Diablo Ballet Goes Live on Twitter for March 2 Performance

How do you describe dance in 140 characters? Diablo Ballet of Walnut Creek invites Bay Area "text-perts" to break the barriers of dance and Twitter live during the Company's Friday March 2 7:30 PM at Shadelands Arts Center in Walnut Creek, California.

Bay Area residents are invited to apply to receive a complimentary ticket to sit in the "tweet seat" section" (located in the back of the auditorium), where they can share their immediate thoughts about the performance over Twitter. Each participant's live tweets will be re-tweeted the night of the performance on Diablo Ballet's Twitter page (@DiabloBallet) and via the hash tag #diablo.

"I'm excited to bring this exciting, interactive idea to the world of dance," said Lauren Jonas, Diablo Ballet's Artistic Director. "It will be interesting to see how an audience member describes dance in only 140 characters."

Potential participants must:

- Be age 16 or older
- A Bay Area resident
- Have a portable texting device that can last two hours without charging
- Have an active Twitter account

"We thought it would be a fascinating project to see how the art of dance can be described and shared with everyone," said Lauren. "By using social media, we hope to intrigue and inspire folks to see live dance!"

One aim of the program is to give people a critical voice in the arts. "We're creating "citizen critics," says Dan Meagher, Diablo Ballet Director of Marketing. "The power of arts criticism is moving into the hands of everyday people, whose opinions are just as relevant and valid as those of a major
critic."

Diablo Ballet's March program will feature the West Coast premiere Pas de Deux from Mercurial Manoeuvres by Christopher Wheeldon.

To apply, send your name, phone number, city, and link to your Twitter account to Dan Meagher, Director of Marketing, at Dan@DiabloBallet.org. For more information, visit Diablo Ballet's website at www.DiabloBallet.org.