HHII Dance Festival - 5th Annual

This incredible 'Indy Award Winning' festival produced 40+ dance works by 20 companies with over 200+ artists from across the United States and Internationally, and featured diverse works showcasing modern, flamenco, performance art/modern, contemporary ballet, tap and more!

More than 400 came to view the four day event including a new Opening Evening honoring Excellence in Dance Education through the Apogee Awards, featuring performances by youth companies throughout the area. HHII was sponsored by Strategic Incentives, Pacific Premiere Bank, Boone Graphics and Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation. Curation has begun for 2020 February 27th-March 1st including artists worldwide and highlighting many local youth companies in our Opening Kickoff Evening.

Photo Credit: Paul Miyake

KAIROS, at Lobero Theater, a curated walk through Nebula's first 10 years of creative process.

With KAIROS, Nebula produced one of the most lofty ambitious productions in its history. 

As audience members found their seats they were first treated to featured guest performances by State Street Ballet Young Dancers, Santa Barbara Dance Arts- Company, The Dance Network and Panther Dance Company. As the students found their seats Artistic Director, Devyn Duex, led the audience through a community building exercise, paying homage to the Film festival's opening night "...Stand up if you have collaborated with Nebula ...Stand up if you know anyone in the production... Stand up if you love live performance... Stand up!... say hello to someone you don't know and talk about what Live Art means to you". 

As everyone settled back into their seats they were taken through a curated journey of Nebula's first ten years of professional dance work(s). Thoughtfully selected works highlighting the voices of all 10 choreographers over the 10 years; including 'Snapshots' by Emily Tatomer, 'Floodlit & Fallen' excerpt by Brooke Hughes Melton, 'Rogue Planets' by Meredith Cabaniss, new work 'My touch, Our Dance' by Gianna Burright, 'Holocene' by internationally renowned Edgar Zendejas, ''Singing Bones' excerpt by Erin Martinez Birkett, 'Sand into Glass' by Devyn Duex, 'I Don't Exist Anymore' by Weslie Ching, 'Air' by Shelby Caputo, and 'Dreamscape' excerpt by Nebula Dance Lab. 

The evening received acclaimed reviews by patrons, some stating it was the 'best show to date', 'amazing and technical dance', 'it brought me on an emotional journey... crying, laughing, ... I was feeling' 

Nebula Dance Lab is carving out a significant reputation in the art of dance theater, and the results are nothing short of dazzling.

Photo Credit: [poster] Devyn Duex, Graphic design by Kendall Klein

The Inquisitor – Kid’s Matinee Program four shows 2400 students

In partnership with The Lobero Theatre, the kids matinee program was expanded in 2016 to offer twice as many students invitations to the production, and in 2018 & 2019 this opportunity was expanded further offering four show(s) doubling attendance to over 2400 students. An exhilarating experience for students, schools, and Nebula. 

Nebula successfully performed The Inquisitor for 2400 K-12 students, chaperones, and teachers with the generous support of The Lobero Theatre Fund, Santa Barbara Education Foundation with funds in partnership with the Leni Fe Bland Foundation,Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, CAPCommunity Foundation, Community Arts Grant, Strategic Incentives and several business & individual sponsors.

Our programming for this production provided priority to Title I schools and included attendance by Adelante Charter, Adams School, Franklin, Cleveland, Roosevelt, Santa Barbara Charter, Peabody Charter, Open Alternative, Harding, Washington, Santa Barbara Community Academy. 

It also included a teacher pre-show worksheet, parent/student prep packet, and post-show worksheet/project. As a testament to our impact to area schools, we learned that more than half of the student audience had never been to a theater before, with many students never having seen a dance production before. How great to be able to enrich the lives of so many children!

Photo Credit: Kathee Miller & Samantha Dei Rossi