About The Company

Diavolo company members are dancers, gymnasts, actors, athletes…and always teammates. Under the guidance of artistic director and founder Jacques Heim, they collaboratively develop work on oversized surrealistic sets and structures.

Everyday items…doors, chairs, stairways, provide the backdrop for dramatic movement – leaping, flying, twirling – to create metaphors for the challenge of relationships, the absurdities of life, and the struggle to maintain our humanity in the shadow of a technological world.

Founded in 1992, in Los Angeles, the company was nominated for two Lester Horton awards in 1993, and in 1995, Diavolo was named “Best of the Fest” by the London Independent and Critic’s Choice by The Guardian at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Since then, Diavolo has been nominated several times for numerous awards, including four 2001 Lester Horton Awards and two 2003 Lester Horton Awards. In 1998, the company opened the performance series at the new Getty Center Museum in Los Angeles, and also in 1998 Diavolo created its first full evening length work "Catapult"--which was commisioned by the National Dance Project and nearly a dozen prominent performing arts centers around the United States.

The 1998-99 season marked Diavolo's first full North American Tour, and subsequent seasons have seen the company perform in over 30 States and also in international venues in such countries as Japan, Mexico, and Chile.

Diavolo has been providing educational and community outreach programming since its inception in 1992. In 1998, coinciding with the company’s first national tour, the educational program really began to blossom, with residencies requested and provided at most stops on the tour. Since then, the program has rapidly grown. Diavolo has developed numerous educational workshops, residencies, and interactive school concert performances, that have reached over 100,000 students and adults in communities nationwide and in the Los Angeles Area. The workshops and residencies use specific techniques and exercises to develop trust and teamwork skills.

As a non-profit organization, Diavolo has been funded over the years by many individuals, organizations, grants and foundations, including The National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, LA County Arts Commission, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, The Skirball Foundation, The Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation, The Grammy Foundation, and The James Irvine Foundation, to name a few.

Diavolo proudly moved into a new 6,300 square foot studio in July 2002, in the heart of downtown Los Angeles at The Brewery Arts Complex, and the studio is rapidly becoming a central hub for the dance community in Los Angeles.

Due to the unusual and innovative way that Diavolo works with architectural structures, the creative team at Cirque du Soleil was inspired to engage in a creative partnership with Artistic Director Jacques Heim to work on future projects. Ultimately, Mr Heim was chosen to choreograph the newest permanent Cirque show in Las Vegas, entitled “Ka”, opening in Feb of 2005.