Photo by Ashraf
Diablo Ballet 20th Anniversary Celebration:
Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Dr, Walnut Creek
Thursday, March 6th, 2014
6:30pm | $52On March 6, 2014, Diablo Ballet will celebrate its 20th Anniversary with a special performance at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Featuring stunning works from the Ballet’s 20-year history, the celebration includes the Company premiere of Eugene Loring’s masterpiece, Sweetheart Pas de Deux from Billy the Kid, staged by Patrice Whiteside, who is the Artistic Executor of the Eugene Loring Estate.
A former dancer with the Oakland Ballet, Whiteside has staged Loring ballets for American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Ballet West, and Maggio Danza in Florence, Italy. Whiteside is also the founding director of the Dance Medicine Division of the Center for Sports Medicine at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. Also on the program is Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellias Act 1 Pas de Deux and George Balanchine’s Who Cares? A special addition to the evening is a new work by acclaimed company dancer/Resident Choreographer Robert Dekkers, set to an original commissioned score by the celebrated Samuel Carl Adams, son of renowned composer John Adams. This premiere was made possible by an East Bay Community Foundation’s Fund for Artists Grant. A film retrospective will be an integral part of the performance, featuring surprises by alumni dancers. A Gala reception will follow the performance, including a sumptuous dinner with the dancers at Scott’s Garden, walking distance from the Lesher Center. This special evening will also be part of the City of Walnut Creek’s 100th Anniversary commemoration. “I’m so incredibly thrilled to be celebrating Diablo Ballet’s 20th Season. Not only am I proud of the Ballet’s accomplishments but I am honored as a woman to have co-founded a ballet company that is still here today,”says Lauren Jonas, Artistic Director/Co-Founder of Diablo Ballet. The Company’s inaugural performance was presented on March 10, 1994 at the Lesher Center for the Arts.