Photo by John Gerbetz	“Each performance is new; each ballet is new every time we perform. No two days are the same, no two dancers are the same, and no two audiences are the same. To bring dance to our community is a process of discovery, an excursion into new territory at every step.  Ballet San Jose's core programs have evolved over the past 20+ years reaching out into the community attracting children, youth, adults and seniors across all cultures and socio-economic levels.  Our superb dancers perform at the highest level of artistic standard and many have come from all over the world to be part of our preeminent troupe.  In 2005-06 the Ballet employed over 30 professional dancers representing twelve countries, ten of which are "home-bred" in California.  This diversity mirrors our community of multi-ethnicity, speaking across culture lines and transcending language through the art of dance.  Beyond the stage at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, the dancers of Ballet San Jose connect to our community through home-based Ballet San Jose School, San Jose's neighborhoods, schools and many other locations throughout the Bay Area.  The Company also involves itself through educational and community outreach programs with over 7,000 students attending our free matinee performances yearly. The challenge is exciting and Ballet San Jose, now in it's sixth year as one of this country's newest major professional ballet company's, is poised to meet that challenge." Dennis Nahat, Artistic / Executive Director

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MISSION STATEMENT
Ballet San Jose's mission is to provide the South Bay 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. The Ballet School's free Education Outreach programs are dedicated to serving young audiences and at-risk children in our region.

HISTORY
In 1983, a group of 18 local community leaders and citizens formed a committee to identify a nationally-ranked, artistically mature ballet company that the South Bay could adopt as its own. After a two-year search, the group offered a partnership to Cleveland Ballet, then ten years old and known internationally for its combination of strong classical training and theatricality. Cleveland Ballet founder and artistic director Dennis Nahat further refined the vision of two communities sharing a single artistic resource. San Jose Cleveland Ballet was founded as a co-venture in 1986, offering to the dancers added performing exposure and to each community a great company for a moderate, shared investment.
During the years of the co-venture the Company expanded artistically and became recognized as one of California's most innovative ballet companies and one of the top 6 ballet company's in the country. When the Cleveland partner ceased operations in fall 2000, the San Jose partner decided to preserve the Company, with its outstanding artistic heritage, by moving its headquarters to San Jose. With a tremendous outpouring of community, foundation, and business support, Ballet San Jose was born.
The Ballet is now a 'fully-owned' resident company serving all of Silicon Valley. The San Francisco Chronicle has called the Company's rebirth "a major victory for American culture"; while the Examiner commented: "This may also be the artistic organization that finally mobilizes the elusive community spirit in dot-com land...into a legacy for the future." Click here for prior years' performance information.

ARTISTIC VISION
One of the few contemporary ballet directors who choreographs a significant body of work for his own company, Dennis Nahat guides the company and ballet school. A Broadway performer and choreographer, City Center Joffrey Ballet dancer and principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, Mr. Nahat has built a "dancer’s company" that attracts first-rate performers from around the world. Mr. Nahat says, "I create ballets for my dancers to bring out the best in them and to expand in them what they do not know they possess. We pride ourselves in having a company of great diversity that is uniquely unified by a common artistic vision. Daily training brings the performers together in the language they all know best, dance."

THE COMPANY
Ballet San Jose has become known as one of this countries most innovative, "classically-based" ballet companies with a resident company of 33 dancers, and a repertoire of over 120 traditional and modern classical ballets.

The diversity of Silicon Valley is mirrored in the faces of our dancers; the Company includes dancers from Argentina, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany Japan, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the United States. The acclaimed talent of these cultural athletes is showcased by the variety of programs in which they perform. Our repertoire includes ballets by Balanchine, Bournonville, de Mille, Flindt, Gray, Horvath, Lubovitch, Martins, Massine, McKayle, Petit, Smuin, Tudor and Jooss, in addition to Nahat's many ballets created especially for the company.

Additions to the repertory include CARMINA BURANA, which sold out before it opened and received standing ovations; BLUE SUEDE SHOES, which enjoyed rave reviews, played to sold-out houses in five cities, and won two Emmy nominations; and Roland Petit's CARMEN, hailed by the San Jose Mercury News as a "dose of dazzle and brilliance for a company on the move", and has been hailed as one of the finest of the few productions in the world.  In the short four-year history as one of the country's major ballet companies, Ballet San Jose  offers original classic's  such as A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, SWAN LAKE, COPPÉLIA and ROMEO AND JULIET and THE NUTCRACKER.  In its' history, performances by ballet luminaries Cynthia Gregory, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the late Rudolph Nuryev have been given with the company.  Today, over 485 students enjoy studies at Ballet San Jose SCHOOL.

COMPANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- This year the California Arts Council awarded the Ballet its second consecutive biennial rating of 4.0 – a perfect score -- received by only two of 70 applicants in dance from throughout California, and given for artistic excellence and organizational skills.

- Artistic Director Dennis Nahat is invited throughout the world to set his ballets, teach and judge -- most recently in Nagoya, Japan; Copenhagen, Denmark; and as Artistic Director for the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in New York. In 2004 Mr. Nahat has accepted the position of Artistic / Executive Director.  

