Dance Dimensions: SBDT Debuts 

Santa Barbara Dance Theater, which in its association with the UCSB Department of Theater/Dance is the only professional dance company that is in residence in the entire UC system, presents its 2023 season, Intimacy & Autonomy, next week at the Hatlen Theater on campus. The second season under new artistic director Brandon Whited, who is UCSB Associate Professor of Dance and Director of Dance Performance, reflects a shifting creative direction for the company in its 46th year toward a project-based framework and innovative contemporary dance.

The January 18-22 performances feature the premiere of a work by Whited plus new dancework from guest choreographers Helen Simoneau and David Maurice that were fashioned last summer during an intensive creative residency in collaboration with UCSB Dance summer students. Simoneau’s DARLING explores vulnerability and intimacy through the presence and absence of touch with an intent to expose the audiences’ own biases towards the perceived power and strength of the people onstage. This iteration of the work is a 30-minute redux of the original evening-length version. 

Maurice’s Partial Adaptation also interacts with the observers, as it comes from the realm of absurdist theater in challenging autonomy and the “fourth wall” to explore the roles and autonomy of performers and audience. Whited’s Her (abridged), an ensemble work for five women, abstractly resonates on the ongoing injustice endured by women by contrasting gestural explorations of strength and assertiveness with durational group partnering reflecting community and mutual support among women. Visit https://theaterdance.ucsb.edu for details and tickets.