San Francisco Ballet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

SF Ballet program book, April 2006
SF Ballet program book, April 2006
Dance Portal

San Francisco Ballet, or SFB, is a San Francisco, USA based ballet company, founded in 1933 as part of San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, where it is directed by Helgi Tomasson. SFB is notable for being the first professional American ballet company and likewise for having performed many ballets for their first time in the USA.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1938-1950

The first major production which the company engineered was Coppélia in 1938, choreographed by Willam Christensen[1]. 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[1], the San Francisco Ballet Guild was also formed during this time as a sort of supporting organization for San Francisco Ballet[2].

[edit] 1951-1985

1951 was the next significant shift in administration of San Francisco Ballet. In this year, Lew Christensen the premier danseur at the time partnered with William 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 an American ballet company toured the Far East for the first time ever; this was SFB and they went to 11 different nations in Asia to perform[1]. On New Year's Eve in 1964, 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 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. [1]
1940 Swan Lake First complete production ever in the U.S. [1][2]
December 24, 1944 Nutcracker Started tradition of Christmas Eve showing; for ten years this was the only complete Nutcracker performed in the U.S. [1][2]
1947 Giselle [2]
1976 Romeo and Juliet Smuin [2]
1978 La Fille Mal Gardée Ashton [2]
1981 The Tempest Smuin [2]
April 30, 2004 Sylvia Morris Yuan Yuan Tan, Yuri Possokhov Recently shown [1][3]

[edit] Present company

[edit] Artistic Director

[edit] Principal Dancers

  • Nicolas Blanc
  • Joan Boada
  • Lorena Feijoo
  • Tiit Helimets
  • Davit Karapetyan
  • Maria Kochetkova
  • Tina LeBlanc
  • Kristin Long
  • Ruben Martin
  • Pascal Molat
  • Gennadi Nedvigin
  • Damian Smith
  • Molly Smolen
  • Yuan Yuan Tan
  • 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

  • Elana Altman
  • Garrett Anderson
  • Frances Chung
  • Jaime Garcia Castilla
  • Rory Hohenstein
  • Julianne Kepley
  • Mateo Klemmayer
  • Elizabeth Miner
  • Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun
  • James Sofranko
  • Hansuke Yamamoto


[edit] Ballet Master / Assistant to the Artistic Director

  • Ashley Wheater

[edit] Ballet Masters

  • Ricardo Bustamante
  • Betsy Erickson
  • Anita Paciotti

[edit] Company Teachers

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

[edit] Choreographer in Residence

  • Yuri Possokhov

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g McCarthy, Terrence (2004 Repertory Season). "History of San Francisco Ballet". San Francisco Ballet Magazine 71 (6): 8. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Renouf, Renee (2001). San Francisco Ballet history. Accessed September 19, 2005.
  3. ^ Simpson, Michael Wade (2004). Morris' 'Sylvia' forgoes showy dancing for an old-fashioned, irony-free romance Accessed September 19, 2005.

Richard E. Leblond, Jr., Meg Madden, (1988). From Chaos to Fragility: My Years at the San Francisco Ballet Association. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8403-5013-9. 

Debra Hickenlooper Sowell,. The Christensen Brothers: An American Dance Epic,. ISBN 90-5755-028-8. 

[edit] External links