The UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) Dance Company presented Convergence: into the center March 11-13 at Hatlen Theater, premiering their new contemporary dance program before setting off to an exciting tour in Europe in more than five countries. Under the artistic direction of Delila Moseley, the 14-member ensemble offered an evening that blended technical precision, experimental staging, and powerful storytelling. It was wonderfully cohesive yet very varied, where every movement delivered a sense of purpose and meaning.
The evening began with “Aura,” choreographed by Monique Meunier, where it started with all the attention on one dancer whose elegant extensions were beautifully intentional. Additional dancers entered as a futuristic score progressed, showcasing how tentative individuality transforms into strength in numbers before returning again to empowering individual expression. The controlled pacing and skillful unison quickly highlighted the program’s spotlight on community, shared rhythm, and support.
The momentum shifted with the pieces, “The Rate at Which I Am,” followed by “Focus,” both choreographed by Joshua Manculich. In the former piece, with shifting lighting spotlighting one or more of the six dancers on stage at a time, a focus on human connection was clear. “Focus” slowed the energy with two dancers on stage wearing white satin dresses, where one dancer watched almost with the audience as the other danced deliberately with gravity-defying bends and stretches accompanied by a crescendo of strings.
Dancer in this ensemble and choreographer Sophie Berls’s “CALL FOR:/call 4” piece introduced an immersive, almost theatrical experience. Four dancers began intertwined and connected through touch, then grew separate before reconnecting again. A particularly evocative moment has two of the dancers coming to the very edge of the stage, lying down and hanging off, presenting a sense of great immersion with the audience that mirrors Berls’s intention of “exploring the self across multiple geographies,” according to the show’s program…