Musings on ballet, classical music, the violin, and life
Diablo Ballet has done it again, and the company has never looked better. Wait. Didn’t I say that last year? But it’s true—last Thursday’s anniversary gala performance seemed to be presenting Diablo Ballet at its strongest, its most versatile. The roster currently features ten dancers; in past years it’s been nine, and the addition of … Read more
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
I’ll say this: Diablo Ballet knows how to entice. And their enthusiasm is infectious. As I parked my car and headed toward Walnut Creek’s Del Valle Theatre last Saturday afternoon, I couldn’t help but enjoy the cheerful anticipation of others descending from their own cars, walking briskly toward the entrance, decked out in various levels … Read more
Confession time: I didn’t know about the Smuin Ballet until just a few years ago. I knew Michael Smuin’s name from San Francisco Ballet lore, where he’d been a principal dancer, a choreographer, a co-director from 1973 until Helgi Tomasson’s arrival in July 1985. Smuin founded his own company nine years later, by which … Read more