Diablo Ballet Closes 23rd Season With Caniparoli, McIntyre Ballets, 5/5-6

Diablo Ballet presents the final program of its 23rd Season, Celebrated Masters, featuring three unique ballets with choreography by Val Caniparoli, Trey McIntyre and Robert Dekkers May 5 & 6 at the Del Valle Theatre in Walnut Creek.

The May program features the charming and playful duet from Gustav's Rooster by master dance maker Val Caniparoli. The ballet first premiered in 2003 with the Tulsa Ballet and was last performed by Diablo Ballet in 2011. Artistic Director, Lauren Jonas adds, "I am so thrilled that we will be reprising this wonderful work to close our 23rd Season. Val's contributions have been extremely important to Diablo Ballet since the company's inception." The ballet is set to the music of Swedish rock band Hoven Droven.

Also on the program is Trey McIntyre's exquisite The Blue Boy inspired by the famous Gainsborough painting of the same name and set to the achingly lovely second movement of Beethoven's first piano concerto. The Blue Boy premiered in July of 2007 by the Trey McIntyre Project at the White Oak Project in Florida and Diablo Ballet was honored to premiere the ballet on the West Coast in 2012.

The program closes with Magnificent Void, an original multi-disciplinary new work choreographed by Resident Choreographer, Robert Dekkers, composed by Dennis Aman, using self-built instruments, with costumes designed by Christian Squires. This new work will feature the entire company of nine dancers as well as members of the electo-acoustic chamber music ensemble The Living Earth Show (TLES). The ballet will incorporate opportunities for the musicians to move through the space, interacting with the dancers and utilizing their instruments as an integral part of the work's visual experience. Dekkers will work with Aman and the collaborating artists to further blur the lines between the dance and the music.

Celebrated Masters performs May 5 & 6 at the Del Valle Theatre, 1963 Tice Valley Blvd. in Walnut Creek. The performances are:

Friday, May 5 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, May 6 at 2:00 pm & 8:00 pm

Each performance is followed by an interactive Q&A with the dancers and choreographers and includes a complimentary dessert reception with an opportunity for audience members to get up close and personal with the artists.

Tickets are $27-47. For tickets, call 925-943-SHOW (7469) or visit www.lesherartscenter.org or www.diabloballet.org.

About Diablo Ballet

For 23 years, Diablo Ballet has been the award-winning, professional dance company for Contra Costa County. Presenting acclaimed classical and contemporary ballets, the company is committed to exposing youth to the arts through its renowned PEEK Outreach Program, which has reached over 65,000 under-served school children in Alameda and Contra Costa counties since 1995. In 2015 and again this year, Diablo Ballet was one of a handful of state-wide organizations to receive funding from the California Arts Council to bring its PEEK Extension Program to teenagers incarcerated in the Juvenile Justice system.

Diablo Ballet presents the final performance of their 23rd season featuring the charming and playful duet from Gustav's Rooster by master dance maker Val Caniparoli; the exquisite The Blue Boy, by Trey McIntyre, set to the achingly lovely second movement of Beethoven's first piano concerto; and a highly anticipated new work, Magnificent Void, choreographed by Robert Dekkers and set to live music. Each performance is followed by an interactive Q&A with the dancers and choreographers and includes a complimentary dessert reception with an opportunity for audience members to get up close and personal with the artists.

Show Information:

WHAT: Diablo Ballet presents "Celebrated Masters"

WHEN: 8 p.m. -May 5 and 6 and 2 p.m. - May 6

WHERE: Del Valle Theatre, 1963 Tice Valley Blvd., Walnut Creek

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour with no intermission

TICKETS: $27-$47 (925) 943-7469; www.lesherartscenter.org, www.diabloballet.org

Photo by: Aris Bernales

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