Organizing a Live Tweet From the Ballet

Can you describe the arch of a dancer's arch, the precision of her twirl, the boldness of his leap across the stage?

And can you describe it in 140 characters or less?

The Diablo Ballet thinks you can. It's staging a little "Pas de Tweet" at a performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 2. The ballet is signing up tweeters to do live posts from a "tweet seat section" in the back of the auditorium at the Shadelands Art Center. Diablo Ballet is hoping for a lively conversation about ballet.

Theaters have held live tweets for live stage, said Dan Meagher, director of marketing for Diablo Ballet, but this might be a first ever for a ballet performance.

"I'm excited to bring this exciting, interactive idea to the world of dance," said Lauren Jonas, Diablo Ballet's artistic director. "It will be interested to see how an audience member describes dance in only 140 characters … By using social media, we hope to intrigue and inspire folks to see live dance!"

The March program will feature the West Coast premier Pas de Deux from Mercurial Manoeuvres by Christopher Wheeldon, according to a Diablo Ballet press release.

"We're creating 'citizen critics,'" said Meagher. "The power of arts criticism is moving into the hands of everyday people, whose opinions are just as relevant and valid as those of a major critic."

Potential participants must:

• Be age 16 or older.
• A Bay Area resident.
• Have a portable texting device that can last two hours without charging.
• Have an active Twitter account.

To apply, send your name, phone number, city, and link to your Twitter account to Dan Meagher, Director of Marketing, at Dan@DiabloBallet.org. For more information, visit Diablo Ballet's website or click here. You may also call the office at 925-943-1775, extension 0. Interested parties must apply by Feb. 22. Participation is by invitation only.

"Tweet" is the verb form for using the social media website Twitter. Twitter capitalizes on immediacy with short bursts of information shared by users who  "follow" each other online — choosing which sources they will get tweets from and broadcast to.