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2016-2017 Company Promotions and Retirements

apollosmuse

By apollosmuse
in San Francisco Ballet

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apollosmuse

apollosmuse

Posted
Posted

Looks like a good number of new faces and promotions this year!

From SFB's Facebook:

**Breaking News** Announcing six promotions, five new Company members, and five apprentices for the 2017 Season! Carlo Di Lanno has been promoted to Principal Dancer. Francisco Mungamba, Julia Rowe, Wei Wang, and WanTing Zhao have been promoted to Soloist. Blake Kessler has been promoted to Corps de Ballet. Angelo Greco joins as a Soloist and Aaron Robison as a Principal Dancer. New members of the Corps de Ballet include Ludmila Bizalion, Elizabeth Mateer, and Natasha Sheehan. Alexandre Cagnat, Shené Lazarus, Davide Occhipinti, Nathaniel Remez, and Isabella Walsh of the SF Ballet School Trainee Program have been promoted to the rank of Apprentice.

More details in the PR: https://www.sfballet.org/about/media_center/press_releases/dancer_announcement17

None of the promotions seem very surprising to me--all people who seemed to be in line for promotion.

A few interesting things to note in the new hires though:

  • Ludmila Bizalion (formerly known as Ludmila Campos) is returning after stints with Royal Ballet of Flanders, Hong Kong Ballet, Diablo Ballet, and Smuin
  • Natasha Sheehan (the trainee who performed at the Gala) is hired straight into the corps
  • Only one apprentice from 2015-2016 is joining the company--the website has already been updated, so I'm not sure off the top of my head who the other apprentices were/where they're going. Does anybody have more info?
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Josette

Josette

Posted
Posted

At the final performance curtain calls, Grace Shibley was one of two female dancers pulled forward to the front by Ruben Martin Cintas for a special acknowledgement while the company on stage was applauding with the audience.

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miliosr

miliosr

Posted
Posted
New principal dancer Aaron Robison has most recently been a principal dancer with Houston Ballet. New soloist Angelo Greco has been dancing with La Scala Ballet.

Robison's just shy of principal status at Houston Ballet. He's a first soloist who performs a lot of principal roles. That may be part of why he made the jump to San Francisco -- getting that coveted principal status, especially at a higher ranking company. (Was Robison not a principal at Angel Corella's Barcelona Ballet during its waning days? Having had that rank once, he may not have wanted to wait indefinitely to get it at Houston Ballet.)

But your point remains. Robison follows Joseph Walsh as the second male defector from Houston to San Francisco in two years, and Greco follows Di Lanno as another former La Scala dancer.

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Terez

Terez

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I was sorry to see that Grace Shibley was not on the roster. And surprised. Echoing others that I hope it's because she found a promotion elsewhere. Was rather surprised to see Ludmilla [Campos] Bizalion returning to the roster. How often do dancers go from SFB to Smuin to SFB? I knew Natasha Sheehan had a favorable place on the Gala roster, but I can't help but feel sad for the female apprentices who didn't make it to the corps - as if one grabbed the place the other might have thought they'd earned, simply as a rule of pecking order. But I guess that's how it goes when they spy someone they think is worthy of going straight from training to corps. Very, very happy to hear of the promotions to soloist. All of them were on my wish list. And I'm very happy for Elizabeth Mateer that she was able to escape the nastiness of the cut-backs over at the Pennsylvania Ballet. Have heard great things about her.

Always exciting, this news about the new roster. I wasn't expecting it in May. Isn't it usually announced in July? I'm wondering if we will see a few names leave the roster before the season starts up. Have not seen or heard word of Jaime Garcia Castilla performing for the longest time. I thought he might be moving on. But I guess when you're a principal it's never a silent slipping away. (Or is it?)

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PeggyTulle

PeggyTulle

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Yes, I don't think I've seen Garcia Castilla perform in quite a long time. Anthony Vincent also seems to be a rarity, but he was a regular partner for Sarah Van Patten, who has been on maternity leave. Curious about other apprentices, especially Sebastião; he was a lovely dancer. Grace Shibley, too, was always a standout.

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JumpFrog

JumpFrog

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It seems like an odd time for a bunch of promotions I also thought they mostly happened in July. Congrats to all though. Exciting to see a new generation of talent coming into their own. And I didn't know Van Patten was expecting! Wonderful!

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pherank

pherank

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On another topic, the casting for Iceland this weekend is up and it indicates who will be cast in Trio and Within the Golden Hour next season. Joan Boada and Gennadi Nedvigin are dancing this weekend.

Poor Masha, I'm surprised she's taking part, and after flying back to SF from New York for just 1 day, and then on to Iceland. Why not concentrate on her ABT schedule?

Yuan Yuan, Sofiane and Lorena are all on vacation as far as I know. I suppose this means that they are appearing in LA and at the Kennedy Center later on.

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sf_herminator

sf_herminator

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Lorena hasn't danced much the past few seasons, has she? I feel like she's another one, like Jaime, that we rarely see anymore.

This season Lorena performed in Forsythe's Pas/Parts, Liam Scarlett's Fearful Symmetries, Robbins' Dances at a Gathering (Green), Possokhov's Swimmer, and Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas.

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