State Street Ballet En Pointe

Santa Barbara’s popular State Street Ballet kicked off its 30th anniversary year with a reception at the Riviera Bar downtown for 40 guests, including Brooks and Kate Firestone, Dan and Meg Burnham, Barbara Burger, Deborah Bertling, Tigran Sargsyan, Leila Drake, Jennifer Whalen, Cecily MacDougall, Scott Reed, and Jonathan Bishop.

“It has been an extraordinary history,” says managing director Tim Mikel. “It hasn’t been the easiest of journeys, but I’m proud to say that financially we’ve never been in the red. And the best is yet to come.”

At the end of the month the tony troupe, founded by former American Ballet Theatre dancer Rodney Gustafson, will be hosting its gala at the Music Academy of the West with a curated performance in Hahn Hall.

The new season opens with a double bill – Scheherazade and The Firebird Suite at the Granada. The milestone season also sees unprecedented collaborations with local arts organizations, including the Santa Barbara Symphony, Opera Santa Barbara, the Granada and Lobero theatres, the San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

All tu-tu much….