UCSB Arts & Lectures will present Montreal’s Cirque Éloize, which blows into town with “Hotel,” an elegant new work channeling Art Deco-era Hollywood glamour and combining acrobatics, theater, dance and live music on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Granada Theatre.    

A leader in contemporary circus, Cirque Éloize is reinventing the concept as many of us still know it, while featuring classic acts like the Cyr wheel, juggling, hand-to-hand, aerial ropes and straps, clowning and the Chinese pole. Celebrating its 25th anniversary with “Hotel,” Cirque Éloize balances thematic rigor with physical risk and a jazzy score featuring vocals and piano, plus instruments played by the performers.

Cirque Éloize welcomes you into a timeless art deco hotel, a place where strangers of all walks of life meet. “Hotel” is the story of a place full of stories, where the audience mingles with strangers for a moment. From the waiter overwhelmed by the events, to the mischievous maid, to the devoted handyman and his inseparable dog, Carpette, the hotel’s staff is like each of us, the privileged witnesses to slices of the lives of colorful individuals. 

Carried by the voice of the client on the top floor who comments, testifies and tells the story, one can meet the lovers who still do not know they are meant to be, these improbable travelers and this celebrity who goes out of her way to win her place in the firmament while revealing the depth of her being. Entering the lobby doors of this grandiose place will have the observer witness the intricately woven story of these travelers.

About the Company

A driving force of Quebec culture and a leader in the contemporary circus world for 25 years, Cirque Éloize has brought together the circus arts with other art forms as well as technology to thrill audiences seeking sensually rich entertainment.

Its creations, including “iD,” “Cirkopolis” and “Saloon,” have been viewed by more than 3.5 million spectators and performed more than 5,000 times in 550 cities all over the world.

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“Animated Nights” is the theme of this year’s free summer film series sponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture.

The series runs July 6 through Aug. 24, with outdoor showings on Friday evenings at 8:30 p.m. at the Courthouse Sunken Garden and indoor screenings at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays in UCSB Campbell Hall.

The series includes critically acclaimed and beloved animated movies, ranging from Academy Award-winning favorites to newly discovered gems.

The eight animated films to be shown are the “19th Animation Show of Shows,” “The Triplets of Belleville,” “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Ratatouille,” “The Iron Giant,” “Persepolis,” and “Loving Vincent.”

For courthouse screenings, patrons are invited to bring blankets or low-backed beach chairs (seats must be no more than six inches above the ground) and picnic dinners.

The schedule of films is:

19th Animation Show of Shows; July 6 at the courthouse.

The “Animation Show of Shows” selects the best in animated short films from the world’s most renowned animation festivals.

The Triplets of Belleville; July 11 at UCSB, July 13 at the courthouse.

The film is a wildly inventive and highly original animated feature crowded with colorful characters and fantastic imagery.

Wallace and Gromit; July 18 at UCSB, July 20 at the courthouse.

The duo’s latest business venture – a pest-control outfit called Anti-Pesto – is booming when Wallace and Gromit are hired to stop a giant rabbit from destroying the town’s crops.

Fantastic Mr. Fox; July 25 at UCSB, July 27 at the courthouse

Wes Anderson’s urbane Mr. Fox cannot resist returning to his sneaky, farm-raiding old ways and plots the greatest chicken heist the animal world has ever seen.

Ratatouille; Aug. 1 at UCSB

A rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt) dreams of becoming a renowned French chef who can create and enjoy culinary masterpieces to his heart’s delight.

The Iron Giant; Aug. 8 at UCSB, Aug. 10 at the courthouse

An inquisitive young boy named Hogarth Hughes forms a powerful friendship with a gentle robot visitor from outer space.

Persepolis; Aug. 15 at UCSB, Aug. 17 at the courthouse

Based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about her life in pre and post-revolutionary Iran and then in Europe, the French-Iranian animated film traces Satrapi’s growth from a precocious and outspoken 9-year-old to a rebellious, punk-loving teenager in Iran.

Loving Vincent; Aug. 22 at UCSB, Aug. 24 at the courthouse

The world’s first fully oil-painted feature film, this biopic examines the life and controversial death of Vincent Van Gogh, told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them.

For more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805-893-3535 or go to www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.

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Legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell – who made history when he and his climbing partner ascended the Dawn Wall, the unthinkably blank 3,000-foot face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park – will discuss his unconventional rise to the top in an illustrated public lecture titled “The Push: A Climber’s Search for the Path” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at UCSB Campbell Hall.

The event is sponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures.

In his early 20s, Caldwell was held hostage by militants in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, where he nearly killed his captors in order to escape. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident. Later his wife, and main climbing partner, left him.

Emerging from these hardships with renewed determination, he set his sights on free climbing El Capitan’s biggest, steepest, blankest face – the Dawn Wall. This epic assault took more than seven years of planning and preparation, during which time Caldwell found love again, became a father and redefined the sport.

Caldwell and climbing partner Kevin Jorgeson spent 19 days living on the side of El Capitan, igniting global media frenzy and inspiring millions. The climb is also the subject of a new documentary, “The Dawn Wall,” an official selection of both the SXSW Film Festival and IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam), the world’s oldest and most prestigious documentary-only festival.

Tickets for $30 will include a copy of Caldwell’s book, while they are available. Other tickets are $20 general admission and $10 for all students.

For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805- 893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

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Wu Man and the Huayin Shadow Puppet Band will present a rare experience of traditional Chinese culture at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 8, at UCSB Campbell Hall.

