Diablo Ballet’s new ballroom dance classic

Once Upon a Ballroom premieres this weekend

Ballet companies may win fans and critical acclaim for presenting short, one-act-play-like dance pieces, but they truly earn their professional cred when they mount a Swan Lake or Giselle—the equivalent of a three-act play. Aiming higher than ever before, Diablo Ballet is presenting its first ever feature-length ballet this Friday and Saturday night at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek.

However, true to its mission to create bold, original dance works, Diablo Ballet isn’t reviving a classic. Rather, the 15-year-old company will premiere a totally new work, Once Upon a Ballroom, devised by its coartistic director Nikolai Kabaniaev. This production takes audiences to the ball with music inspired by opera’s most lush arias and duets. It tells the story of Dalila, a beautiful young woman who is being fitted for a gown that she will wear to a society affair. Before she knows it, the music swells up and she is transported into a dreamland of dancing mannequins, sensual pas de deux, and unleashed desires. Kabaniaev’s choreography, showcased by lavish sets and costumes, combines grand classicism and playful modernity.

Tickets: $46
When: Friday, March 21, and Saturday, March 22
8 p.m.
Where:
Lesher Center for the Arts
1601 Civic Drive,
Walnut Creek,
For information:
(925) 943-7469
www.lesherartscenter.org and www.diabloballet.org

Posted at 03:35 PM in Best Of Editor Picks | Permalink