San Francisco Ballet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet Logo.jpg
General Information
Name San Francisco Ballet
Previous names San Francisco Opera Ballet
Year founded 1933 (1933)
Founders William Christensen, Harold Christensen, Lew Christensen
Principal venue War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Website www.sfballet.org
Senior Staff
Chief Executive Glenn McCoy
Artistic Staff
Artistic Director Helgi Tómasson
Principal Conductor Martin West
Other
Official School San Francisco Ballet School

The San Francisco Ballet (SFB) is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. SFB is the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, and along with American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."[1]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1938–1950

The company's first major production was Coppélia in 1938, choreographed by Willam Christensen.[2] In 1940 Swan Lake was produced in its entirety for the first time by Americans with principal ballerina Celina Cummings. The company also began showing The Nutcracker during the holiday season, beginning Christmas Eve, 1944. This too was choreographed by Willam Christensen and was the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece in the United States.

In 1942 San Francisco Opera Ballet split in two, forming independent ballet and opera companies. The ballet half was sold to Willam and Harold Christensen, who became artistic director and appointed director of the San Francisco Ballet School, respectively.[2] The San Francisco Ballet Guild was also formed during this time as a support organization for San Francisco Ballet.[3]

[edit] 1951–1985

1951 saw the next significant shift in administration of San Francisco Ballet. In this year, Lew Christensen—the premier danseur at the time—partnered with Willam Christensen as co-directors. One year later, Lew took over entirely. With this new administration SFB began to broaden its horizons, travel, and establish itself as a significant American ballet company. Until 1956, San Francisco Ballet had remained on the West Coast, but Lew pushed the company into the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. In 1957 SFB was the first American ballet company to tour the Far East, performing in eleven Asian nations.[2] On New Year's Day in 1965, ABC-TV televised a one-hour abridgement of the Lew Christensen-choreographed production of "The Nutcracker", featuring San Francisco Ballet.

In 1972 Lew brought the company closer to its original home, the War Memorial Opera House, by officially naming the theatre as its official residence.

[edit] Timeline of productions

Premiere Ballet Choreographer Original Leads Notes Source
October 31, 1939 Coppélia W. Christensen Janet Reed, W. Christensen, Earl Riggins, Deane Crockett First complete production in the U.S. [2][4]
September 27, 1940 Swan Lake W. Christensen, after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov Lew Christensen (as guest), Jacqueline Martin, Janet Reed, Ronald Cherwood First complete production in the U.S. [2][3][4]
December 24, 1944 The Nutcracker W. Christensen First complete U.S. production. This started a tradition of Christmas Eve performances that then spread through the Christmas season. [2][3]
November 12, 1947 Giselle Anton Dolin (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, with ensembles staged by W. Christensen) Alicia Markova (guest artist), Anton Dolin (guest artist), Peter Nelson, Jocelyn Vollmar [3][4]
January 27, 1976 Romeo and Juliet Michael Smuin Lynda Meyer, Vane Vest, Attila Ficzere, John McFall [3][4]
January 10, 1978 La Fille Mal Gardée Frederick Ashton Diana Weber, Jan Nuyts, Vane Vest, John McFall [3][4]
May 13, 1980 The Tempest Smuin Attila Ficzere, David McNaughton, Evelyn Cisneros, Tomm Ruud, Horacio Cifuentes [3][4]
April 30, 2004 Sylvia Mark Morris Yuan Yuan Tan, Yuri Possokhov First complete production in the U.S. [2][5]
January 27, 2012 Onegin John Cranko Maria Kochetkova, Vitor Luiz [6]

[edit] Company

The company of the San Francisco Ballet, as of July 2012:[7]

[edit] Artistic director

[edit] Ballet Master / Assistant to the Artistic Director

  • Ricardo Bustamante

[edit] Ballet masters

  • Betsy Erickson
  • Anita Paciotti
  • Katita Waldo

[edit] Choreographer in residence

  • Yuri Possokhov

[edit] Principal dancers

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet principal dancers
  • Joan Boada
  • Frances Chung
  • Taras Domitro
  • Lorena Feijóo
  • Jaime Garcia Castilla
  • Vito Mazzeo
  • Pascal Molat
  • Gennadi Nedvigin
  • Damian Smith
  • Sofiane Sylve

[edit] Principal character dancers

  • Ricardo Bustamante
  • Val Caniparoli
  • Jorge Esquivel
  • Anita Paciotti

[edit] Soloists

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet soloists
  • Elana Altman
  • Dores Andre
  • Clara Blanco
  • Sasha De Sola
  • Daniel Deivison Oliviera
  • Courtney Elizabeth
  • Dana Genshaft
  • Luke Ingham
  • Carlos Quenedit
  • Garen Scribner
  • James Sofranko
  • Anthony Spaulding
  • Jennifer Stahl
  • Shane Wuerthner
  • Hansuke Yamamoto

