The 2016 San Francisco Ballet Gala

 

January 21 provided the usual well-dressed mayhem in the Opera House Lobby for San Francisco Ballet’s Gala opening.  After the national anthem and Chairman John S. Osterweis delivered verbal thanks to the occasion’s organizers and sponsors,a lengthy roster; he also thanked the Ballet’s Board for its support of a dance institution which has survived its various manifestations and flourished to see its 84 years of performing with its national and international roster of remarkable dancers.  It also goes without saying that Helgi Tomasson is a master in staging a gala, not only for its variety but for using dancers to keep interest high, quite a feat in the stylish, quite self-involved patrons..

The audience enjoyed the choreographic gifts of three Russians: Marius Petipa (2); George Balanchine (4); Yuri Possokov, celebrating a decade as choreographer in residence (1).  The remaining five included Christopher Wheeldon, Hans Von Manen, William Forsythe, Helgi Tomasson and Jiri Bubenchcek.

In collaboration with Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet will be presenting Coppelia in program four, staged by Alexandra Danilova nad George Balanchine after the original Paris Opera production of 1870 to that delicious music by Leo Delibes.  In pastel pink and following a time-honored practice of providing performance opportunities to students [in Paris it would have been les petite rats], a bevy of San Francisco Ballet students danced the Waltz of the Hours with Jennifer Stahl as the focal point with her high and handsome extensions.  Let it be said that the formations Balanchine devised, staged by Judith Fugate, were as impressive as the students’ execution and doubtless equally stimulating to the performers.

Maya Plisetskaya’s husband Rodin Shchedrin created several musical settings for his late wife, One, based on the story of Carmen, Yuri Possokhov used for his sultry pas de deux for Lorena Feijoo and Victor Luiz, a couple who told the tale of initial attraction between the gypsy and Don Jose with appropriate passion, strains of Bizet reminding the viewer of the seche fleur Jose had possessed in jail.  Possokhov’s understanding of a pas de deux can be picture perfect, and in this instant he was true to his reputation.

From the sultry to the complex music of Bela Bartok’s Divertimento, Helgi Tomasson entrusted his dancing quartet to three members of the corps de ballet, Max Cauthorn,Esteban Hernandez,  and and Wei Wang plus an advanced student of the school, Natasha Sheehan, skillfully staged by Tina Le Blanc.

Number four on the program was clearly a high point, Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, premiered in 1960 at New York’s City Center with Violette Verdy and one time San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Conrad Ludlow.  Here danced by Frances Chung and Gennadi Nedvigin, it was a delight from start to finish, Chung crisp and Nedvigin crystallizing his ascent in jumps
with a moment of distinct clarity.  Her turns were bursts of joy and Nedvigin gave us a mellow classicism that made one wanting to melt.

Christopher Wheeldon’s take on the romance in Carousel was given a dramatic sharpness by Doris Andre and steady persuasion by Joan Boarda.

The final pas de deux before intermission featured the Marius Petipa 1869 war horse Don Quixote Pas de Deux, with Vanessa Zahorian and Taras Domitro dancing to the Ludwig Mnkus music as set by Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov, virtually unmodified.  The balances required of Zahorian were noticeable, her fouettes in the coda frequently double.  Taras Domitro gave us some alarmingly good grand jetes, eliciting gasps from the audience.  Both were smooth and elegant.  After all,  having outwitted Kitri’s father, the couple are dancing at their wedding, and the ought to be celebrating.

Following intermission, there was a local premiere of Gentle Memories choreographed by the Czech born dancer-choreographer Jiri Bubenicek, created for the Youth America Grand Prix in 2012 and staged that September at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. With Ming Luke at the piano, the music by Karen LeFrak was filled with musical phrases clearly linked to Scottish folk songs, appropriately enough for Yuan Yuan Tan with four swains, Tiit Helimets, Victor Luiz and Carlos Quenedit.

