Young San Francisco and Houston Dancers

Last year San Francisco Ballet School and the Houston Ballet Academy commenced a two-week exchange for their advanced students, Called Houston Ballet II and in San Francisco Ballet School Trainees. This past late October and early November the exchange occurred in San Francisco with two performances scheduled as the climax of the exchange.

Overall responsibility was shared by the artistic directors, Stanton Welch for Houston and Helgi Tomasson in San Francisco with the details arranged by Shelly Power, House Ballet Academy’s director and Patrick Armand, SFB’s Associate School Director. The nitty-gritty of scheduling and rehearsals clearly was the province of Claudio Munoz and Sabrina Lenzi from Houston and Wendy Van Dyck in San Francisco. Additionally, James Sofranko, San Francisco Ballet soloist, contributed his second work for the young local dancers. Both November 6 and 7 performances were seen in the Lew Christensen Studio at the Franklin
Street location of San Francisco Ballet.

Houston Ballet II comprised thirteen dancers, with three dancers from the Ballet Academy. San Francisco Ballet also had thirteen trainees augmented by several advanced SFB students for the Handel finale. The Houston dancers are on the smallish side, San Francisco’s taller, with the exception of one or two young Asian women .

I saw the November 7 performance, comprised of three works: Sofranko’s Means to an End; Welch’s The Long and Winding Road, ending with Helgi Tomasson’s Handel- A Celebration.

James Sofranko’s Means to an End utilized eight dancers in interesting stop, start, parallel stage movements, entrances and exits down stage left and upstage right as I remember. I found my interest piqued, but need to see it again – I am not that good on a quick first take. The dancers were Blake Johnston, Larkin Miller, Yumi Kanazawa, Joseph Warton, Natasha Sheehan, Nathaniel Remez, Shane Lazarus and David Occhipini

Beatles Go Baroque by Peter Breiner provided the musical background for Stanton Welch’s The Long and Winding Road with titles like Michelle, And I Love Her, Fool on the Hill, Paperback Writer, Here Comes the Sun, Carry That Weight, songs which must mean something to Beatles fans. The dancers slipped in an out of the improvised wings, at least three on each side as I remember.

Of the Houston Dancers my program showed marks for Daniel Durrett, Larkin Miller, and Anabel Katsnelson, along with Alexandra Burman and Jack Thomas. This was because they were featured in Handel A Celebration, an early Helgi Tomasson piece for San Francisco Ballet. A number of the level 8 dancers also participated, since it was a piece designed as a finale for the entire company.

I love the music, with Tomasson’s arm sweeps carryimg through Handel’s capacity for grand sound, a definite declarative phrasing. Annabel Katsnelson of Houston danced section IV, which I would swear was Elizabeth Loscavio’s nimble contribution. Madison Young and Syvert Lorenz Garcia undertook the diagonal approaches once danced by Joanna Berman lower stage left and Anthony Randazzo from upper stage right, the music to which the song “Where’er You Walk” were added, conjuring court costumes fashioned from elegant brocades.

When the program was over and after generous applause, the dancers introduced themselves. Name and age came out strong, but diffidence tended to swallow their city or country of origin, save one husky San Francisco trainee.

San Francisco Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet on Film

At a September 21 preview in San Francisco’s Century Theatre, housed in the old Emporium building, a selected audience saw San Francisco’s current Romeo and Juliet production which starts the Lincoln Center at the Movies series October 1. While it is not PBS’ Great Performances series in which Michael Smuin’s version opened the dance series to full-length ballets, the Helgi Tomasson version enjoyed a remarkable production thanks to Thomas Grimm, and the various fiscal sponsors acknowledged by Tomasson and on the screen.

What made a notable difference from the early PBS series, created by the memorable trio of Merrill Brockway, Jak Venza and Judy Kinberg, were the use of closeups and deliberate cutting of movement, filmed May 7 at San Francisco’s Opera House. Cuts to an individual face or chest shots infused more drama than long shots with feet and body moving to the Prokofiev score. In addition, shots of the towns people and the harlots during the action added to the overall ambiance, the sense of a small interactive community.

Maria Kochekova and Davit Karapetyan were the fated lovers, supported by Pascal Molat as Mercutio and Luke Ingham as Tybalt with Joseph Walsh as Benvolio. Anita Paciotti reprised her role as the Nurse; Jim Sohm stepped eloquently in as Friar Lawrence while Ricardo Bustamonte and Sophiane Sylve were the steely Capulets, Ruben Martin and Leslie Escobar the Montagues. Myles Thatcher, the choreographic wunderkind of the corps, was a blond Paris. [Readers of my earlier SFB R&J review know my feelings about a too-early age of County Paris.]

There were at least three interviews between the acts, which were identified on the upper left, along with quotations from Will’s play; Helgi Tomasson; Warren Pistone who doubles as sword master and the Prince of Verona; Anita Paciotti
who speaks of the use of children in the production. Additional comments included Davit Karapetyan, Maria Kochetkova and Pascal Molat regarding the roles and the challenges of the fight scenes. Kochetkova was quite coy.

The handsome production additionally featured Martin West commenting on the score, the costume and makeup departments received their share of footage along with a small group of children making their contribution. I would pay to see the movie again.

The following evening, at a gathering to celebrate the 41st wedding anniversary of Carlos and Carolyn Carvajal Tony Ness, former San Francisco Ballet dancer who belonged to the Smuin era of the PBS filming of Smuin’s reading of Shakespeare’s tragedy to Prokofiev’s music, was present. He refreshed my memories of the Smuin production, both for the premiere and the PBS production when Diana Weber and Jim Sohm were the ill-fated teens with Anita Paciotti as Lady Capulet, Attila Ficzere as Mercutio, Gary Wahl as Tybalt, and Tina Santos the nurse.

At Smuin’s premiere, Vane Vest and Lynda Meyer were Romeo and Juliet and Anita Paciotti was the nurse. The balcony was upstage right and the entire set designed so that it could travel, a fact heading the review for The Christian Science Monitor. Tony was the Duke of Verona, but the PBS version placed Vest in the role. Paula Tracy appeared as Lady Capulet with Keith Martin and Susan Magno as the street dancers in the original production. Magno later danced Juliet with Tom Ruud and Jim Sohm. There were a succession of dancers in the roles – David McNaughton with Linda Montaner and later Alexander Topciy with Evelyn Cisneros. I believe Smuin’s production was later mounted by Ballet West, a natural connection for Smuin’s dance career started under Willam Christensen.

Most touching, however, in the PBS version Lew Christensen was Friar Lawrence. I also couldn’t help thinking of the succession of roles Sohm has assumed with such finesse following his active dance career; Grandfather in Nutcracker; Don Quixote in that ballet and now Friar Lawrence.

Earlier Tomasson Romeos, Anthony Randazzo, Yuri Possokhov, Pierre Francois Villanoba, and Joanna Berman’s Juliet, also floated to the surface. Clearly, the Tomasson production, elegant as it is, beautifully realized by the dancers, prompted memory lane meanderings.