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Organization
Ballet San Jose
Ballet San Jose is a resident company serving the Silicon Valley region. Founded in 1986, Ballet San Jose is the South Bay's premiere dance company. Under the artistic direction of Dennis Nahat, the company has evolved into one of the nation’s largest classical ballet companies. A resident company of 40 dancers, Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley includes dancers from Austria, Cuba, Japan, France, Argentina, Vietnam, Denmark, and the United States. Their diversity is further reflected in the company's broad repertoire, from the holiday classic The Nutcracker to the contemporary Blue Suede Shoes.
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Contact Info
Ballet San Jose
P.O. Box 1666
San Jose, CA 95109-1666Phone: 408-288-2820
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Current Events
11/20/08-
11/23/08The Toreador
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts -
Upcoming Events
11/22/08 Ballet By Day - An Introduction for Children
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts12/11/08 The Nutcracker Opening Night Celebration
12/11/08-
12/28/08The Nutcracker
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts12/13/08-
12/23/08The Nutcracker High Teas
12/13/08-
12/27/08The Nutcracker - Children's Matinees
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts02/26/09-
03/01/09Hidden Talents - An Evening of Premieres
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts04/02/09-
04/05/09A Midsummer Night's Dream
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts04/04/09 Children's Matinee - A Midsummer Night's Dream
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts05/07/09-
05/10/09Song and Dance
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts05/30/09-
05/31/09The Princess and the Trolls - Children's Series
California Theatre -
Member Reviews
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Event Name: The Toreador
"Adorable!"
Review posted by: Susannah from san jose, ca, Nov 21, 2008
What a fun Ballet! Rarely do you see such humor matched with such dance skill, such wonderful costumes, and great music. This was very entaining. So many plesant surprises! I don't want to give... Expand
What a fun Ballet! Rarely do you see such humor matched with such dance skill, such wonderful costumes, and great music. This was very entaining. So many plesant surprises! I don't want to give anything away, but there are some really creative sections to this performance that made it the most enjoyable ballet (and arts productions) I have seen in the last 3 years! Just wonderful! Even more so than the Nutcracker I think this would be a GREAT ballet to introduce children to. Easy to follow, and humor! If you've not see a ballet, if you've not seen Ballet San Jose, you won't want to miss it, I'm so sad it's just one weekend! Collapse
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Event Name: Just Balanchine
"EYE Review"
Comment posted by: Susannah from San Jose, CA, Mar 28, 2008
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Event Name: The Nutcracker
"(The) More muggin the merrier in Ballet San Jose's 'Nut'"
Comment posted by: Excerpt from the SF Chronicle review, Dec 15, 2007 by Mary Ellen Hunt from San Jose, CA, Dec 17, 2007
There's a pleasantly warm, homey feeling almost as soon as you walk into the San Jose Performing Arts Center for Ballet San Jose's "Nutcracker." It's the kind of show at which a complete stranger... Expand
There's a pleasantly warm, homey feeling almost as soon as you walk into the San Jose Performing Arts Center for Ballet San Jose's "Nutcracker." It's the kind of show at which a complete stranger might lean over the seat back and chat as if you'd been friends for years. Artistic Director Dennis Nahat's staging of his ballet, is a jaunty, colorful affair, full of bounce-and-go, enough to charm the first-time viewer or even the most jaded veteran of "Nutcrackers" past. On Thursday night, all the enthusiasm clearly drew the audience into the story. Delighted laughter and horrified gasps rippled through the house during the party scene, and startled shrieks erupted when a particularly loud flash turned the wooden Nutcracker doll into the handsome (Prince.) Maria and the Prince have an impressive amount of dancing to do, and they dance impressively, appearing in most of the divertissements throughout the second half. ...there's a darn good show on the stage, and that's all that matters. Collapse
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Event Name: The Nutcracker
"S.J.'s 'Nutcracker' bubbles over with wit, charm"
Comment posted by: Excerpts from review in San Jose Mercury News, Dec 15, 2007 by Rita Felciano from San Jose, CA, Dec 17, 2007
There is no "Nutcracker" that I know that has as charming bubbly a first act as San Jose's. The action fizzes like champagne. At one point, I counted six simultaneous vignettes, from the flirtation... Expand
There is no "Nutcracker" that I know that has as charming bubbly a first act as San Jose's. The action fizzes like champagne. At one point, I counted six simultaneous vignettes, from the flirtation between Lotte the maid, and Godfather Drosselmeyer's manservant Johann, to Helga the housekeeper swooning over Drosselmeyer. Everyone has a name; everyone has a well-defined role in this lovingly playful but basically orderly household. (Dennis) Nahat's performance of the eccentric uncle, who ruffles the calm and introduces an element of chaos, was just short of brilliant. With a touch of madness to it, this Drosselmeyer holds the strings and controls the festivity. A word about the mice. They are delicious. With their big ears, busy little fingers and padding toes, they scurry about until you almost believe that they'll take over the world. Lots of happy parents of these young dancers from Ballet San Jose School attended opening night; they had every reason to be proud. Collapse
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Event Name: The Nutcracker
"Nahat's 'Nutcracker' heartwarming as ever."