The temperature raised quite a bit for the next two numbers with Balanchine’s Rubies danced by Maria Kochetkova and Pascal Molat.  It was interesting to remember who else danced the number for Kotchetkova and Molat gave it a polished air beyond the sheer energy it has been danced by American born dancers.

Hans Van Manen created Solo to Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin solo which grows with increasing intensity.  It has been a frequent ballet on the company’s roster, here danced by Joseph Walsh, Gennadi Nedvigin and Hansuke Yamamoto with customary skill and relish.

Mathilde Froustey and Davit Karapetyan matched skill in the Act III pas de deux of Swan Lake, where Petipa created 32 fouettes en tournant for Pierina Legnani in the role of Odile.  It looked like this was Froustey’s maiden attempt in the role/ A charming dancer with beautiful proportions and exceptional port de bras, she did not complete the requisite fouettes or sur la place.  Karapetyan partnered attentively and conveyed his progressive attraction with conviction.

Sofiane Sylve and Carlos Di Lanno provided four minutes from the William Forsythe Pas/Porte to be featured fully in Program I, an angular choreography costumed by Stephen Galloway in practice costumes rendered with large pathches of color – I remember a lime green in particular. The dancers, of course, were spot on.

Sofiane Sylve and Carlo Di Lanno in Forsythe’s Pas/Parts. (© Erik Tomasson)

The finale saw Luke Ingham in the role Igor Youskevitch created in Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, while Vanessa Zahorian danced Alicia Alonso’s part, created for Ballet Theatre in 1947.  To Tchaikovsky’s radiant music, corps de ballet and demi-soloists  rush on and off in waves, create diagonals, cross lines with jete arabesques, and turn energetically.  Easily, it was a triumphant finale for a grand exhibit of San Francisco Ballet’s continuing strength and excitement.

Sad to say, it also marks the beginning of Joan Boada and Pascal Molat’s final season with the company.

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 School’s 2015 Student Showcase

The May 28 program for the annual San Francisco Ballet School recital at the Yerba Buena Center’s Lam Research Theater listed sixteen faculty members and eight pianists. Four of the faculty were guests, current or former principals with the company. The wonderful Brian Fisher was listed for Contemporary Dance, with Leonid Shagalov for Character Dance.

The parents and assorted relatives attached to the dancers behaved like parents in any audience where offspring are involved and contact with other parents is fairly frequent. It’s one of the closest things to neighborhood that San Francisco can muster, perhaps outside of The Ethnic Dance Festival or other studio recitals. All anything extra is needed are trestle tables and pot luck contributions and country America would be shining clear.

Using a medley of Alexander Glasunov’s melodies, Parrish Maynard devised a handsome display of the students from level 2 to level 8. Not quite a defile or a full one-act ballet, it none the less felt and looked like something grand, while at the same time remaining the very personal pull of seeing earnest young faces, mostly smiling, presenting the tradition moulding their bodies and minds into exponents of Louis XIV’s ecole de danse. It was the best such presentation of the school’s students in my memory.

Capping this display before intermission was James Sofranko’s sprightly, musically adept interpretation of a Mozart Symphony. Sofranko, a SFB soloist and a graduate of the Julliard School of Music, provided unerring touches of colloquial movement to augment a thorough exposition of classical technique with formations and movement patterns underlying the benefits of his Julliard schooling. I could watch back to back a dozen times and still find delight.

Senior student Benjamin Freemantle’s work Bare to music by Laure Romano Bare followed Intermission, danced by two couples and six corps. The women wore long flowing garments with generous swaps of color, evoking attempts at tie dye. Handsome dancers, swirling skirts and frequent entrances and exits, but mood or emotion failed to visit this early choreographic effort.

Patrick Armand staged Vasily Vainonen’s Flames of Paris pas de deux, danced to Boris Asafyev’s music. The dancing pair were Chisako Oga and Haruo Niyama, both small, energetic, engaging and technically highly proficient. It’s my understanding the Niyama is yet to see sweet sixteen, but brimming over with the chops to deliver this Soviet era evocation of the French Revolution.