[edit] Corps de ballet

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet dancers
  • Gaetano Amico III
  • Sean Bennett
  • Kimberly Braylock
  • Nicole Ciapponi
  • Charlene Cohen
  • Diego Cruz
  • Marie Claire D'Lyse
  • Megan Amanda Ehrlich
  • Jordan Hammond
  • Jillian Harvey
  • Ellen Rose Hummel
  • Koto Ishihara
  • Emily Kadow
  • Madison Keesler
  • Kristina Lind
  • Alexandra McCullagh
  • Steven Morse
  • Francisco Mungamba
  • Mariellen Olson
  • Sean Orza
  • Elizabeth Powell
  • Rebecca Rhodes
  • Jeremy Rucker
  • Shannon Marie Rugani
  • Henry Sidford
  • Dustin Shane Spero
  • Benjamin Stewart
  • Myles Thatcher
  • Raymond Tilton
  • Sebastian Vinet
  • Lonnie Weeks
  • Luke Willis
  • Shion Yuasa
  • WanTing Zhao

[edit] San Francisco Ballet at 75: The American Tour, 2008

War Memorial Opera House, current home of the San Francisco Ballet

The San Francisco Ballet, as part of its 75th anniversary season in 2008, made a national tour through four major cities: Chicago, the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, September 16–21; New York City Center, October 10–18; Costa Mesa, California, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, November 11–16; and Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, November 25–30. The tour featured ballets from SFB's New Works Festival, the finalé of their Spring 2008 season, which featured over the course of three consecutive nights premières of ten new ballets by ten major choreographers.

[edit] Program A

New York City Center, October 2008

[edit] Divertimento No. 15

George Balanchine's choreography to WA Mozart's music, staged by Elyse Borne with costumes after Karinska and Mark Stanley's lighting.
[edit] Friday, October 10
dancers
  • Tina LeBlanc
  • Elizabeth Miner
  • Rachel Viselli
  • Vanessa Zahorian
  • Taras Domitro
  • Ruben Martin
  • Gennadi Nedvigin
[edit] Wednesday, October 15
dancers
  • Davit Karapetyan
  • Mateo Klemmayer
  • Hansuke Yamamoto
[edit] Saturday, October 18, evening
dancers
  • Taras Domitro
  • Ruben Martin
  • Gennadi Nedvigin

[edit] Program B

New York City Center, October 2008
  • Thursday, October 16
  • Sunday, October 12>
  • Saturday, October 11, evening

[edit] The Fifth Season

Helgi Tomasson's choreography to Karl Jenkins' music with Sandra Woodall's scenery and costumes and Michael Mazzola's lighting

[edit] Concerto Grosso

Helgi Tomasson's choreography to Francesco Geminiani's music with Sandra Woodall's costumes and David Finn's lighting

[edit] Joyride

Mark Morris' choreography to John Adams' music with Isaac Mizrahi's costumes and James F. Ingalls' lighting

[edit] The Four Temperaments

George Balanchine's choreography to Paul Hindemith's music, staged by Elyse Borne

[edit] Program C

New York City Center, October 2008
  • Friday, October 17

[edit] Repertory

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jennings, Luke (February 18, 2007). "One Step Closer to Perfection". The Observer (UK: Guardian News and Media Limited). Retrieved August 26, 2008. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g McCarthy, Terrence (Repertory Season 2004). "History of San Francisco Ballet". San Francisco Ballet Magazine 71 (6): 8. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Renee Renouf (2001). "San Francisco Ballet history". Ballet.co Magazine. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Steinberg, Cobbett and Russell Hartley (1983). San Francisco Ballet: The First Fifty Years. 
  5. ^ Simpson, Michael Wade (2004). "Morris' 'Sylvia' forgoes showy dancing for an old-fashioned, irony-free romance". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 
  6. ^ "Program Notes: Onegin". San Francisco Ballet. Retrieved March 18, 2012. 
  7. ^ "Dancers" (Press release). San Francisco Ballet. 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2011. 
  8. ^ "Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer" (Press release). San Francisco Ballet. 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2011. 
  9. ^ "Cupcakes & Conversation with Maria Kochetkova". Ballet News. April 1, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Cupcakes & Conversation with Vanessa Zahorian". Ballet News. August 11, 2011. 

[edit] Further reading

  • LeBlond, Jr., Richard E.; Madden, Meg (1988). From Chaos to Fragility: My Years at the San Francisco Ballet Association. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8403-5013-9. 
  • Sowell, Debra Hickenlooper (1998). The Christensen Brothers: An American Dance Epic. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 90-5755-028-8. 

[edit] Articles

[edit] External links

Portal icon San Francisco Bay Area portal
Dance companies in the United States
Ballet
Contemporary
Other
Europe
Americas
Other
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Francisco_Ballet&oldid=551826476"