeToo movement. But by last year, it had […]

Morris Embraces The Beatles
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 3, 2018

Mark Morris got on the phone only a few minutes after the interviewer finished reading the latest about the furor surrounding Michelle Wolf’s controversial set at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Quickly it was apparent – but not surprising – that the choreographer famous for creating dances to curated classical music can be as crude […]

Dadiana Dancing
By Montecito Journal   |   April 26, 2018

Just imagine “A world of ballroom dance creating a beautiful place in your mind, body and soul. ” Even after the fire, mudslide, earthquake, and multiple evacuations, five women (three from Montecito), and their dance instructor, Vasily Golovin, owner of Dance Fever Studio Montecito, found the time to attend the San Francisco Open Dancesport Competition. […]

BASSH One Giant Dance Party for All
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 22, 2018

Hector Sanchez appeared in so many of the pieces performed at last year’s BASSH – the theatrical showcase for local dance professionals and their protégés to show off their choreography in a wide variety of social dance genres – that one was thinking they might have to change the name of the two-decades old production […]

Dance Stance
By Richard Mineards   |   March 15, 2018

Superlatives are not sufficient to describe the Spanish National Dance Company’s performance of Swedish choreographer Johan Inger‘s Carmen at the Granada. The 39-year-old Madrid-based troupe, who last dazzled us six years ago, showed why the quintessentially Spanish work has become one of the most talked-about new ballets of the decade with Japan-born Kayoko Everhart dazzling […]

Dancing with a Star
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 15, 2018

Alan Bersten was just 10 years old when the first season of Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) aired on television. He’d watch the athletes and movie stars partner with professional ballroom dancers, fantasizing about matching their grace and power as they glided across the floor. But when his grandmother told him, “One day, you’re going […]

Get a Load of This
By Richard Mineards   |   February 1, 2018

After the massive cleanup following the devastating Montecito mudslides, where to dump it? More than 20,000 dump truck loads – in excess of seven million pounds – of muck have been taken to the Ventura County Fairgrounds, where it is being stored temporarily. But with the totals increasing daily, officials face a daunting task. One […]

Pilobolus Returns to the Granada
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 25, 2018

When your company is named after a fungus that grows on cow poop, clearly you’re involved with an outfit that loves playfulness as well as metaphors. Pilobolus formed at Dartmouth back in 1971 but has grown more explosively than its light-seeking namesake, now numbering more than 120 dance works in its repertoire, including three entities […]

Dance Your Way to Self-love and Presence
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 7, 2017

Russian native Yulia Maluta has been teaching tango and other Latin and ballroom dances since even before she first moved to town 20 years ago, when she partnered with David Alvarez at the Santa Barbara Dance Centre, which kicked her professional and competitive dance career into a higher gear. After retiring from competition, Yulia began […]

News from Dance Fever Studio
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 7, 2017

Montecito’s Dance Fever Studio would like to congratulate Mariya Usanina for making the finals, out of 27 high-level couples, in Amateur Latin at the largest dancesport event of the year, the Ohio Star Ball located in Columbus, Ohio. Already this year, Mariya has won many titles as Open Amateur Latin champion at competitions including the […]