Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - In honor of the 100th Anniversary of Puerto Vallarta, Ballet de Jalisco will present 'Don Quijote' on Saturday, May 19 at Teatro Vallarta. 30 young dancers will perform this ballet, directed by Dariusz Blajer, whose staging of Don Quixote won the 2017 Las Lunas del Auditorio Best Show award.

With music written by Austrian Composer Ludwig Minkus (1826 - 1917) and choreography by the "father of classical ballet," Marius Petipa (1822 - 1910), this ballet in two acts is based on chapter XIX of "The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha," the second book by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and the ballet 'Don Quijote' that premiered on December 26, 1869 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

On May 19 at 8:00 pm, Ballet de Jalisco will take the stage at Teatro Vallarta to tell us the story of the romance between the beautiful Quiteria and her lover, the barber Basilio, and the adventures that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza had with this young couple - through interpretive dance.

Make plans now to see Don Quijote at Teatro Vallarta on Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 pm. Ticket price range from $385 to $605 pesos, depending on seat location, and can be purchased online at teatrovallarta.com, or at the Teatro Vallarta box office, open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.

ABOUT THE BALLET DE JALISCO

The initiative of the Jalisco Secretary of Culture, Dr. Myriam Vachez Plagnol, the Ballet de Jalisco began on August 15, 2013, under the name of Joven Ballet de Jalisco (Jalisco Youth Ballet), with the mission of forming a dance company of high quality.

Composed of 3 Maestros and 30 dancers of different nationalities, the Ballet of Jalisco's mission is to present audiences with the masterpieces of classical ballet, neoclassical and new contemporary dance creations by current and outstanding choreographers.

Leading this group is Artistic Director, Maestro Dariusz Blajer, renowned for his extensive national and international career.

Originally from Poland and now a naturalized Mexican, Blajer graduated from the National Ballet School of Warsaw with a degree of excellence as a professional ballet dancer. He then joined the Ballet of the Teatro Grande de Varsovia where he achieved the status of First Soloist, playing the lead in Spartacus, Swan Lake and Coppelia, among others.

In 1973 he was a finalist in the International Ballet Competition in Moscow; in 1976 he moved to France and was invited to join the Roland Petit Company in Marseille; One year later in Brussels, Belgium he joined the prestigious company "Ballet del Siglo XX" under the direction of Maurice Béjart, with which he toured much of the world.

On four occasions he was invited to dance at the International Ballet Festival of Havana, Cuba. In 1979 he was a guest dancer of the Compañía Nacional de Danza de México. A year later he joined the Birgitte Culberg Company in Stockholm, Sweden, where he performed works by choreographers such as Mats Ek and Jiri Kylian. He returned to Mexico as the First Dancer of the National Dance Company from 1982 to 1989.

In 1996 he was a teacher and choreographer of the Compañía Nacional de Danza de México; in March of 2003 he was appointed Artistic Director of the same and held that position until the end of 2008; Since 2009, he has been a ballet teacher at the National School of Classical and Contemporary Dance of the INBA, and has been a guest teacher at the Contemporary Dance Production Center of INBA and various schools in the United States and Europe.

In August 2013, he was invited by the Jalisco Department of Culture to lead the Joven Ballet de Jalisco, known today as the Ballet de Jalisco.