Ballet San Jose

Ballet San Jose in San Jose, California, USA, was founded in 1986 as the "San Jose Cleveland Ballet," a co-venture with the ten-year old Cleveland Ballet which offered to the dancers added performing exposure, and each city a ballet company for a moderate, shared investment. In 2000, the Cleveland Ballet ceased operations, and over half the dancers, the headquarters, and artistic director/choreographer Dennis Nahat moved to San Jose to continue operations there. The company was originally known as Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, but in July 2006 shortened its name to simply Ballet San Jose.

As of 2007^[update], there is a resident company of 44 dancers from 14 countries in four continents, with a repertoire of over 120 traditional and modern classical ballets. Performances at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts are accompanied by the Symphony Silicon Valley. The Ballet is now a 'fully owned' resident company serving all of Silicon Valley.

The company's mission is to provide the San Francisco Bay Area with theatrically produced ballet and professional dance education in a manner that honors the vision of the artists, meets the highest technical and artistic standards, contributes to the fulfillment of the cultural needs of the community, and is accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley has developed a repertoire of over 120 traditional and modern classical ballets. The Company includes dancers from Argentina, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the United States. The repertoire includes ballets by Balanchine, Bournonville, de Mille, and many others, in addition to Nahat's many ballets created especially for the company. The company performs classic ballets such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, as well as more modern ballets such as Blue Suede Shoes, based on Elvis Presley's songs.

In 2008, the Company performed an 8-city tour of China. Called the "Goodwill Tour From Silicon Valley," it represented the first international tour of the Company since its move from Cleveland.^[1]

Company

The 2009-2010 company of Ballet San Jose^[2]

Principals

Maximo Califano Karen Gabay

Maria Jacobs-Yu Alexsandra Meijer

Ramon Moreno Maykel Solas

Soloists

Heather Aagard Willie Anderson

Hao Bo Rudy Candia Tiffany Glenn

Daniel Gwatkin Peter Hershey Jeremy Kovitch

Beth Ann Namey Mirai Noda Anton Pankevitch

Corps de ballet

Shannon Bynum Shuai Chen Damir Emric Junna Ige

Shaina Leibson Harriet McMeekin Brieanna Olson Kaleena Opdyke Seth Parker

Robert Raney Keira Schwartz Cynthia Sheppard Sarah Stein

Akira Takahashi Mallory Welsh Jing Zhang

Apprentices

Simon Ito

Francisco Preciado

Cameron Schwanz

Lahna Vanderbush

Education

Today, over 485 students study at the Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley School. [1] The Ballet School's free Education Outreach programs are dedicated to serving young audiences and at-risk children in the San Jose region.

References

1. ^ Goodwill Tour From Silicon Valley, Ballet San Jose press release, February 20, 2008
2. ^ "2009-2010 Company". Ballet San Jose. http://www.balletsj.org/dancers/group.html. Retrieved 6 May 2010. 

External links

• Official website
  • Website archives
• Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley Mission and Background, Ballet San Jose, September 25, 2000
• private Boeing 747SP used for Ballet San Jose group tours beginning in 2007
  • history of Boeing 747SP airframe 21992 observed displaying Ballet San Jose livery
  • JetPhotos.net image of Ballet San Jose Boeing 747SP - December 2007 at San Jose International Airport (as N747FU) after Cleveland tour
  • Airliners.net image of Ballet San Jose Boeing 747SP - June 2008 at San Jose International Airport (re-registered as N747A) after China tour