{"id":170710,"date":"2026-02-09T18:56:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/170710\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:56:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:56:46","slug":"san-diego-ballet-to-highlight-san-diego-museum-of-arts-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/170710\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Ballet to highlight San Diego Museum of Art\u2019s century"},"content":{"rendered":"

POINT LOMA \u2013 It\u2019s all creative expression, but arts are often categorized as visual or performance, and never the twain shall meet. But a San Diego Ballet residency at the San Diego Museum of Art<\/a> is challenging that narrative.<\/p>\n

The relationship is closer than ever for the museum\u2019s centennial year, as the 35-year-old San Diego Ballet<\/a> is key in sharing the history of the museum\u2019s 100 years through a series of performances where dance and fine arts meet.<\/p>\n

At Valentine\u2019s weekend performances coinciding with the museum\u2019s opening date 100 years<\/a> ago, ballerinas will celebrate San Diego\u2019s first and largest art museum.<\/p>\n

This latest show, named \u201cPerspective,\u201d references both the artistic method meant to give flat surfaces the illusion of depth and the process of looking back, in this case, to the past 100 years in San Diego arts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show is 80 minutes with no intermission at the San Diego Museum of Art. Tickets come with free admission to the museum. Performances will be on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. General admission<\/a> is $55.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the heritage. We\u2019re the history. We date back to the origins of San Diego,\u201d said Diedre Guevara, the museum\u2019s director of community engagement. \u201cIt\u2019s 100 years of an institution, 100 years of a building, 100 years of a collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to sharing history, the dance concerts also meet the goal of being a museum for all. These collaborations attract new audiences and become a unique way for people to understand and engage with the museum\u2019s pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Diego Museum of Art has this philosophy that museums are for all, and we really believe in that, and we really believe that it needs to be a place where the collection talks to everybody in the community,\u201d Guevara said.<\/p>\n

Javier Velasco, artistic director of the Liberty Station-based ballet, says dance is the performance art most closely related to the fine arts. After all, both are taken in primarily through the eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDance is primarily a visual art. You look at it. I mean, that\u2019s a visual stimulus,\u201d Velasco said.<\/p>\n

For the new shows, Velasco choreographed dances to key pieces in the collection. Ahead of choosing which pieces, he spent a day with a docent in the museum, learning the significance of works and mining their meaning.<\/p>\n

One dance was inspired by the world\u2019s oldest surviving sculpture of Shiva as the Lord of Music<\/a>. The sculpture will be projected behind the dancers in a piece Velasco says will complement the religious artifact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not trying to recreate an artwork before your very eyes. We\u2019re trying to do dances in harmony with works of art,\u201d Velasco explained.<\/p>\n

In other dances, Velasco took a more literal approach. For instance, it will be as if the \u201cYoung Shepherdess,\u201d painted in 1885 by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, leapt from the frame and onto the stage for a pastoral dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actually trying to sort of create this illusion of the young shepherdess and what her life would be, right?\u201d the choreographer said. \u201cSo she sort of pops off the page.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half of the show switches tack to San Diego history as a whole. Dances extoll particular neighborhoods in the area, set to the soundtrack of the radio station KGB\u2019s \u201cHomegrown\u201d albums, made by local musicians in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very important in the celebration of the San Diego Museum of Art that we celebrated the San Diego side of that as well, not just the art side of it,\u201d Velasco said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly hope that that is an experience that they come away with going like \u2018I feel invigorated, because I feel like I just celebrated,\u2019\u201d Velasco said. \u201cI celebrated 100 years of the San Diego Museum of Art.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bonus? The performances are at night after the museum is typically closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have these events at night, it\u2019s a second life for the museum,\u201d Guevara said.<\/p>\n

Museum officials say the dialogue between those historic artists and contemporary dancers forges new meanings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the arts, the more connected they are, the stronger the statement is,\u201d Guevara said.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"POINT LOMA \u2013 It\u2019s all creative expression, but arts are often categorized as visual or performance, and never…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4549,5469,74,81850,76,63386,75],"class_list":["post-170710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-balboa-park","tag-liberty-station","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-ballet","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-museum-of-art","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}