The unusual and often astonishing movements of the Diavolo Dance Theater will amaze audiences.  Expect the unexpected as the acrobatic dancers execute dazzling displays of choreography in a dance spectacle, benefitting the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Recreation and Parks.

Diavolo reinvents dance, re-imagines theater, and redefines thrills. Theatergoers around the world are always wondering what sort of wizardry artistic director Jacques Heim will conjure up next for his daring troupe of performers. Diavolo takes movement, athletics, and daring to the extreme, creating abstract narratives through surreal tableaux in which inspiration thrives.

The company creates performances collaboratively under the guidance of Mr. Heim, employing outrageous and surrealistic sets that are an intrinsic part of each piece of work. Even everyday items such as doors, chairs and stairways are employed as the basis of dramatic movement – leaping, flying, twirling – that creates metaphors for the challenge of relationships, the absurdities of life and the struggle to maintain our humanity in an increasingly technological world.

Artistic director Jacques Heim founded Diavolo in 1992 in Los Angeles.  In 1993 the young company was nominated for two Lester Horton awards in Los Angeles, and in 1995, Diavolo made its European debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they were named “Best of the Fest” by the London Independent and Critic’s Choice by The Guardian.  That same year, the company received three Lester Horton awards for the work Tete en L’Air.  In 1999, Diavolo saw the creation of its first full-evening length work: Catapult, which also coincided with Diavolo’s first North American tour.   Since 1995, Diavolo has received numerous grants and awards from various private and public organizations, including The National Endowment for the Arts.

About the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Recreation and Parks
With more than 15,000 acres of parkland, over 400 neighborhood and regional parks, 11 lakes and more than 180 recreation and community centers, the Department of Recreation and Parks operates an enormous range of parks and recreational opportunities.