Diablo Ballet Presents One Night Only 28th Anniversary Performance April 7

Diablo Ballet will celebrate its 28th Anniversary with a one-night only performance at the Lesher Center for the Arts. Featured on the program is the company premiere of Penny Saunders' Sur le Fil which premiered with Tulsa Ballet 2 in 2018.

The ballet was inspired by Saunders' thoughts around the mischievousness nature of life, and the common reality we share of having personal secrets that we would prefer kept in the dark. Diablo Ballet will also premiere the sweeping contemporary ballet Orange set to music by Antonio Vivaldi and choreographed by Stanton Welch, the Artistic Director at Houston Ballet. Orange, made its debut in 2001 by Ballet NY at the Joyce Theatre in New York and is part of Welch's color series of Ballets: Indigo, Blue, Green, and Orange. "I'm so excited to present Diablo Ballet premieres from Houston Ballet's Artistic Director Stanton Welch and one of the most dynamic choreographers today, Penny Saunders", stated Artistic Director of Diablo Ballet, Lauren Jonas.

Also part of the program, Diablo Ballet School's trainees and the school's highest training level will performing "Waltz of the Hours" from Coppelia showcasing the strength of the school which was founded in 2019-the first ballet school in Contra Costa County operated by a professional ballet company. Company dancer and choreographer Michael Wells creates a new work, titled Happy, You're Happy, especially for this special occasion; a solo for company dancer Jackie McConnell set to Frederic Chopin's Nocturne Op. 55: No. 1 in F Minor. Finishing the program will be an encore presentation of the spectacular Flames of Paris staged by Lauren Jonas featuring the entire company. The ballet is set to music by Boris Asafyev and based on songs of the French Revolution, originally premiered at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad in 1932 and later premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet 1933.

Immediately following the performance, the night continues at Diablo Ballet's 28th Anniversary Celebration which includes small bites, wine and a champagne toast with the dancers in Grower's Square across the street from the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. For tickets to the after performance celebration, call (925) 943-1775, but please note tickets are limited.

Diablo Ballet's 28th Anniversary Performace performs a one-night only on April 7, 2022 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive in Walnut Creek. Single tickets are on sale now ($25 - $52) with senior and youth pricing available. Get your tickets now and take advantage of early bird pricing through March 16. Diablo Ballet will also present a virtual option, which will be a recording of the live performance, streaming April 15 - 24, 2022 and available for viewing at any time during this timeframe. Virtual tickets are on sale now through March 16, for the early bird price of $32 per household.

On March 17, the price will increase to $37 per household. For in theatre or virtual tickets, call 925-943-SHOW (7469) or visit www.lesherartscenter.org or www.diabloballet.org. For a link to the Lesher Center for the Arts safety protocols that are currently in place, please visit: www.lesherartscenter.org.

Since 1994, Diablo Ballet has been the award-winning, professional dance company for Contra Costa County. Presenting acclaimed classical and contemporary ballets, the company is committed to exposing youth to the arts through its renowned PEEK Outreach Programs which has reached over 70,000 underserved school children in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties since 1995. Also, Diablo Ballet has served hundreds of at-risk teenage girls and boys incarcerated within the Juvenile Justice system since 2015, and in 2019, the company began working with teenagers housed at the Behavioral Health Unit at John Muir Hospital, Concord. In August 2019, Diablo Ballet opened the first Ballet School in Contra Costa County run by a professional ballet company, located in Pleasant Hill.