Q & A with author Terez Mertes Rose

I had the opportunity to sit and talk face-to-face with author Terez Mertes Rose the other day (okay so it was a mirror), about her recently released novel, Ballet Orphans, a prequel and Book 3 of the Ballet Theatre Chronicles series. Here’s what she had to say…. What was the most challenging thing about writing … Read more

Diablo Ballet shines in a virtual “Balanchine & Beyond”

Amid the dreariness of an ongoing pandemic, Diablo Ballet shines in the second program of their 27th season, featuring Balanchine’s Who Cares?,  Penny Saunders’ Berceuse, the world premiere of Two One Self, co-choreographed by Derion Loman and Michael Wells, and the Act III Wedding Scene from The Sleeping Beauty. The virtual performance, filmed in Diablo … Read more

Diablo Ballet celebrates 25 years with Adam’s “Once Upon a Time”

Diablo Ballet turns 25 this season, and that’s something worth celebrating. And celebrate, they did, with a world premiere of a full-length ballet, Once Upon a Time, on March 22 and 23 at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts. Choreographer Julia Adam has woven a host of fairytale characters—Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and her stepsisters, Alice in … Read more

Diablo Ballet Celebrates 23 Years

It was an evening of celebration and great dance as Diablo Ballet fêted its 23rd anniversary Thursday night at Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts. Adhering to Artistic Director Lauren Jonas’ mission to offer diverse and relevant works that inspire and engage, the company presented Sally Streets’ 1994 Three to Tango, excerpts from Petipa’s … Read more

New to 2017: Classical Girl Giving

“Help save the world” sounds like a rather ambitious 2017 New Year’s resolution, so I won’t call it that. But there is this new thing rising in me that I feel compelled to share. (Editor’s note in 2018: that new thing rising produced THIS.) It all started last spring. With my son turning seventeen, and … Read more