COMMITTED TO TRADITION DARING TO BE DIFFERENT

Diablo Ballet, Committed to Tradition, Daring to be Different, is an ensemble of world-class dance artists that produces bold, original choreography, superb classics, and brilliant, often rare, works by great choreographers. In addition, the Company tours throughout California and the Western States and presents performances at Zellerbach Hall, University of California at Berkeley, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and several major performance venues in the greater Bay Area.

Diablo Ballet was founded in August 1993 in an effort to address the absence of a professional ballet company in the region. The Company now comprises of eleven principal dancers from around the world, who have danced with such esteemed companies as the Kirov Ballet, the Hannover Ballet in Germany, the National Ballet of Singapore, the Universal Ballet of Korea, the Bavarian National Ballet, the New York City Ballet, Ballet West and the Cincinnati and Houston Ballets.

Diablo Ballet offers exciting and innovative dance performances, educational and outreach projects, and productions on tour. The Company has achieved remarkable artistic success in just a few years of performance history, capturing enthusiastic public response, substantial critical acclaim, and international recognition. The freshness and vitality of the superb dancers and choreographers coupled with the highest degree of technical excellence and a dynamic, original repertoire continue to captivate audiences of all ages.

Diablo Ballet is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of our community and region and to ensuring that the art of dance survives and thrives for current and future generations. The Company 's Touring Program has received recognition throughout the west and is listed in the prestigious California State Arts Council Touring Roster. Supporting the belief that the arts inspire, engage and motivate young people, the Company seeks to provide programs and performances designed to enrich the cultural development of children. Diablo Ballet is dedicated to educating young people about ballet and the performing arts through its Dance Development Project. From its inception, Diablo Ballet has actively sought to expose schoolchildren from a wide variety of social and economic backgrounds to ballet in several ways.

I. Dance-in-the-Schools
presents interactive ballet programs to schools throughout Contra Costa County. The program consists of exciting one-hour lecture/ demonstrations presented with piano accompaniment during which the history of ballet is discussed and basics in movement and choreography are demonstrated. The presentation also enables the students to participate in a collaborative process by creating a short ballet.
II. Theatre Encounter
brings children into the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, once annually for a one-hour lecture/demonstration (presented on two mornings). The program, which is performed with stage lighting and piano accompaniment, offers young people a true theatre experience, which in turn prepares them to become the audience of the future.

III. Adopt-a-Class
a comprehensive arts education program which reaches out to two schools in the region for an on-going project that brings members of Diablo Ballet to the school once a month over the course of the entire school year. Generously underwritten by the California Arts Council and the Pavilion Associates, plans to expand the project to reach up to ten schools per year are underway.