Helgi Tomasson
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Helgi Tomasson (b. October 1942) is an ex-ballet dancer and current artistic director for the San Francisco Ballet and its ballet school.
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[edit] Early Life
Tomasson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. He began his ballet training with a local teacher and went on to joining the National Theatre’s affiliated school, which at the time was led by Erik and Lisa Bidsted.
His professional career started at 15 with the Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. It was two years until he was discovered in his homeland by renown choreographer Jerome Robbins who was so impressed with young Tomasson that he arranged a scholarship for him to study at the School of American Ballet in New York City when Tomasson was 17 and broke. He went on to join the Joffrey Ballet, where he met his wife and fellow dancer Marlene, and two years later The Harkness Ballet, where he stayed for six years, eventually becoming one of the company’s most celebrated principal dancers.
[edit] Career
In 1969, Tomasson entered the First International Ballet Competition in Moscow representing the United States. He was allowed by Jerome Robbins to dance a solo from his “Dancers at a Gathering” piece (something he never did for anyone else) and returned with the Silver Medal (the Gold Medal was awarded to Mikhail Baryshnikov). During the course of the competition, the great ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, who was on the jury, whispered to him, "I gave you all my votes." [1]
A year later he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer where he danced for 15 years and reached worldwide recognition. An exemplary partner, he performed with many of City Ballet's leading ballerinas, including Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride, and Gelsey Kirkland. Of this time, Helgi recalls "Living for so long in New York, I grew up with the best, and I was a part of that time.” [2] Both George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins created several roles expressly for him, a rare accomplishment for any dancer.
Balanchine famously created a solo for him in Divertimento from Le Baiser de la Fée for the 1972 Stravinsky Festival, which marks one of the few instances that Balanchine went out of his way to create a major solo for a male dancer. The score contains Stravinsky's most heartfelt tribute to Tchaikovsky. Tomasson went on to perform this piece during his emotional last show in January 1985, at the age of 42 at the State Theatre with renowned ballerina and long-time partner Patricia McBride. Both received a standing ovation from the audience.
Tragedy stuck the dancer in January 1976, while still dancing for NYCB, when he was wheeled into New York's Roosevelt Hospital with a back injury and told he would never dance again. But his raw determination allowed him to be back onstage by July and remained with the company for nine more years.
In 1982, with the encouragement of Balanchine, Tomasson choreographed his first ballet for the School of American Ballet Workshop, Introduction, Theme with Variations Polonnaise, Op. 65, which was very well received and elicited encouragement for him to continue choreographing. [3] His second work in 1983, Ballet d'Isoline, was taken into the repertory of the New York City Ballet. Until that point, Tomasson had not considered running a company at the time and was simply considering teaching at the School of American Ballet and developing his choreography further. After a failed attempt at running the Royal Danish Ballet (the offer didn't work out), Lew Christensen, SFB’s director at the time asked him to hold on. After Christensen's death in 1984 the ballet board decided not to renew the contract of co-director Michael Smuin, which resulted in a in a firestorm of rumours and recriminations. He officially joined the San Francisco Ballet as Artistic Director in 1985. After his second year, he reportedly underwent emergency heart-bypass operation partly due to the stress of the time.
Tomasson considers his years with the Joffrey and Harkenss, and Balanchine and Robbins, who choreographed multitude of pieces for the company, as the biggest influences in creating San Francisco’s varied repertoire. Modern choreographer Mark Morris is also a constant presence in the company’s repertoire.
Despite Tomasson’s success with the company, this has not been without turmoil. During its 1989 tour in Orange County an earthquake struck but the company went on to perform that night. Less dramatic was the crisis prompted by the closing of the War Memorial Opera House, for a whole year, for seismic upgrading in 1996, forcing the company into smaller venues for an entire year. At this point the possibility of as the company reducing its size, due to the lower income generated during that time, was seriously discussed.
On the nightmarish night of September 11, 2001 and while again on tour, in Santander, Spain, Tomasson was forced to cancel the performance – the only viable solution at the time but convinced the dancers to stay and rehearse. Tomasson has always attributed this strength of character during hardship to his mentor of his NYCB years, Mr Balanchine. It’s this influence that makes him to constantly test his dancers, like when during the 1986 season, his second with the company, Tomasson introduced the 1947 Balanchine masterpiece, "Theme and Variations", a considerable challenge, to stretch the San Francisco company's men.
