Look just ahead for a tall, pale-green building with vertical lines, dark windows, and a bright blue sign on the corner; that’s the Oakland Ballet’s home!
Now that you’ve found it, let’s take a leap into the story of this dazzling company! Imagine walking through Oakland in the mid-1960s. The world is groovin’ to the Beatles, people are dreaming about the moon, and-right here-a local named Ronn Guidi is dreaming about ballet pirouetting its way into the city’s heart. In 1965, Ronn, an Oakland native with big ideas and even bigger dance moves, started the Oakland Ballet Company. At first, people didn’t know what to expect. Ballet in Oakland? Wasn’t that something you saw in Paris or New York? But Ronn wanted to prove the city could be just as graceful.
Soon, the magic took hold. Audiences gasped as dancers brought to life the lost treasures of the legendary Ballets Russes, and stomped their feet to the wild-west energy of Billy the Kid. The company revived classic American stories and even invited Bay Area trailblazers to get creative on stage. Every performance felt like a secret door opened into a world of swirling costumes, daring leaps, and goosebump-inducing music.
Ronn eventually passed the spotlight to Karen Brown, a former Dance Theatre of Harlem star. Under her direction, and then with new creative leaders, the company just kept dazzling Oakland, making ballet funky, fresh, and totally local. Today’s artistic director, Graham Lustig, is always cooking up new ideas-from wild Nutcracker shows to a summer Ballet Boot Camp where even shy ducklings get to feel like swans. Plus, Oakland Ballet is big on welcoming everyone, bringing dance straight into schools with their Discover Dance program.
So as you stand here, imagine the press of toe shoes backstage, the musicians tuning up, the buzz of a crowd eager for something beautiful and unexpected. This isn’t just a ballet company-it’s a city’s wild, creative heart, skipping a beat just for you.
