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About The Dance Hub

The Dance Hub Mission Statement

The Dance Hub is home to American Dance & Music. Its mission is to encourage life-long learning and enjoyment of dance. With two professionally equipped studios, TDH offers diverse programming for students of all ages and provides affordable teaching and performance space at below market rates, as well as rent subsidies to individual artists and non-profit performing arts groups and tuition subsidies for children through adults.

In 2005, Carrie Diamond and Eric Valinsky founded Ballet Santa Barbara, and in 2006 it was incorporated as the non-profit, American Dance and Music, Inc. Over the next twelve years, AD&M offered ballet and modern dance technique classes for adults in rented studio space at the Santa Barbara Ballet Center, Santa Barbara Dance Arts, and the Montecito School of Ballet. AD&M’s programming grew to include master classes, workshops, guest performers, and ballet intensives. All this while, they were searching for an affordable venue for a community dance space that would serve as its home. Finally, in April of 2017, Carrie and Eric walked into what had been The Remnant Store on Victoria Street and said “This feels like home!” They were struck by the beautiful wood floor, the high ceilings, and its location in the heart of the performance district. They particularly loved the dramatic metal beams of the earthquake retrofit for this historical building. They realized that these beams logically delineated the space into three studios and they are now featured as part of the decor.

The Dance Hub officially opened in November, 2017. There are currently three studios: a small studio that is subleased as The Space at the Hub to Ken Gilbert Embodyment. The Main Studio features a state-of-the-art floating floor built by David Sukonick that minimizes the risk of injury and is ideal for ballet shoes, bare feet, or socks. The slightly smaller Victoria Street Studio also features a floating floor by Sukonick with a surface that allows a variety of footwear. In addition to AD&M classes in ballet, modern dance, jazz, and conditioning, our affiliates and renters offer classes in Pilates, Nia, theater arts, Afro-Brazilian dance, and Polynesian dance, to name a few.

The opening of The Dance Hub in 2017 is the realization of a long-held goal and milestone for the AD&M founders and Board of Directors. It is operated as a non-profit program of American Dance and Music, Inc. AD&M is thrilled at the positive response by funding organizations and generous donors. The launch of the studio was kickstarted by major grants by the Santa Barbara Foundation and the City of Santa Barbara. Our class tuition and rental fees are below market rates, but additional grants have allowed us to offer additional rent subsidies for local performing artists.

The Dance Hub had its official Grand Opening celebration in October, 2018. The event included two days of open house followed by a performance and reception. In April, 2019, AD&M’s popular series Dance: Up Close and Cultural resumed, now named “Up Close at The Dance Hub.” The series has featured contemporary ballet performances by The Dance Hub Performing Group, dances by local choreographers, and performances by ethnic groups including Baile de California, Tango Abrazo Sur, and the Gulistan Dance Theater.

When you dance, you can enjoy the luxury of being you.
— Paul Coelho
The Dance Hub Santa Barbara

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