How Oakland Ballet Rescued (And Made) Dance History

“For decades, [company founder Ronn] Guidi had been fascinated by the repertoire of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. … He engaged the original choreographers, or their appointed emissaries, and he reproduced the decor and costuming of the original productions, some of which were originally signed by museum names – Picasso, Derain, Chanel, Bakst, Benois and Goncharova. Dances we despaired of ever seeing live arose from the pages of the history books on the Paramount stage.”