Comment posted by: Excerpts from San Jose Mercury review, Dec. 2006 from San Jose, CA, Dec 05, 2007
Something about "The Nutcracker" makes people flock to it year after year. Maybe it's the glorious score or the celbration of the extended family that has room for the eccentric friend and a doddering... Expand
Something about "The Nutcracker" makes people flock to it year after year. Maybe it's the glorious score or the celbration of the extended family that has room for the eccentric friend and a doddering grandpa. Or maybe it's remembering a time when you were no longer a child but not yet an adult, and the world seemed full of possibilities. Nowhere is that clearer than in Nahat's splendidly detailed, fast-moving first act. In this family, everyone has a well-defined role. There is even a hierarchy among the servants from the bossy housekeeper to the daffy maid. The children are being raised into traditions--the girls get dolls, the boys noisemakers. Godfather Drosselmeyer is the "troublemaker," introducing antics and some mystery into the family, yet he is tolerated and loved by everyone. All of these elements are richly interwoven in Ballet San Jose's "Nutcracker" at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Collapse
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Event Name: The Nutcracker
"Excerpts from SF Chronicle review, December 2006"
Comment posted by: Excerpt from the SF Chronicle from San Jose, CA, Dec 04, 2007
This "Nutcracker," which premiered in 1979, in in the details--sets and costumes designed by the brilliant David Guthrie. If all productions of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" are about holiday escapism,... Expand
This "Nutcracker," which premiered in 1979, in in the details--sets and costumes designed by the brilliant David Guthrie. If all productions of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" are about holiday escapism, this one, beautifully presented and well danced, is an escape of a different sort. In most versions, Maria and her Prince are guests at a series of divertissements. Often, they are children. In Nahat's, they're grown-ups who pitch right in, usually contributing a dance or a passage. And (they) are more than up to the task. She is delicate looking but blessed with wonderful extensions, beautifully arched feet and steady balances, not to mention a certain shy flirtatiousness. He is compactly powerful, buoyant and quick. Collapse
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Event Name: Carmina Burana & Summerscape
"Excerpts from Cleveland Plain Dealer review, Feb 1998"
Comment posted by: Review excerpts from West Coast Premiere from San Jose, CA, Oct 04, 2007
Mature Production Flows Before Enthusiastic Crowd "Carmina Burana" was advertised as a ballet for mature audiences. But if the Californians who bought out all tickets in advance for the four weekend... Expand
Mature Production Flows Before Enthusiastic Crowd "Carmina Burana" was advertised as a ballet for mature audiences. But if the Californians who bought out all tickets in advance for the four weekend performances expected an orgy, they were in for a surprise, because artistic director Dennis Nahat staged Carl Orff's famous score like a solemn ritual initiated by a magician and driven by dark forces of fate. The only part unsuitable for children was the tavern scene with it intimations of cannabilism and debauchery. The opening scene introduced the large cast of medieval monks turning in floor patterns that represent the wheel of fortune and young lovers who celebrate the joy of springtime. The finale follows the fate of an unfulfilled youth and a solitary woman who blossoms into a rose and is ravished by love. The men who played drunken topers in the tavern danced with forceful athleticism. The couples representing young love did difficult lifts with ease. Collapse
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Event Name: Carmina Burana & Summerscape
