30 years after its inception, DIAVOLO continues to be a cultural pillar of the Los Angeles community. DIAVOLO has performed for hundreds of thousands of concertgoers worldwide as well as millions more on television.

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1992

French-born choreographer and visionary Jacques Heim creates DIAVOLO, whose name is inspired in part by the Spanish word for “day,” and the Latin word for “I fly.” The company rapidly begins to establish its international reputation as a groundbreaking acrobatic dance company.

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1995

DIAVOLO makes its European debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was named “Best of the Fest” by The Independent and Critic’s Choice byThe Guardian.

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1996

Los Angeles Times writes: “Jacques Heim’s locally based DIAVOLO again proved that its brand of iconoclastic movement might very well be the dance bridge to the 21st century.”

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1998

DIAVOLO opens the performance series at the newly built Getty Center in Los Angeles.

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1999

DIAVOLO creates its first full-evening length work, Catapult, which coincides with DIAVOLO’s first full North American tour.

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2001

During the summer of 2001, DIAVOLO invited Jelon Viera, artistic director of DanceBrazil and the Capoeria Foundation, to Los Angeles to conduct an intensive Capoeria workshop with the company.

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2002

In spring 2002, DIAVOLO created a second smaller company to perform in a cabaret-style show, which ran for eight weeks at the New Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo, Japan. The commercial arm of the company, DIAVOLO Productions, has also created unique performance events for such corporate clients as Wells Fargo Bank, Honda, Sebastian Inc. and General Motors.

2005

Due to the unusual and innovative way that DIAVOLO works with architectural structures, the creative team at Cirque du Soleil was inspired to hire Jacques Heim to choreograph a show in Las Vegas, entitled “Ka”, which opened in February of 2005 and is still running.

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2007

The City of Los Angeles recognizes DIAVOLO as a cultural treasure. The Los Angeles Philharmonic commissions DIAVOLO to create L’Espace du Temps, a trilogy of dance pieces to premiere with the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl: Foreign Bodies(2007), set to the music of Esa-Pekka Salonen; Fearful Symmetries (2010), set to the music of John Adams; and Fluid Infinities (2013), set to the music of Philip Glass.

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2010

As Fearful Symmetries premieres, Los Angeles Times describes the Hollywood Bowl performance as “those rare events that define the art of this city...to say DIAVOLO is exciting is redundant.”With the University of Georgia Research Foundation, DIAVOLO receives a 2010 American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund education activities.

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2011

DIAVOLO embarks on its 13th U.S. tour, with over 14 weeks on the road in 20 cities.

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2012

The Company launches the DIAVOLO Institute with major support from the James Irvine Foundation and others. DIAVOLO regularly hosts expanded training sessions, master classes, weeklong intensives, and community workshops. DIAVOLO premieres Transit Space, inspired by the movement of skateboarding and the documentary film Dogtown and Z-Boys, at the Center for the Performing Arts at Pennsylvania State University. DIAVOLO created Transit Space in residency at Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center, Los Angeles as part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980.In celebration of the opening of LA’s GrandPark in July, DIAVOLO premieres A Fanfare for Grand Park commissioned by Thor Steingraber, The Music Center of Los Angeles and Grand Park.

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2013

DIAVOLO premieres Fluid Infinities live with the L.A. Philharmonic in the Hollywood Bowl Summer Concert Series. Set to the entrancing sounds of Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3, Fluid Infinities is the final work of L’Espace du Temps(Space of Time), the trilogy of commissions from the orchestra. DIAVOLO continues expanding the DIAVOLO Institute through the T.R.U.S.T in-school assembly shows, outreach programs in the community, the launch of the Fox Flyers’ Adventure Camp, and more.

2014

DIAVOLO re-mounts the complete L’Espace du Temps (Space of Time) trilogy. At the Movimentos 2014 Festival in Wolfsburg, Germany, L’Espace du Temps receives its premiere as a single concert program. DIAVOLO has its busiest performing season ever, with touring to over 25 U.S. cities as well as shows in Australia and Mexico. DIAVOLO hires Jennifer Cheng as the new Executive Director.

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2015

DIAVOLO premieres Cubicle at the Des Moines Performing Arts Center. Cubicle, set in an abstract corporate America, is co-commissioned by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. DIAVOLO presents the North American premiere of L’Espace du Temps with the New West Orchestra conducted by Chris Rountree.

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2016

DIAVOLO celebrates its 25th anniversary with the premiere of L.O.S.T. The DIAVOLO Institute celebrates its fifth anniversary during the 2016-17 anniversary season.

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2017

DIAVOLO makes it to the top 10 finalists on America's Got Talent. The company celebrates 25 years by performing 11 pieces on November 11, 2017 at the Valley Performing Arts Center, including the premiere of The Veterans Project's second phase work, "A Long Journey Home".

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2018

DIAVOLO's concert work and The Veterans Project "A Long Journey Home" performs at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. DIAVOLO creates VOYAGE and premieres the piece at The Music Center of Los Angeles.

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2019

DIAVOLO expands The Veterans Project to a national level, holding two major residencies at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS as well as at The Straz Center in Tampa, FL.  Each veterans residency premiered new works.

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2020

DIAVOLO toured for the first time in Canada before COVID-19 shutdown all live performances across the globe. While in survival mode, DIAVOLO continued to create socially relevant work. The film THIS IS ME: Letters from the Front Lines was choreographed, filmed, and released.

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2022

DIAVOLO returns to stage at The Wallis in Santa Monica, CA to perform the result of a several month long Veterans Project, as well as one of their signature pieces, Trajectoire. DIAVOLO also performs with the veterans at Jones Hall in Houston, TX before making their way to Monterrey Mexico to perform.

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2024

DIAVOLO is honored to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Northridge earthquake by premiering its new evening length work, Existencia. Accompanied by live musicians and composers Antonio Sanchez and Thana Alexa, and joined by Bandaloop's Founder Amelia Rudolph, DIAVOLO and the community remember the resilience of the human spirit. Several weeks later, Jacques Heim's choreography and company members can be seen performing with Dua Lipa on the 2024 Grammy's.

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