Having seen photos of Vakhtang Chabukiani in the role as well as seeing its comparatively recent popularity at the Jackson Competitions following Joseph Phillip’s successful rendition, It’s hard to discern a knowledge of the work’s back story and unlikely the dance world will make Simon Schama’s book on the Revolution required reading. This is not to denigrate May 20’s highly competent rendition, but to mention a need for the dance world to investigate any historical roots of what is portrayed, particularly in this country with its short history.

Tina Le Blanc staged Helgi Tomasson’s Bartok Divertimento for Natasha Sheehan with Francisco Sebastao, Blake Kessler and Daniel Domenach.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Soiree Musicale to Benjamin Britten’s music, created to honor Dame Ninette de Valois’ 90th birthday, received its American premiere with S.F. Ballet School’s students. With two principals, a male pas de quatre, two sets of six couples and a dozen corps members, it was a major undertaking on a relatively small stage. It would be good to see it staged at the Opera House or even Stern Grove where sight lines are less overwhelmed and the dancers enjoy a modicum of space; the stage at Lam Research Theater is too small.

As in all other numbers Soiree Musicale was a noble effort, competently performed and emblematic of the strides shown by the current crop of teachers and students at the school. The confidence and nascent wisps of elegance one hopes to see deepen each following spring, with the fervent desire that there will be enough ensembles to absorb the evident talent.

Jazz Session with San Francisco Ballet Students

Wendy Van Dyck, who coordinates San Francisco Ballet’s advanced students performing group, cast an inquiring eye at the arrival of the San Francisco Jazz Center edifice on Franklin and Fell Streets and her inquiry bore remarkable fruit. With the aid of the program director at the Center, Erin Putnam, eleven advanced San Francisco Ballet students collaborated with six 2014-2015 SF Jazz High School all-Stars Comb, S.F. Jazz Center’s students led by Dann Zinn, in a combined improvisation and structured event at the Jazz Center’s Theatre, coming together on April 21

The Center’s amphitheatre seating exposed the eleven dancers, five young women, six young men relentlessly but did not deter their improvisations. Restrictions were based on the space itself or the line of fellow dancers awaiting their turn.

Such a handsome, well honed set of bodies, joy to watch! The height and shape of both genders were models of what steady study, diet and discipline can provide the adolescent. One of my favorite parts of classicism in the human body, the arms, clearly reflected the definition of the upper arm without which strapless or sleeveless garments for women look frumpy,and and many possessors oblivious to the contours exposed in a full-length mirror.

As expected, there was much space devouring and aerial competence by the dancers; a few chose some floor work, but it was clear ballet discipline emphasizes reach, stretch and musical acuity. With Dana Genshaft as choreographer, it was apparent that the weightedness of modern dance has yet to balance ballet’s emphasis on lightness and position precision, for modern dance has a closer and visceral kinship with jazz.

I am in no position to evaluate the six musicians’ ability, but their support of the dancers was solid and included Paul Desmond’s Take Five and a number by Oscar Levant, Blame It on My Youth. It should be noted that the young musicians’ dedication included commuting from the mid-Peninsula outside of school hours.

The musicians listed were: Akili Bradley, trumpet; Matt Richards, alto; Eric Nakanishi, tenor; Matt Wong, piano; Kanoa Mendenhall, Bass; Benjamin Ring, drums.

I think either Patrick Armand, the Associate Director of the San Francisco Ballet School, or Wendy Van Dyck, mentioned that the students’ native countries numbered nine. They were: Hadriel Diniz; Daniel Domenech; Blake Kessler; Anastasia Kubanda; Shene Lazarus; Daniel McCormick; Haruo Niyama; Davide Occhipinti; Chisako Oga; Francisco Sebastiao; Natasha Sheehan.

A brief Q and A followed the hour-long program.