- The Company is made up of 30 dancers from 12 countries: Argentina, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Venezuela, Vietnam, and the United States. Performances are accompanied by the new Symphony Silicon Valley.

- The Ballet studios, shared by the School and the Company, are located in a historic building in downtown San Jose. Sets and costumes for the over 120-plus productions in our repertory are stored in a 27,000 square foot warehouse.

- Ballet San Jose performs to over 60,000 theater attendees annually including 4,500 children in free performances including School classes and outreach programs. Our NUTCRACKER production celebrates it's 25th Anniversary in 2004.  Attendance alone doubled in 2000-01 and over 950,000 people have attended the Ballet's productions since the first performance of Nutcracker in San Jose in 1986.

- The 2001-02 season featured a major North American premiere – Flemming Flindt's RED SHOES or LEGS OF FIRE and in 2004 Flindt's OUT OF AFRICA was premiered and will be joined by the popular BLUE SUEDE SHOES, Roland Petit's acclaimed CARMEN, and seven other works.  In 2005, the world premiere of the new full-length MIDDLE KINGDOM - ANCIENT CHINA is created in collaboration with the Chinese Performing Artists of America in San Jose.

- Reviews of the company are glowing. RED SHOES was called "a rare full-length narrative that audiences will pawn their mother's silver to attend", and THE NUTCRACKER was once again praised as "a gift to the entire Bay Area."

- The Ballet School has enrolled 450 students this year, one third of them in the School's Professional Division. More than 130 of the students perform with the professional dancers in THE NUTCRACKER, as well as COPPÉLIA, RED SHOES, OUT OF AFRICA, STRAVINSKY PIANO PIECES and more. The School has awarded over $150,000 in tuition assistance to date.

- 7,000 children will participate this year in the Ballet's free outreach programs, including fully staged performances, introductory dance classes in the School, and special scholarship courses that include tuition, uniforms and transportation.

- Over 1,200 individuals, corporations and foundations are part of Ballet San Jose's donor family. 63% of the Ballet's subscribers donate to the Company.

BALLET SAN JOSE SCHOOL
Ms. Lise la Cour, School Director, joined Ballet San Jose School in 2002 and has brought the level of the school to new heights.  The School is the only professional ballet school in Silicon Valley associated with a major ballet company.  As Artistic Director of the School, Dennis Nahat, along with la Cour, brings the same artistic excellence and vision to the School that he insists on for the Company. He states: "Our vision for our School is:

- to provide the highest quality training with international standards in classical ballet and related dance forms

- to serve as a resource for the development of professional dancers for Ballet San Jose and the dance community worldwide

- to provide a performing outlet for our students

- to provide an educational environment that cultivates related theatrical art forms

- to build character in students in an environment that respects the physical and psychological health of every participant."

School Director and principal teacher Lise la Cour has revised the curriculum to prepare students for professional careers in dance and to nurture those who are studying simply for personal enjoyment. Of her teaching philosophy, she comments: "It is about more than producing a professional level dancer, although that is one of our purposes. It is about building a community of people who appreciate and have a love and commitment to this art form because of how it has enriched their lives."

The Ballet School stresses discipline and rigorous training at every level, while fostering a sense of mastery and accomplishment in its students. Many have the opportunity to perform with the professional Company in many productions and can learn and see first hand by watching the Company in daily rehearsal on and off the stage. Currently the School enrolls over 450 students, with a staff of a dozen acclaimed teachers and accompanists, augmented regularly by members of the professional company.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS
STUDENT MATINEES FREE-OF-CHARGE
Student Matinee performances are fully-staged, professional productions, complete with sets and costumes – a real treat for the more than 2,500 students attending each show, many of whom have never experienced a live theater performance. Docents visit each attending classroom before the matinee to prepare the students for their upcoming experience. Teaching materials, designed for the children to take home, are provided in three languages.

BALLET CLASS FREE-OF-CHARGE
Ballet Class gives students of all ages the opportunity to visit the Ballet School for an interactive ballet class, accompanied by a pianist. The Class is taught by a member of the regular School faculty who helps the visitors understand and experience the components of dance, from mime to musicality to foot positions. Ballet School students demonstrate steps and engage the young visitors with skilled and talented children their own age.

THE NEXT STEP FREE-OF-CHARGE
The Next Step invites children who have participated in Ballet Class to take18 weeks (one semester) of introductory ballet classes at no charge. Leotards, shoes, tights, and transportation vouchers are all provided to help make ballet training accessible to all our community's children. These children can then be integrated into the mainstream classes with ongoing scholarship assistance if needed. Eight students from last spring's 21-student pilot class have already enrolled this fall with tuition assistance.

BALLET SAN JOSE COUNCIL
The Ballet San Jose Council was founded in 1985 as the Ballet's volunteer support group. The Council's mission is to ensure the continued vitality of Ballet San Jose by cultivating community interest in dance as a cultural resource, promoting dance education, and providing fund raising support. With over 100 volunteer members, the Ballet Council operates the Ballet Boutique at the theater and produces the annual Ballet Gala, next scheduled for March, 2005. The Council has raised over $2.4 million for the Ballet since its creation.