MEET THE DIRECTORS
Diane De Franco Browne
Diane De Franco Browne is a Los Angeles-based choreographer and producer.
She is a Director of Pasadena Civic Ballet, ArtistsPlus Productions, and owns Theatre Threads, a costume design company. Current projects include immersive performances at Heritage Square Park and sponsorship of choreographic collaboratives at Stomping Ground and Los Angeles Dance Project. Other projects include commissions and collaborations with the American Youth Symphony, Music & More SummerFest in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Angeles Chorale, ArtNight Pasadena, Bel Canto Chorale and Orchestra, LA Art Show, LACMA, MUSE/IQUE, International Masters of Musical Whistling and other Pasadena museums and arts organizations.
Zoe Vidalakis
Zoe Vidalakis received her MA from USC’s Annenberg School in Entertainment Management, where she pioneered the largest student musical in the US. She also directed “A Tribute to Bob Hope” and other productions at the Shrine Auditorium and the Greek Theatre. As a dancer, she performed with the Alberta Ballet and Alberta Civic Opera in Canada, and was guest artist with the Long Beach Classical Ballet and Santa Barbara Ballet. Zoe and Tania are especially known for their character work. They performed as folkloric soloists and choreographers with the Hayastan Dance Ensemble, under master Iosef Izrailvov of the Moiseyev Dance Company, and with the Kalinin Dance Company. Zoe and her sister Tania co-founded Belle of the Ball, a children’s couture line.
Tania Grafos
Tania Grafos and sister Zoe Vidalakis both studied with former prima ballerina of the Ballet Russe and Berlin Opera Ballet, Mme. Maria DeBrovsky. Both also trained with the Los Angeles Junior Ballet under the renowned John Clifford, and performed with the LA Ballet. Tania was the youngest student accepted to the Los Angeles Junior Ballet, and attended the prestigious Elmherst Ballet School in London. She apprenticed with the Hungarian State Ballet in Budapest , where she studied under dancers from the Kirov and Bolshoi. She also studied with Mme. Gerard Pierre, former prima ballerina of the Paris Opera and partner Roland Petit. After her career on stage, she received a BA in History from the University of Southern California.
