If there is a company character to Diablo Ballet, it is the compact swiftness and the gusto with which they attack the stage. There were a few new faces on the roster when the company opened its 18th season at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek this weekend, but on a program of three contemporary ballets, there was no lack of verve and punch in the dancing.
The newest addition to the Diablo repertoire is a sober, somewhat abstract premiere by Val Caniparoli titled "Tears From Above," set to Elena Kats-Chernin's score for two cellos - performed live by Daniel Reiter and Paul Rhodes.
Bathed in Jack Carpenter's crepuscular lighting, suggesting the fading light at the end of a day, the ballet quickly gathers momentum, shifting from undulating arms and spines and into space-devouring sequences. The quartet of dancers - Mayo Sugano, Derek Sakukura, Hiromi Yamazaki and Robert Dekkers - surge and swell in repeated cadences across the stage, before breaking into pensive duets.
Diablo Ballet season premiere review:
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