Join Diablo Ballet for Its Tasty 15th Annual Gourmet Gallop, September 10!
Diablo Ballet has had an amazing year of growth and milestones. On March 10, 2026 — Diablo Ballet’s 32nd anniversary — the esteemed ballet company and school secured its Permanent Occupancy Certificate from the City of Walnut Creek for its stunning new headquarters and studio at 490 N. Wiget Lane in Shadelands.
Diablo Ballet was featured in the April 2026 issue of The Shadelands Scene.
In addition to staging professional ballet performances and operating a ballet school, Diablo Ballet offers a number of community benefit programs that serve members of the public who may very well have never stepped inside a theater. Dance for Parkinson’s and PEEK, which benefits Title 1 students and incarcerated youth, are two such programs that serve underserved populations and enrich participants’ lives through the power of dance and movement.
Diablo Ballet co-founder and Artistic Director Lauren Jonas will tell you that she and her teams could not do all that they do if it were not for the nonprofit’s dedicated supporters, donors, and sponsors who come out in full force for Diablo Ballet’s performances and annual fundraisers.
Diablo Ballet’s 2025 Gourmet Gallop welcomed close to 300 participates who sipped, sampled, and strolled through downtown Walnut Creek.
One of those fundraisers is Gourmet Gallop, now in its 15th year, and coming to Walnut Creek on Thursday, September 10. There’s still time to buy tickets and enjoy an evening out with family and friends in support of the arts.
“By joining us at this fundraiser, our supporters are enabling us to continue to stage ballet performances, operate our ballet school, and provide programs to children, youth, and adults who benefit from our help.”
Gourmet Gallop
Sip, Sample & Stroll Through Walnut Creek
A Fundraiser Supporting Diablo Ballet
Thursday, September 10, 2026 | 6pm – 8:30pm
Meet Downtown at Water Light Plaza
Check-in, Map, and Wrist Band
1501 Locust Street, Walnut Creek
Reserve Your Ticket, $50
For a list of participating restaurants & wine shops,
visit Gourmet Gallop
More than 20 restaurants, dessert shops, and wineries donate samples during Gourmet Gallop to benefit Diablo Ballet’s performances, school, and community programs.
Open to the public with the purchase of a ticket, the evening begins at Water Light Plaza, where, in addition to check-in, there will be food sampling and wine tasting. Steinway Piano Gallery, 1605 Bonanza Street, will be hosting a piano concert accompanied by food and wine pairings. And Wine Hardware, at 1617 Locust Street, will join in the wine tasting fun. This year, more than 20 Walnut Creek restaurants and dessert shops, all within a two-block walking radius of each other, are donating samplings off their menus. An Ambassador volunteer will be at each location to make sure that all participants get full samples.
Gourmet Gallop was the brainchild of Audience Development Manager Dan Meagher so Diablo Ballet could have a presence in the community during the summer when the company wasn’t performing.
“Gourmet Gallop was such a success the first year, that we’ve been able to build on that success the past 15 years and grow the number of participating wineries and restaurants, providing even greater food and wine choices, and introducing Diablo Ballet to a larger number and wider range of people,” said Lauren. “On a beautiful September evening, we get close to 300 people joining us at Gourmet Gallop, in support of Diablo Ballet and our local downtown Walnut Creek businesses. This gives people a chance to sample the food and wines and ambience of restaurants they haven’t visited before, and an opportunity to revisit their favorite places.”
Gourmet Gallop gives people a chance to sample food and wines of restaurants they haven’t visited before, and opportunities to revisit their favorite places.
When you sip & sample, you’re supporting underserved children & youth.
Diablo Ballet’s PEEK Outreach Program (Performing Arts Education & Enrichment for Kids) is one initiative that benefits from Diablo Ballet’s fundraisers. Since 1995, PEEK has reached more than 75,000 under-served children and at-risk teens through an innovative in-school Social Emotional Into Movement dance therapy program that guides students in learning how to express their feelings and empathize with others through movement and teamwork. PEEK is the only arts education program of its kind offered by a professional dance company in the Bay Area.
“We started in one school, Las Juntas Elementary in Concord,” said Lauren. “We worked with the entire second grade class, and now, 31 years later, we’re still at Las Juntas and have expanded PEEK to ten schools in Oakland, Bay Point, Hayward, and Concord, working in second and third grade classes, hosting the dance therapy program once a month for the entire school year.”
Diablo Ballet’s PEEK program began in one Concord elementary school; 31 years later, PEEK has expanded to ten schools in Oakland, Bay Point, Hayward, and Concord, working with 2nd and 3rd graders, and into juvenile hall in Martinez serving at-risk students.
In 2015, Diablo Ballet took PEEK to the juvenile hall in Martinez, where instructors work with boys and girls, ages 14 to 18, who are incarcerated and who attend classes at Mt. McKinley School, a court school located inside the juvenile hall facility in Martinez. The school serves at-risk students grades 7 through 12. And because they live in Contra Costa Juvenile Hall, PEEK instructors are in the classroom every week, for 11 months out of the year.
Diablo Ballet’s professional dancers are the program instructors who teach children and youth creative methods for using dance, body language, and facial expressions as a means for coping with challenges and to help their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. In juvenile hall, the idea is to get students in front of their peers and to feel comfortable in their own bodies, using physical expression rather than words.
“We also go into more depth about how to show respect, how to show love to yourself, how to show love to others, and how that love and respect look in movement,” said Lauren. “We’re not teaching our PEEK students dance or ballet. In both the elementary schools and Mt. McKinley School, we’re helping them learn to express themselves physically in positive ways — in ways that might delight them and encourage them to open their eyes to possibilities for expressing their voice, without words.”
“We’re not teaching our PEEK students dance or ballet,” said Lauren Jonas, Artistic Director of Diablo Ballet. “We’re helping them learn to express themselves physically in positive ways.”
“PEEK has been incredibly successful in both the elementary schools among second and third graders, and in the juvenile justice system. So we have fundraisers like Gourmet Gallop because we offer PEEK for free, even though we have many costs associated with executing the program. Gourmet Gallop is a great community come-together event that makes me feel so appreciative to the community for its support,” said Lauren. “I am forever grateful!”
To learn more about the dance company, school, performances, and community benefit programs, visit Diablo Ballet.
