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]
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SAN FRANCISCO BALLET TICKETS
| EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
|---|
| San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/6 | Dec 06, 2024
Fri, 7:00 PM |  | | San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/7 | Dec 07, 2024
Sat, 7:00 PM | | | San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/7 | Dec 07, 2024
Sat, 2:00 PM | | | San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/8 | Dec 08, 2024
Sun, 2:00 PM | | | San Francisco Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/8 | Dec 08, 2024
Sun, 7:00 PM | |
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History
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.
The
San Francisco Ballet Guild was also formed during this time as a support organization for San Francisco Ballet.
[3]
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.
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.
Timeline of productions
Premiere
| Ballet
| Choreographer
| Original Leads
| Notes
| Source
|
| 1938
| Coppélia
| Christensen
| Unknown
| First complete production ever in the U.S.
| |
| 1940
| Swan Lake
|
|
| First complete production ever in the U.S.
| |
| 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.
| |
| 1947
| Giselle
|
|
|
| |
| 1976
| Romeo and Juliet
| Smuin
|
|
| |
| 1978
| La Fille Mal Gardée
| Ashton
|
|
| |
| 1981
| The Tempest
| Smuin
|
|
| |
| April 30, 2004
| Sylvia
| Morris
| Yuan Yuan Tan, Yuri Possokhov
| First American production
| |
Present company
Artistic Director
Ballet Master / Assistant to the Artistic Director
Ballet Masters
Company Teachers
Choreographer in Residence
Principal Dancers
- Nicolas Blanc
- Joan Boada
- Taras Domitro
- Lorena Feijoo
|
- Jaime Garcia Castilla
- Tiit Helimets
- Davit Karapetyan
- Maria Kochetkova
|
- Tina LeBlanc
- Kristin Long
- Ruben Martin
- Pascal Molat
|
- Gennadi Nedvigin
- Ivan Popov
- Damian Smith
- Sofiane Sylve
- Yuan Yuan Tan
|
- Sarah Van Patten
- Pierre-François Vilanoba
- Rachel Viselli
- Katita Waldo
- Vanessa Zahorian
|
Principal Character Dancers
Soloists
- Elana Altman
- Frances Chung
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- Dana Genshaft
- Julianne Kepley
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- Mateo Klemmayer
- Pauli Magierek
|
- Elizabeth Miner
- Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun
- Garen Scribner
|
- James Sofranko
- Anthony Spaulding
- Hansuke Yamamoto
|
Corps de Ballet
- 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
|
Apprentices
San Francisco Ballet at 75: The American Tour, 2008
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.
Program A
New York City Center, October 2008
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
Friday, October 10
|
dancers
|
- Frances Chung
- Tina LeBlanc
- Elizabeth Miner
- Rachel Viselli
- Vanessa Zahorian
|
- Taras Domitro
- Ruben Martin
- Gennadi Nedvigin
|
Wednesday, October 15
|
dancers
|
- Elana Altman
- Kristin Long
- Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun
- Sarah Van Patten
- Katita Waldo
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- Davit Karapetyan
- Mateo Klemmayer
- Hansuke Yamamoto
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Saturday, October 18, evening
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dancers
|
- Frances Chung
- Dana Genshaft
- Maria Kochetkova
- Rachel Viselli
- Vanessa Zahorian
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- Taras Domitro
- Ruben Martin
- Gennadi Nedvigin
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Program B
New York City Center, October 2008
|
|
|
- Saturday, October 11,
evening
|
The Fifth Season
Helgi Tomasson's
choreography to Karl Jenkins' music with Sandra Woodall's scenery and costumes and Michael Mazzola's lighting
Concerto Grosso
Helgi Tomasson's
choreography to Francesco Geminiani's music with Sandra Woodall's costumes and David Finn's lighting
Joyride
Mark Morris'
choreography to John Adams' music with Isaac Mizrahi's costumes and James F. Ingalls' lighting
The Four Temperaments
George Balanchine's
choreography to Paul Hindemith's music, staged by Elyse Borne
Program C
New York City Center, October 2008
References
- One Step Closer to Perfection
- History of San Francisco Ballet
- San Francisco Ballet history
- Morris' 'Sylvia' forgoes showy dancing for an old-fashioned, irony-free romance