Wu Man is the world’s premier master of the pipa, a lute-like instrument that has a history of more than 2,000 years in China.

A principal member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Wu Man has an adventurous spirit and virtuosity that leads to collaborations across artistic disciplines. In this joyous multimedia program, China’s Huayin Shadow Puppet Band – superstars in their home country – join her for an evening of traditional music and shadow puppetry.

Also known as the Zhang Family Band, the troupe is well-known for performances of traditional music with shadow puppetry, a practice that occurs mainly in Shaanxi Province. In addition to vocals, the main instruments are the yueqin, banhu, erhu and percussion including clappers, small gongs and cymbals around a large gong.

For tickets or more information, go to artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.

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NASA astronaut Terry Virts will give an illustrated public lecture titled “View From Above: An Astronaut Photographs the World”  – featuring stunning photographs from his 200 days aboard the International Space Station – at 7:30 p.m. Mon., Feb. 26, at UCSB Campbell Hall.

Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event, which is sponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures.

Virts found a new perspective from the International Space Station (ISS), where he installed the Cupola module, granting an unprecedented 360-degree view from the station. When he later became the commander of the ISS, he made good use of the Cupola, taking more photographs than any previous astronaut.

Many of those images were later used in the National Geographic book “View From Above” and the IMAX film “A Beautiful Planet.”

Tickets are $25 for the general public and $15 for UCSB students and youth.

For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805-893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

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An acrobatic adventure set to the music of Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and others will fill the stage when Cirque Éloize brings “Saloon” to the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7.

Eleven members of the French-Canadian cirque troupe perform jaw-dropping physical feats, including “a chase worthy of the greatest Western,” while backed by live music.

Cirque Éloize performs jaw-dropping physical feats while backed by live music.

A driving force in the circus-art reinvention movement, the Montreal-based circus troupe has been creating award-winning cirque shows for nearly 25 years and ranks among the world’s leading contemporary circuses.

“We borrow from the world of the Wild West, which we have so much in common with: a fundamental commitment to moving forward, toughness and the survival instinct, a tendency for irreverence, and a sharing sense of community,” said Jeannot Painchaud, president and artistic director of Cirque Éloize and creative director of “Saloon.”

“Saloon” mixes country music with more festive, folk-inspired compositions. There are four musicians and singers on stage, and all the artists sing or play instruments.

A trailer for the show is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXQZma-68ig.

Tickets for the show, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, are $40-$65, or $19 for students, plus a Granada facility fee.

For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at 805-893-3535 or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu, or contact The Granada Theatre at 805-899-2222 or granadasb.org.

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“I don’t believe in setting boundaries or firm expectations. Those are just limitations.”

– Kenny Broad

UCSB Arts & Lectures presents underwater cave explorer and environmental anthropologist Kenny Broad delivering a National Geographic Live multimedia presentation, The Risky Science of Exploration, on Sun., Jan. 8, at 3 p.m. at UCSB Campbell Hall.

Underwater cave explorer and environmental anthropologist Kenny Broad has participated in extreme scientific filmmaking expeditions on every continent, from chasing venomous snakes across Vietnam to plunging into ancient subaquatic caves in the Bahamas. His explorations have led to important discoveries about early human inhabitants, animals seen nowhere else on Earth and the planet’s climate history. Join Broad, a UCSB alumnus, on an adventure into some of the most dangerous and scientifically significant places on Earth as he laughs his way through tales of his triumphs, tragedies and just plain weird experiences while furthering our knowledge of the world.

In Broad’s line of work – exploring submerged caves and blue holes – one mistake can prove fatal. He and his team must take every precaution to avoid dangers like stirring up sediments that can wipe out visibility, succumbing to nausea as they pass through a toxic layer of hydrogen sulfide or getting lost in maze-like passageways with a limited supply of diving gasses.

The need to study blue holes is urgent, as they are among the least studied and most threatened habitats on Earth. More than 90 percent of the Earth’s unfrozen fresh water is in underground aquifers. These systems are a source of drinking water for locals, boast a unique biodiversity of microbial and multicellular life that shed light on evolution and perfectly preserve skeletal remains of long extinct species and indigenous people. Cave formations such as stalagmites can be used to reconstruct climate as the Earth passed in and out of the ice ages, allowing us to better judge the rates and possible impacts of modern changes in climate.

With their reversing tides, these cave systems can transition from giant rooms to narrow holes that divers must remove all of their gear in order to squeeze through.

“You can’t send a remotely operated vehicle in to explore caves because the technology simply doesn’t exist,” he says. “It’s one of the few environments left on the planet where you must physically go to learn about it.”

Broad was elected a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2006, a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009 and was selected as the 2011 National Geographic Explorer of the Year.

Broad earned his bachelor’s in literature from University of California, Santa Barbara. His interdisciplinary training includes a master’s in marine affairs and policy from the University of Miami and a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University. He is currently a professor in the University of Miami’s Division of Marine Affairs and Policy and is director of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. He is also a co-director of the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions at Columbia University.

Kenny Broad is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures.

Tickets are $25 for the general public and $15 for UCSB students and youths (18 & under) (Valid student ID required).

For tickets and more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535or visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

National Geographic Live series sponsored in part by Sheila & Michael Bonsignore.

UCSB Arts & Lectures gratefully acknowledges the generous support of SAGE for its major corporate support of the 2016-17 season.

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