"Excerpts from SF Examiner review, Feb 1998"
Comment posted by: Review excerpts from West Coast Premiere from San Jose, CA, Oct 04, 2007
Nahat has listened to the music and read the bawdy medieval Latin lyrics. [But] this "Carmina Burana" does more than pay heed to the score. The billboard outside the theater declaims "50 dancers! 125... Expand
Nahat has listened to the music and read the bawdy medieval Latin lyrics. [But] this "Carmina Burana" does more than pay heed to the score. The billboard outside the theater declaims "50 dancers! 125 [voice] chorale! 24 children's chorus!" Remarkably, they're all on the stage, while Dwight Oltman leads 60 members of the symphony in the pit. In an era when our ears have been dulled by wretched taped musical accompaniments, Nahat's largess strikes a blow for professionalism. ...Nahat's "Carmina Burana" radiates, for the most part, a kind of sweet innocence. It is also, for much of its hourlong length, a hoot and a holler, a parody of choreography that follows music slavishly. Also, not to be forgotten is the roasted swan episode, during which [the dancer] is borne aloft on a spit, suffers numerous contortions on a platform and then endures the knife attacks by a gang of thugs who nibble on hunks of his hide. Collapse
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Event Name: Carmina Burana & Summerscape
"Excerpts from Mercury News review, Feb 1998"
Comment posted by: Review excerpts from West Coast Premiere from San Jose, CA, Oct 04, 2007
Carmina Burana, The hourlong $200,000 spectacle was enriched by the stunning medieval sets and costumes of [the late] David Guthrie, one of his most brilliant in his long association with... Expand
Carmina Burana, The hourlong $200,000 spectacle was enriched by the stunning medieval sets and costumes of [the late] David Guthrie, one of his most brilliant in his long association with (Dennis)Nahat encompassing more than 60 works. The rotating wheel of fortune, with 16 zodiac-like signs, was juxtaposed with cathedral-like choir stalls and gargoyle sculptures--the sacred and profane side by side, competing for bodies and souls. And in one of the most ingenious touches, the tavern's swan feast by off-duty monks took on the look of pagan animal sacrifice, contrasting sharply with the sacred atmosphere of the prologue. Carmina Burana is a shocker. Call it shallow, call it vulgar, but Carl Orff's thumpy choral-orchestral music picks you up and carries you with it like a raging flood. Collapse
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Event Name: The Firebird and Mendelssohn Symphony
"Storytellers are Magicians."
Comment posted by: San Jose Mercury News, October 2005 from San Jose, CA, Aug 24, 2007
Storytellers are magicians. In the theater they transport us into a world as real as the person in the next chair. Ballet San Jose presenting Nahat's The Firebird...uses a richly nuanced... Expand
Storytellers are magicians. In the theater they transport us into a world as real as the person in the next chair. Ballet San Jose presenting Nahat's The Firebird...uses a richly nuanced interpretation (though its on tape) of Stravinky's haunting music. The set, with its suggestions of a forest made up of people turned into stone, is grand as well as claustrophobic. Nahat's musicality expresses itself in fluid choreography that shines through the music as limpidly as pebbles in a brook. [He} created an open-hearted, sunny princess ready for love. A charming touch, the ensemble dances for the maidens suggest an eagerness for lovers of their own. Kastchei's monsters are more carnivalesque than hellish; they won't frighten the children in the audience. Kastchei, however, is fearsome. Half reptile, half bird, he slithers like a snake with claws at the ready to pounce. Nahat's loveliest creation, however, is his Firebird. Collapse
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