To celebrate State Street Ballet’s 20th, a remix of Vivaldi

Meredith Harrill of State Street Ballet dances with Colton West. David Bazemore photos
Meredith Harrill of State Street Ballet dances with Colton West.
David Bazemore photos

State Street Ballet celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, not by focusing attention solely on itself, even though it has earned the right to do so. Instead it’s sharing the wealth, and inviting two other companies to share Saturday evening’s program at the Granada, to intermingle and produce one complete work. A symbiosis, if you will. With “Common Ground,” State Street Ballet will be joined by Detroit’s Eisenhower Dance and Santa Barbara Dance Theatre. All three companies will be performing, using Max Richter’s modernist remix of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”

Just as Mr. Richter put Vivaldi’s four very distinct seasons into a bag and shook it up, “Common Ground” takes the members of all three companies and sees what happens when they dance together. The man behind this mission of mixology is Mexico City-born and Montreal-based Edgar Zendejas, artistic director of ezdanza and award-winning choreographer since debuting in 2001 after years as a ballet dancer.

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Old Spanish Days: West Coast Symphony closes Old Spanish Days with sounds of Spain

Santa Barbara's West Coast Symphony serenaded another Fiesta to a close on Sunday at the Courthouse Sunken Garden.
Santa Barbara’s West Coast Symphony serenaded another Fiesta to a close on Sunday at the Courthouse Sunken Garden.

For 48 years, Christopher Story has conducted Santa Barbara’s West Coast Symphony on the last day of Fiesta, treating those at the Courthouse Sunken Garden to a free concert of classical music.

Sunday’s program featured works from de Falla and Bizet, along with other Spanish-flavored music. On a sunny and humid day, it was one of the last events of Old Spanish Days, and one of the final times people could also see the Spirit and Junior Spirit of Fiesta perform.

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