San Francisco Ballet

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SF Ballet program book, April 2006

The San Francisco Ballet (SFB) is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as part of San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California, 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, along with American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet, has been described as the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."[1]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1938-1950

The first major production which the company engineered was Coppélia in 1938, choreographed by Willam Christensen.[2] In 1940, Swan Lake was produced in its entirety for the first time by Americans. The company also started the tradition of showing The Nutcracker during the holiday season, the first of which premiered Christmas Eve, 1944. This too was choreographed by Willam Christensen and was touted as 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
1938 Coppélia Christensen Unknown First complete production ever in the U.S. [2]
1940 Swan Lake First complete production ever in the U.S. [2][3]
December 24, 1944 The Nutcracker Started tradition of Christmas Eve showing; for ten years this was the only complete Nutcracker performed in the U.S. [2][3]
1947 Giselle [3]
1976 Romeo and Juliet Smuin [3]
1978 La Fille Mal Gardée Ashton [3]
1981 The Tempest Smuin [3]
April 30, 2004 Sylvia Morris Yuan Yuan Tan, Yuri Possokhov First American production [2][4]

[edit] Present company

[edit] Artistic Director

[edit] Ballet Master / Assistant to the Artistic Director

  • Ashley Wheater

[edit] Ballet Masters

  • Ricardo Bustamante
  • Betsy Erickson
  • Anita Paciotti

[edit] Company Teachers

  • Lola de Avila
  • Ricardo Bustamante
  • Jean-Yves Esquerre
  • Ashley Wheater

[edit] Choreographer in Residence

  • Yuri Possokhov

[edit] Principal Dancers

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet principal dancers
  • Nicolas Blanc
  • Joan Boada
  • Taras Domitro
  • Lorena Feijoo
  • Tina LeBlanc
  • Kristin Long
  • Ruben Martin
  • Pascal Molat
  • Sarah Van Patten
  • Pierre-François Vilanoba
  • Rachel Viselli
  • Katita Waldo
  • Vanessa Zahorian

[edit] Principal Character Dancers

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

[edit] Soloists

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet soloists
  • Elana Altman
  • Frances Chung
  • Dana Genshaft
  • Julianne Kepley
  • Mateo Klemmayer
  • Pauli Magierek
  • Elizabeth Miner
  • Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun
  • Garen Scribner
  • James Sofranko
  • Anthony Spaulding
  • Hansuke Yamamoto

[edit] Corps de Ballet

See also: Category:San Francisco Ballet dancers
  • Gaetano Amico III
  • Dores Andre
  • David Arce
  • Brett Bauer
  • Clara Blanco
  • Ludmila Campos
  • Courtney Clarkson
  • Charlene Cohen
  • Diego Cruz
  • Sasha De Sola
  • Daniel Deivison-Oliveira
  • Courtney Elizabeth
  • Martyn Garside
  • Nicole Grand
  • Isaac Hernández
  • Adeline Kaiser
  • Margaret Karl
  • Alexandra McCullagh
  • Erin McNulty
  • Alexandra Meyer-Lorey
  • Christopher Mondoux
  • Ashley Muangmaithong
  • Mariellen Olson
  • Aaron Orza
  • Sean Orza
  • Patricia Perez
  • Shannon Marie Roberts
  • Lily Rogers
  • Miriam Rowan
  • Jeremy Rucker
  • Danielle Santos
  • Suzy Spaulding
  • Jennifer Stahl
  • Benjamin Stewart
  • Matthew Stewart
  • Kendall Teague
  • Aubert Vanderlinden
  • Quinn Wharton
  • Luke Willis

[edit] Apprentices

  • Dylan Gutierrez
  • Rebecca Rhodes

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

Main article: List of San Francisco Ballet at 75 productions

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 premieres 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 W.A. Mozart's music, staged by Elyse Borne with costumes after Karinska and Mark Stanley's lighting

[edit] Friday, October 10

dancers

[edit] Wednesday, October 15

dancers

[edit] Saturday, October 18, evening

dancers

[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] References

v • d • e
Ballet
General information
Ballet by genre
Ballet by region
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  1. ^ Jennings, Luke (2007-02-18). "One Step Closer to Perfection". The Observer (Guardian News and Media Limited). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/feb/18/dance. Retrieved on 2008-08-26. 
  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. http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_99/oct99/rr_san_francisco_ballet_history.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 
  4. ^ Simpson, Michael Wade (2004). "Morris' 'Sylvia' forgoes showy dancing for an old-fashioned, irony-free romance". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/03/DDGGF6E12K1.DTL&type=performance. Retrieved on 2008-08-13. 

[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 0840350139. 
  • Sowell, Debra Hickenlooper (1998). The Christensen Brothers: An American Dance Epic. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 9057550288. 

[edit] Reviews

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
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