UCSB Dance Company, José Limón and the lessons of history come to Center Stage

From left, Kristina Skrenek, Dante Corpuz and Mason Teichert are among the UCSB Dance Company members performing at Center Stage Theater. Steve Sherrill
From left, Kristina Skrenek, Dante Corpuz and Mason Teichert are among the UCSB Dance Company members performing at Center Stage Theater.
Steve Sherrill

To dance departments have homecoming? For the UCSB Dance Company, two upcoming performances at Center Stage Theater could be seen that way. The company just returned from a two-week, six-city tour of Europe where it performed works both classic — José Limón’s “There Is a Time” — and contemporary works, including Nancy Colahan’s new work for the company, and a Jerry Pearson multimedia work written for Santa Barbara Dance Theatre. Now, they’re returning home to share with dance lovers, feeling triumphant and not the least jet-lagged — they’re in top form.

Director Delila Moseley took stock of her dancers at the beginning of the school year, and — according to her friend, department associate and mentor Alice Condodina — recognized that she had a particularly strong group, adept at solos, all of them. And the dance that came to mind was Limón’s “There Is a Time” from 1956.

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