During his time with the company he has also staged a multitude of full-length ballets, including ‘’Swan Lake’’ in 1988 (his first), Sleeping Beauty in 1990, Romeo and Juliet in 1994, Giselle in 1999, Don Quixote in 2003 in collaboration with principal dancer Yuri Possokhov and the Nutcracker in 2004, which he claims to be the hardest due to the high expectations of the public after his long career with the company.
Among the list of his achievement, Tomasson lists, being named a Knight of the Order of the Falcon in his homeland during the 70s, the Dance Bay Area’s Isadora Duncan Award for his outstanding choreography in Swan Lake in 1989, Commander of the Order of the Falcon by the president of Iceland in June 1990, the Commonwealth Club of California’s Distinguished Citizen Award in 1991, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement and the Dance Magazine Award in 1992. In 1995, Tomasson joined the Artistic Advisory Board of The Ballet Theatre in Prague and was honoured with the Cultural Award of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. He also conceived the UNited We Dance International Festival, in 1995, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter. In 1996 he was presented with a Doctor of Humane Letters, ‘’honoris causa’’, from Dominican College of San Rafael. In May 2001, Tomasson was granted the rank of ‘’Officier’’ in the French Order of Arts and Letters, in 2002, the Board of Trustees of New York’s Juilliard School bestowed an honorary doctoral degree upon Tomasson. Most recently, in May 2007, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon at the Highest Order, the country’s most prestigious honour. Tomasson has also participated as a judge for ballet competitions around the world. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the School of American Ballet and the Artistic Committee for the New York Choreographic Institute, and has served as a member of the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Advisory Panel. Tomasson also directs the prestigious San Francisco Ballet School, a central piece for the development of SFB.
As a choreographer, teacher, and coach, Tomasson has fostered an uncompromising classicism that has become the bedrock of the San Francisco Ballet's training. The dancers he has trained continue to rise to new heights with each passing year, while worldwide engagements in have brought the company rave reviews and an incomparable level of success and recognition.
[edit] Personal Life
Tomasson lives in San Francisco with his wife, Marlene, who was dancing with The Joffrey Ballet when they met. They have two sons, Erik and Kris. The couple own a 1-acre vineyard and cottage in California’s wine Country (Napa Valley) which they renovated throughout 10 years. [4]
[edit] Repertory [5]
Choreographed for San Francisco Ballet:
- On Common Ground (2007)
- Blue Rose (2006)
- The Fifth Season (2006)
- Bagatelles (2005)
- Nutcracker (2004)
- 7 for Eight (2004)
- Don Quixote (2003)
- Concerto Grosso (2003)
- Chi-Lin (2002)
- Bartok Divertimento (2002)
- Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers (1999)
- Giselle (1999)
- Silver Ladders (1998)
- Two Bits (1998)
- Twilight (1998)
- Criss-Cross (1997)
- Pandora Dance (1997)
- Soirées Musicales (1996)
- Tuning Game (1995)
- Sonata (1995)
- When We No Longer Touch (1995)
- Quartette (1994)
- Romeo & Juliet (1994)
- Nanna’s Lied (1993)
- Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) (1992)
- Forevermore (1992)
- Two plus Two (1992)
- Aurora Polaris (1991)
- Meistens Mozart (1991)
- “Haffner” Symphony (1991)
- The Sleeping Beauty (1990)
- Con Brio (1990)
- Valses Poeticos (1990)
- Handel—a Celebration (1989)
- Swan Lake (1988)
- Intimate Voices (1987)
- Bizet pas de deux (1987)
- Concerto in d: Poulenc (1986)
- Confidencias (1986)
Additional Ballets:
- Prism (2000), choreographed for New York City Ballet’s Spring Season
- “Much Ado…” (1999), choreographed for Alberta Ballet
- Ballet d’Isoline (1983), choreographed for School of American Ballet
- Giuliani: Variations on a Theme, choreographed for School of American Ballet
- Menuetto, originally choreographed for New York City Ballet, premiering during its 1984 summer session at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center
- Contredanses, which he choreographed in 1984 for Finis Jhung’s Chamber Ballet USA
- Beads of Memory, originally choreographed in 1985 for Houston Ballet
[edit] References
- ^ 20 YEARS OF HELGI
- ^ 20 YEARS OF HELGI
- ^ San Francisco Ballet - The Company - Artistic Director
- ^ 20 YEARS OF HELGI
- ^ San Francisco Ballet - The Company - Artistic Director
