From classic ballets to fresh new works, the diversity of Oakland Ballet’s 2003/2004 season takes center stage priority for Artistic Director Karen Brown, a former principal ballerina with Dance Theatre of Harlem and the first African-American woman in the nation to head a ballet company.

Founded in 1965, Oakland’s oldest performing arts organization continues to serve audiences in the greater Bay Area and nationally and internationally through touring. The Oakland Ballet is widely recognized for its meticulous recreation of significant ballets from the era of Serge Diaghilev’s legendary Russes de Monte Carlo. The Ballet also has several masterworks of famed choreographer Bronislava Nijinska in its repertoire; the company premiered American performances of Les Noces in 1981 and, in 1995, Boléro. As an American company, Oakland Ballet has pioneered such masterpieces as Eugene Loring’s Billy the Kid, José Limón’s The Moor Pavane, and Agnes De Mille’s Fall River Legend, all of which are in the repertoire.

Highlights of the company’s 38th anniversary season include a World Premiere ballet by Michael Lowe, and Company Premieres by such choreographers as Amy Seiwert, Robert Garland, Gloria Contreras and Robert Moses. The season will also include ballets by George Balanchine, Francesca Harper, Dwight Rhoden, Margaret Jenkins and Robert Henry Johnson. In addition to presenting three mixed repertory programs, Oakland Ballet will present Carlos Carvajal’s full-length ballet Crystal Slipper, based on the popular Cinderella fairy tale, and Ronn Guidi’s cherished holiday production, Nutcracker.

[Oakland Ballet website]