The Classical Girl

Diablo Ballet’s “Celebrated Masters”

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The dazzling world of the imagination; an exploration of the mythic through movement; Shakespearean drama lushly interpreted – these are the worlds revealed in “Celebrated Masters,” Diablo Ballet’s final program in their 22nd season. Saturday afternoon’s performance at Walnut Creek’s Del Valle Theatre reminds me how worth the effort it is to catch one of … Read more

The men in ballet take center stage

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I’m turning the mic this week over to Grier Cooper, fellow author, dance blogger and former dancer. She’s the author of the Indigo Ballet Series, ballet novels for young adults, and today is pub day for Book 2, HOPE. Congratulations, Grier! It’s a wonderful book that I just tore through, and even though it’s categorized as young … Read more

SFB’s 2016 Program 6 and 7

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Breaking news on May 23, 2016: Promotions announced! See addendum (and my own personal promotion wish list) below! How quickly the time flies, over at the San Francisco Ballet, at least when you’re sitting in the audience, savoring the programs as they roll onto the War Memorial Opera House stage, entertain, enlighten, and roll right … Read more

Elgar, Enigma and Easter

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While my first choice for classical music on Easter will always be Handel’s Messiah, which I elaborated on HERE last year, there are a few other wondrous, utterly memorable pieces that conjure up the same rush of powerful spirituality, a sense of Easter Sunday grandeur. There’s the Gustav Holst choral piece I’ve sung in choirs, a gorgeous SATB arrangement of … Read more

San Francisco Ballet’s Swan Lake

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San Francisco Ballet patrons love their story ballets, and the most beloved is surely Swan Lake. Whether it’s because of, or in spite of the 2010 film, Black Swan, seeing this ballet at least once seems to be on everyone’s bucket list. Next to Nutcracker, this is what draws the non-ballet-goer to the ballet. Artistic … Read more