About Santa Cruz Dance
VISION/MISSION | STAFF | SCD ADVISORY BOARD
Abra Allan
Founder/Director
Dance has been a part of Abra Allan’s life since about the time she learned to walk. She comes from a family of musicians with a deep love of music and performance.
Abra earned a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies at UCSC with an emphasis on Non Profit Administration, and has worked professionally as a Community Organizer, Production Manager and consultant to many Arts organizations.
In 2008 Abra founded Santa Cruz Dance which presents National Dance Week Santa Cruz, a community-wide celebration that has grown to be one of Santa Cruz’ most looked forward to events. The following year, Abra added the Santa Cruz Ethnic Dance Festival to the annual calendar and began presenting Dance performances featuring local Dance companies as well as artists from the Bay Area.
Abra has quickly gained a reputation for her integrity, vision, and keen business sense all of which she has utilized to elevate Motion Pacific to achieve new levels of success.
Abra is a member of the Cultural Council Associates and has recently been appointed to serve on the Santa Cruz City Arts Commission.
Hana Campbell-Cyr
Project Manager
Since childhood, Hana has loved to dance. However, it has been in the last ten years that her true love for this art has fully emerged. Sparked by her passion for travel, culture, and language, she was mesmerized by the art at the age of sixteen, when she traveled to Costa Rica and experienced Salsa dancing for the first time.
After having spent a month in Ghana studying West African Dance, she participated in a Language & Culture Program in Bahia, Brazil through the University of California Santa Cruz, where she immersed herself in the study of various forms of Brazilian dance.
Her involvement with the dance community has continued to blossom in the last several years, having performed in the first National Dance Week Santa Cruz produced by Santa Cruz Dance. While completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Community Studies, she participated in a nine-month internship with the organization and has continued to work with them even since.
Through this work, Hana continues to be inspired by the diversity and creativity manifested through dance. She also explores her fascination with movement, form and music through other mediums of art, particularly photography. These other modes of expression have offered Hana the opportunity to capture the complexity and beauty of both dance and the visual arts. Having experienced the joy and balance dance has brought to her own life, Hana strives to bring it into the lives of others.