旧金山芭蕾舞剧欢迎世界上最重要的芭蕾舞演员的工作回到2月3日星期四的舞台，而战争纪念歌剧院的反应是狂热的。

But “ballet choreographer” does not seem the right descriptor for William Forsythe. He is not so much a choreographer as an artist — one of the most interesting alive in any medium — who has returned to using the idiom of classical ballet at the highest level. Which is to say, even if you don’t have the slightest interest in tendus and pointe shoes, you should see his “Blake Works I.” It will explode your ballet prejudices. And it will make you feel more alive.

Created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2016, “Blake Works I” offers all the intellectual stimulation of ’80s-era Forsythe but with a free and easy, inviting energy.

As the curtain rises and the electronic sounds of British songwriter James Blake begin to pulse through the speakers, a field of dancers stand naturally, bouncing their hips. They wear simple blue practice clothes, except for Joseph Walsh, who appears in black jeans and T-shirt just to loosen up the atmosphere. A lot of the appeal here is in seeing the dancers perform as contemporary human beings rather than as museum actors of ballet yore. When not tossing off virtuoso foot-beating jumps, they drop all pretenses and watch each other with hands on hips; they sashay and chill.

Of course, plenty of other choreographers have done this kind of thing to pop music. But almost no other choreographer commands Forsythe’s dazzling dexterity with the language of ballet. (Twyla Tharp comes to mind as one of the few who can match him, but the influence discernible in “Blake Works I” comes from George Balanchine — you can see flashes of his “Apollo” and “Rubies” all over it.)

And then there’s the musicality. Ballet is “a way of hearing,” Forsythe says in the trailer for his pandemic sequel, “The Barre Project (Blake Works II),” made for New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck and premiered online last year. “What you’re really showing is how you listen.” For “Blake Works I,” Forsythe has listened so attentively that this intricate, incredibly calculated movement feels spontaneous.

It’s hard to describe the dance episodes without also exclaiming over the unleashed gifts of the San Francisco Ballet dancers. Aaron Robison was made for this. Brash and slinky, he leads a section of men in which Esteban Hernandez got a contrasting jaw-dropper solo, capitalizing on his compact frame and his ability to hover in terre à terre phrases like a hummingbird. Ayman Harper, a longtime Forsythe dancer, staged this production and chose the casts, and he has reshuffled the roster most delightfully. It’s a joy to see short Julia Rowe, one of the company’s most naturally musical dancers, paired with the towering Robison. They work so naturally, you think, why not pair them all the time?

最终的二重奏是几个痛苦（但没有痛苦）的私密集中之一，周四晚上它被给予光脚和清洁跳舞的Max Cauthorn和Sasha de Sola，他穿过芭蕾舞，就像一种无势利的芭蕾舞“它”女孩，折腾壮举。他们结束了第一职位，武器在舞者呼叫“en haut”的基本起始位置，武装开销。就好像要开玩笑地说，“这一切都刚刚芭蕾舞。”

“Blake Works I” caps an unbeatable program, which also included Jerome Robbins’ “In the Night.” With its three contrasting portraits of love, it was superbly delivered Thursday.

Sarah Van Patten was the thrashing woman in the ballet’s third couple opposite a touchingly bewildered Ulrik Birkkjaer. Benjamin Freemantle still seemed green as the opening innocent young lover opposite Mathilde Froustey, but he rose to the occasion. As for Tiit Helimets, he deserves a MVP award for being the most dignified, mature partner in the company. Performing as half of the formal, seemingly long-married couple, he brought out Jennifer Stahl’s best.

“Caprice,” from 2014, is one of Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s best ballets, and it leads the night. The fourth movement, to the adagio of Saint-Saëns’ third symphony, gave us Yuan Yuan Tan at her lyrical finest, making surreal sculpture with her fluid spine. Partnering a sparkling Misa Kuranaga, Angelo Greco found both his ballon and his old overbrimming exuberance.

If famed writer Susan Sontag was right that the most urgent function of art is to help us “recover our senses,” you can’t find much better art than this program. You will hear more, you will see more, you will feel more.

旧金山芭蕾舞演员：计划2持续到2月13日。$ 29-448。战争纪念歌剧院，301 van Ness Ave.，S.F.415-865-2000。www.sfballet.org