The dance company uses a multidisciplinary approach to highlight local culture and share contemporary performances with a broad audience
Tampa City Ballet (TCB) isn't your everyday ballet company. Its collaborative, contemporary approach to production, as well as focus on community engagement, sets it apart by leaps and bounds.
As the seven-year-old nonprofit organization grows, it's making a name for itself through exciting, creative performances and an innovative approach to reaching audiences.
Celebrating local history
TCB isn't just based in Hillsborough County, it's ABOUT Hillsborough County. The company takes a contemporary approach to choreography and production by telling hyperlocal stories through dance.
The 2025 season features a series of performances that tell the story of Ybor City's immigrant history, specifically around its early cigar industry. Prior seasons focused on Ybor's bolita rackets and the community's experience during the Spanish flu.
Before music is chosen and choreography is hashed out, dancers research local history and sometimes even talk with the area's longtime residents. This inspired approach fosters a stronger connection between the artists and their work. It also helps local audiences relate to the themes in performances, as they are based on some of their own culture and heritage.
Meeting audiences where they're at
If history doesn't draw in audiences, TCB's unique multidisciplinary approach offers something for almost every type of art enthusiast. The La Septima Society performance series features more than contemporary ballet. The work incorporates an actor, opera singer, and a digital projected backdrop showcasing Ybor history. Integrating different types of art not only helps tell the story behind the dance but also appeals to fans of diverse artforms.
Because not everyone can make it to theatres to catch performances, TCB makes great efforts to meet audiences where they're at. This means sometimes performing in parking lots, along Ybor's 7th Avenue, and in other public spaces.
TCB's Founder and Artistic Director Paula Nuñez believes that doing so goes beyond creating new audiences. TCB's outreach efforts invite the community to enjoy and participate in the joy of dance.
To reach viewers that can't make it to live performances, TCB also collaborates with other arts organizations and individual artists to create and support dance-based films. The 2025 Gasparilla International Film Festival featured a film in which TCB dancers performed. The festival also hosted a live performance by a TCB's dance troupe prior to the film's screening.
Arts Council of Hillsborough County grant recipient
TCB received a Special Event Partnership Grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County.
Nuñez credits the grant with helping TCB grow, in addition to helping the nonprofit share the beauty and humanity of art to a wider audience. To her, this is crucial to a community's health. "A city without the arts is empty," observes Nuñez.
For information about grant funding, visit the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and sign up to receive the Arts Council monthly e-newsletter. To learn more and see first-hand the works of past Arts Council grant recipients, view the Art813 series on YouTube.
La Septima at New Tampa Performing Arts Center
La Septima has been performed at various locations in 2025, and can be seen in October at Hillsborough County's new 20,000-square-foot venue, New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC). For more information about NTPAC and upcoming events, visit NewTampaArtsCenter.org or email InfoNTPAC@HCFL.Gov.