Diablo Ballet's Celebrates 24th Anniversary With One Night Only Performance

Diablo Ballet celebrates its 24th Anniversary with a special one-night only performance on March 22, 6:30pm at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The program will feature selections from Swan Lake along with new ballets, company favorites and the World Premiere short film celebrating Diablo Ballet's Anniversary. "I am so very proud to be celebrating this special anniversary performance with the community and patrons that have kept us on our toes for the last 24 years," states Artistic Director, Lauren Jonas.

This celebratory third program from the company's 2017-18 Season will feature selections from Swan Lake including the BLACK SWAN Pas de Deux, White Swan Pas de Deux, Coda and Variations. Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1895, this classic ballet will be staged by the Company's Regisseur, Joanna Berman. The poetry of this timeless ballet and majestic score by Tchaikovsky will showcase the Diablo Ballet dancer's stamina and training.

The program also features the World Premiere of a short film, Spiritus, by award-winning filmmaker, Walter Yamazaki with a commissioned score by Justin Levitt. The duo, who just won multiple awards including the U.S. Hollywood International Golden Film Award for Excellence in Music, for the film, Libera, which was created for Diablo Ballet's 23rd Anniversary last year. Spiritus, marks Yamazaki and Levitt's fourth collaboration for Diablo Ballet.

Also featured as part of this Anniversary performance is former Royal Winnipeg Ballet choreographer, Salvador Aiello's, heartbreaking Solas. Diablo Ballet premiered this solo in May 1998 and was danced by Artistic Director, Lauren Jonas, depicts the agony of a woman mourning the loss of a loved one. The ballet was originally created on Marina Eglevsky, who will stage it for Diablo Ballet. The music which will be performed live, was originally composed by Heitor Villa-Lobos, who is considered by many as the "single most significant creative figure in 20th century Brazillian art music."

A Diablo Ballet premiere, Sixes and Seven, the critically-acclaimed solo by Robert Dekkers, won the 2012 Director's Choice Award at sjDANCEco's 10th Annual ChoreoProject showcase at San Jose State University, was also performed by Dekkers at the United Nations Plaza in San Francisco as part of the San Francisco Arts Commission's Artery Project. A review in Seattle Dances states that the choreography, "...showed a tension between gorgeous fluidity and sharp, detailed quirks."

Also included on the program are two encore performances of company favorites, Sonya Delwaide's Trait d'union and Trey McIntyre's, The Blue Boy. Award-winning Canadian choreographer, Delwaide, premiered this ballet in early 2017 to glowing reviews. This haunting work that centers on three dancers explores the question, "Why do differences have so much more power than our similarities?" The music Élégie by Gabriel Fauré, will be performed live. Trey McIntyre's exquisite The Blue Boy inspired by the famous Gainsborough painting of the same name, is set to the achingly lovely second movement of Beethoven's first piano concerto. The ballet premiered in July 2007 by the Trey McIntyre Project at the White Oak Project in Florida and Diablo Ballet premiered the ballet on the West Coast in 2013.

Tickets are $25-59. For tickets, call 925-943-SHOW (7469) or visit www.lesherartscenter.org or www.diabloballet.org.

Diablo Ballet's 24th Anniversary Performance is a special one-night only performance, March 22nd at 6:30pm.

Immediately following the performance will be a Gala reception, complete with wine tasting, dinner with the dancers, and an outstanding silent auction at Scott's Garden, walking distance from the Lesher Center. Tickets to the Gala will be sold separately and will benefit Diablo Ballet's PEEK Outreach programs. For tickets to the Gala, visit www.diabloballet.org or call (925) 943-1775.

For 24 years, 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 Program, which has reached over 68,000 under-served school children in Alameda and Contra Costa counties since 1995. In addition, Diablo Ballet has served at-risk teenage girls incarcerated within the Juvenile Justice system since 2015.

On March 22, 2018 Diablo Ballet celebrates its anniversary with a one-night only special 24th Anniversary Performance at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The program will feature selections from Swan Lake by Marius Petipa, staged by the Company's Regisseur Joanna Berman. The celebration continues with the dramatic Solas by Salvadore Aiello, with music by Heitor Villa-Lobos, who is considered "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music." A World Premiere of a new film, Spiritus, by Walter Yamazaki in collaboration with composer Justin Levitt, is followed by an encore performances of Trait d'union by Sonya Delwaide, The Blue Boy by Trey McIntyre and Sixes and Seven by Robert Dekkers. Following the performance will be a Gala reception, wine tasting and a delicious dinner with the dancers at Scott's Garden, walking distance from the Lesher Center. Please visit: www.diabloballet.org for information on the gala.

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