San Jose Ballet

Ballet San Jose was a ballet company based in San Jose, California, US, operating from 1986 to 2016.

The company was founded in 1986 as the "San Jose Cleveland Ballet," a co-venture with the ten-year-old Cleveland Ballet which offered to the dancers added performing exposure, and each city a ballet company for a moderate, shared investment. In 2000, the Cleveland Ballet ceased operations, and over half the dancers, the headquarters, and artistic director/choreographer Dennis Nahat moved to San Jose to continue operations there. The company was originally known as Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley, but in July 2006 shortened its name to simply Ballet San Jose.

In 2003 the company gained benefactor and current chairman of the board John Fry, co-founder of Fry's Electronics. Fry helped the company survive the dot-com crash and has continued to support the company as it has struggled since. Over the years Ballet San Jose relied increasingly on Fry's support, prompting Karen Loewenstern, founding board chair of Cleveland Ballet and Ballet San Jose, to say "...he bought himself a ballet company."

By 2007, there was a resident company of 44 dancers from 14 countries in four continents, with a repertoire of over 120 traditional and modern classical ballets. Performances at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts are accompanied by the Symphony Silicon Valley. The Ballet is now a 'fully owned' resident company serving all of Silicon Valley.

On December 23, 2011, Ballet San Jose announced a partnership with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) which will license the company "to implement ABT's comprehensive National Training Curriculum for dancers".

In January 2012, long-standing conflict between Nahat and the management board resulted in Nahat being "ousted" from the company. Shortly after, Fry stepped down from the board, replaced as chair by Lorraine Gilmore of Edison Pharmaceuticals. Kathy Kolder, Vice President of Fry's Electronics, remained on the board with Fry's intending to continue its financial support.

Artistic direction was shared for two seasons by Principal Ballet Master Raymond Rodriguez and Artistic Advisor Wes Chapman. George Daugherty was appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor in August, 2012.José Manuel Carreño has been appointed Artistic Director effective September 2013.

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