A swan’s satin-shod foot fluttered, a red fan flickered, and the ritual repetitions of ballet felt comfortingly old as civility itself Thursday, March 24, when the San Francisco Ballet welcomed more than 3,000 patrons to its first gala since the start of the pandemic. Appropriately titled “La Grande Fete,” and pushed to the middle of the company’s season to avoid the omicron surge, this was also the highest-grossing event in the company’s 89-year history, according to the newly appointed executive director,Danielle St. Germain-Gordon.
投资基金和风险投资中的企业聊天在Preshow Promenade期间通过战争纪念歌剧院的Beaux Arts House呼应。但在舞台上，在站立“星星旗帜的横幅”后，当时的开始越来越多。
Artistic DirectorHelgi Tomasson.凡计划在五月结束时退休，在过去37年内将区域剧团转变为领先的国际公司的男子，以令人满意地夺取讲台，以令人满意的是，令人感谢人群。so much for your loyalty,” before noting that the night’s program would include four new ballets, two by choreographers with families in Ukraine. He致力于乌克兰所有人的表现并要求观众给小姐tions to refugees as an image of the war-torn country’s flag was projected behind him. Then he had Music Director Martin West strike up the orchestra in the Ukrainian national anthem.
Delayed gratification makes San Francisco Ballet’s gala more satisfying
It was an evening anchored by 19th century showstoppers, as nearly all ballet galas must be. Yuan Yuan Tan, still the company’s unofficial prima ballerina assoluta as she marks her 27th year here, offered the poetic climax with a liquid-armed rendition of the white swan pas de deux, exquisitely partnered by Tiit Helimets and capped with a trembling serré — that little foot flutter that suggests both a bird’s feathers and a woman frighteningly in love.
Earlier, Wona Park flicked her red fan and held it overhead between fouetté turns during an astonishingly confident performance of the “Don Quixote” pas de deux with a gravity-defying Angelo Greco.
Before and between these eternally recognizable main events came a program that was curiously postmodern and meta, if you were in the know.
New York City Ballet resident choreographer Justin Peck’s “Bloom,” a hit at the Vail Dance Festival and in New York last year, is a winking take on “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux,” a gala staple by George Balanchine that New York dance fans practically know by heart but is more rarely seen on this coast. There are little quotes of the music in the deconstructive score for string quartet by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, and little hints of Balanchine’s choreography, like the Ballet’s Sasha De Sola finishing a whirling line of châiné spins standing on a jazzy, turned-in leg. Even the costumes by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung are a funny take on the Balanchine ballet, using the original colors but giving the male dancer a plunging V down his back.
But the audience didn’t need to know any of this to appreciate the artistry of De Sola and her partner Joseph Walsh in some delightfully odd and difficult steps. Both of them move with such secure control in their centers that they’re like bel canto singers in top form — their bodies sing.
A guide to Helgi Tomasson’s final San Francisco Ballet season
Myles atcher是一家公司独奏家，现在已经为芭蕾舞演员造成了八个工作。他的世界首映式“鼓滚动！”是一系列不同的后现代主义条纹，重铸古老的PAS deux结构作为运动比赛，DoreAndré和Ulrik Birkkjaer在Romping前往Zany Offenbach之前像奥林匹克人一样弯曲。这个笑话可能有点一点，但这不是每天都可以看到Pointe鞋中的芭蕾舞女演员，通过重复一个男人的一步 - André从恩l'空气中拉下来。
There was a postmodern playfulness, too, in starting the gala performances with a bowler-hatted trio from Yuri Possokhov’s “Magrittomania.” Danced with trampoline bounce by Max Cauthorn, Steven Morse and Henry Sidford, it remixed tropes from surrealist artist René Magritte’s paintings.
The piece was followed by an excerpt from Danielle Rowe’s “Wooden Dimes,” which seemed poignantly ironic, watching Sarah Van Patten’s 1930’s showgirl character choose the limelight over her husband (in real life, the dramatically commandingVan Patten is set to retirefrom performing after a farewell performance in April). Unfortunately this snippet — from a longer ballet that premiered on video last year — did not stand so neatly on its own.
在世界两位编织者与乌克兰的舞蹈家的首演中，真诚的直接诚信 - 成功而不是。
Aleman Ballet Theatre Choreographer在Residence Alexei Ratmansky揭开了“LeRéveildeLore”，由Riccardo Drigo的Ligting四重奏由Marius Petipa于1894年于1894年进行编排。Ratmansky, whose choreography of a different Petipa-commissioned score, “The Seasons,” met with audience adoration at its debut at the War Memorial this month, used just two movements of Drigo’s music and created a sweet little gambol that especially gives the men an interesting fluidity in the neck, with lots of heads-thrown-back jumps. It would all look a lot better in something sleeker than costume designer Holly Hynes’ baggy outfits, but Wei Wang and Benjamin Freemantle still managed to soar, while Misa Kuranaga and Isabella DeVivo achieved a skittering lightness.
与此同时，居民编舞师可能的新“崛起”为令人兴奋的阵容涌现提供了一个展示。如果只有芭蕾舞的情绪轨迹都有任何意义。
Chung开始在私人痛苦中到达她的四肢。然后六个面临着阴影背部的兵团舞蹈演员来到了生活中，并在她身上扔了柔滑的自我。然后，不知何故，群体愉快地合并在地板上制作隐蔽的手势。然后钟独立，最后他们都被拥抱了。这一切都非常忙碌，以重要的方式，就像波西纳纳萨克辛斯卡耶的音乐一样。
来自Tomasson自己的“Prism”的结局在夜间关闭了钢琴家罗伊博戈斯飞行通过贝多芬的第一个Piano Concerto和Esteban Hernandez飞越像芭蕾舞赛鸽的芭蕾舞队一样，通过超过两名舞者的集合。这是一个致力于TIMASSON的致敬，结束了一会儿让人想起截姆跳舞 - 从一个非常干净，技术纯净的转弯跳跃的her her暂停，只是举起双手，好像在整个舞者附近打电话。
It’s hard to believe that come next year, incoming Artistic Director Tamara Rojo will be leading the Ballet, marking the company’s 90th season, invoking the rituals again. May “Swan Lake” live on, may the world during her tenure be more peaceful, and may the support to all refugees flow.
旧金山芭蕾舞队2022：The season continues with Programs Five and Six, and “Swan Lake.” April 2-May 8. The War Memorial Opera House, 3000 Van Ness Ave., S.F. $22-$375. 415-865-2000.www.sfballet.org