When Christopher Pilafian was anointed as artistic director of Santa Barbara Dance Theater in 2013, it would have been logical to assume that a retrospective of his vast catalog of work would soon follow. After all, here was an artist who’d spent nearly four decades sharing space with some of New York City’s most reputable choreographers and dance companies, traveling the globe to perform and present the efforts of his years spent at Juilliard. He had now been given an academic platform and an engaged audience from which a reflective survey could easily transition into blissful retirement.
But Pilafian wasn’t going out like that.
“I’m treating the company as a collaborative lab,” he would say when describing his vision for the now 44-year-old institution. And over the past seven years, he’s made good on that promise, inviting dozens of international and national artists to come into the studio and inject dynamic and diverse perspectives into his intimate company. When Pilafian’s dance concerts began to attract the L.A. set, he saw an opportunity to expose the university’s bourgeoning dance majors to new audiences and created a highly coveted apprentice program in response.