By Madison Kirkpatrick
This year, the UCSB Dance Company will celebrate its 30th year and its 10th year of traveling internationally. A 2020 anniversary tour from April 11- May 4 will take the dancers to Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Italy. The group will give 12 performances in universities and theatres.
The company, which features student and faculty dancers and choreographers, got its start performing in Santa Barbara and then moved on to Texas, Washington, and Arizona. Just a decade ago, the troupe expanded to Europe.
Delila Moseley is the head of the company and a Continuing Lecturer in dance here at UC Santa Barbara. Having begun her dance career at the age of four, she took a break from studies at UC Irvine in order to perform with various professional companies. This took her to Los Angeles and New York. After Moseley went back to school she graduated in 1984 from UCSB with a bachelor’s in Dance and a master’s in Dramatic Art (now Theatre and Dance).
Delila Moseley, professor and director of the UCSB Dance Company.
Once at UCSB, she performed with the Repertory-West Dance Company (now Santa Barbara Dance Theater) for 10 years. This led her to start her own company at her alma mater, appropriately titled UCSB Dance Company.
“We are a repertory company, meaning that each yearly performance is choreographed by somebody different. I wanted students to perform with a repertoire,” Moseley said in a recent interview.
The recruitment process seems pretty simple. “My company and I watch students in the dance classes in order to see if they can handle the rigor of the company,” Moseley said.
This is very unlike a formal audition but is more personal. The process occurs over three years and then students – most often seniors – become part of the company. Qualified students are invited, but not required to join what is a pre-professional experience.
As for the type of dance, venue space is limited so modern/contemporary often takes the lead. The choreographers choose what type of dance will be taught.
The dancers and choreographers have an equally difficult responsibility, Moseley says. Choreographers must create a dance from the ground up, and dancers must execute this as perfectly as possible. Also, both must get along well. “There is no time to argue or disagree,” Moseley said. Luckily, everyone works well together, she says.
There are 21 people going on the spring tour. That includes 16 student dancers, along with Moseley, a professional photographer, a lighting director, faculty choreographer Brandon Whited, and professor emeritus Alice Condodina. Students pay for some of their trip costs, but the rest is covered by fundraising. One way the company raises money is by offering a master class to students at the universities where performances are scheduled.
Students practice for the 2020 anniversary tour. Photo by Delila Moseley.
Choreographic works include a restaging of the iconic “Missa Brevis” by José Limón, as well as new works by faculty members Whited, Nancy Colahan, and Christina McCarthy. Ephrat Asherie of New York City will create a new work for the company during her residency at UCSB in February.
Moseley says the spring tour is a great preparation for professional dance.
A group of students prepares for the international tour. Photo by Delila Moseley.
“The program gives a lot of professional skills most would not realize,” she said, pointing to improved attention to detail, good networking skills, and the ability to work closely with others.
Moseley also said everybody who has gone through this program has succeeded in one way or another. Some students have gone on to perform with other professional companies or start their own companies, or perform in Broadway, teach dance, go to graduate school, and even explore careers after dance. Some examples of successful students include Brendon Chan (class of 2013) who performed in both Hamilton and West Side Story on tour, Charis Haines (class of 2004) who joined Rioult Dance New York, and Chelsea Retzloff (class of 2007) who joined Shen Wei Dance Arts.
Madison Kirkpatrick is a fourth-year Sociology major and a web and social media intern with UCSB’s Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.