Downtown Santa Cruz erupts into celebration of dance

A steely gray, overcast day on Thursday suddenly morphed into bright springtime sunshine in late afternoon. In downtown Santa Cruz, the shift in weather signaled the beginning of a beloved annual tradition, Santa Cruz Dance Week.

A few hundred dancers in costume descended on downtown with hundreds more spectators in tow for a free celebratory mini-festival of dance. A block of Pacific Avenue as well as Cooper Street was blocked off to make room for three performance spaces, presenting a dizzying variety of dance forms for more than three hours.

Solo dancers, couples dancers and synchronized groups rotated in and out of the three dance stages in 10-minute increments, creating a delightful candy box of assorted dance styles, from Hawaiian hula to country line dancing to hip-hop to Mexican folklorico.

The early performances were mostly geared toward kids and families, with young dancers from studios and schools across the county. As the evening went on, the mini performances moved in a more adult direction with demonstrations of Brazilian dance and even pole dancing. It was followed by a big dance party at Abbott Square.

The three-stage free dances served as an introduction to a full week of dance events, sponsored by Santa Cruz-based Motion Pacific. The upcoming week’s events include a wide variety of workshops and classes for various dance traditions. Several of the classes and workshops are free.