SFB's Head Cheerleader

Finally! Wiseman's "La Danse" opens tomorrow Friday 12/4/09 at the Balboa Theatre here in San Francisco. It's only a 1-wk run and is being presented in association with the San Francisco Film Society and Documentary Film Institute at San Francisco State University. Here's the theater's website where you can view showtimes: http://www.balboamovies.com/ You lucky right-coasters who got to view this film a whole month before us left-coasters! There's tons of reviews and "official trailers" on the net, so I'm just providing the filmmaker's website for interested parties: http://www.zipporah.com/

There are even MORE videos that didn't get mentioned on the SFB site at all. I found 26 more SFB Nutcracker Video Contest entries on YouTube! A few of them really should have been rated higher than some of the chosen finalists (in my humble opinion). I'd be happy to provide the YouTube links (if it's "legal"), but need a little help as I'm a newbie. If it's ok and people would like to see them all, what is the best way to insert the links?

Hi-Yes, that is Julianne in the Contest Video. Catch her as Sugar Plum Fairy on 12/11 at 2PM and as Queen of Snow 12/13 2PM.

Hi All- I'm a long-time reader, 1st-time poster-so I apologize in advance for any newbie-related inadequacies. (I've already lost my reply twice as I was trying to open another window to reference in said reply!) I'd like to share some exciting and SURPRISING (<tried to use italics but it didn't look right in here ) SFB Nutcracker casting. Are you ready for this one?; Former SFB Principal VADIM SOLOMAKHA is returning as a Guest Artist to dance Nutcracker Prince (with Sarah Van Patten in the Grand pdd!) in several perf's! Welcome back Vadim!!! But that's not our only cause for celebration...3 of SFB's most beloved dancers that were very sorely missed last season (sidelined due to injuries as have already been discussed on this site): Welcome back to Principals Gennadi Nedvigin and Jaime Garcia Castilla, and Soloist Julianne Kepley!!! Gennadi is making his comeback with his debut as King of the Snow to Maria Kochetkova's debut as his Snow Queen-and THAT is pairing I call a "must-see"! When Gennadi's on his game there's hardly a better technician anywhere. And we know that Maria can easily match him. Wow. They'll probably burn up the floor with that Russian bravura of theirs! Hope he "floats" her well... Jaime and Julianne are both cast on Fri, Dec 11 2 PM. Jaime is Nutcracker Prince with the queen of epaulement Clara Blanco in the Grand pdd (whom Allan Ulrich wrote about last month in Dance Magazine here: http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/Novemb...e-Clara-Blanco) while Julianne reprises her Sugar Plum Fairy. I'm heartily welcoming her back even though she did briefly appear in last season's WSSS. This is her 1st real DANCING since the season before last. She was sidelined right before she was scheduled to dance in Julia Adam's "A rose by any other name..." for the New Works Festival. It's been a long time since we've seen her dance and I'm thrilled to see her as SPF and also cast in Snow with Anthony Spaulding on 12/13 at 2 PM. Jaime-I missed him terribly. Imagine just being promoted to Principal and then not stepping foot on the WMOH stage for an entire season! I still remember his intensity in Eden Eden and am thrilled to see him on the cast list. Finally we get to see him as a Principal dancer! More news (I know...1st time poster and this is a bit lengthy but all you hard-core SFB fans will appreciate this!): Former SFB Principal Danseur and current Choreographer in Residence Yuri Possokov is debuting as Drosselmeyer! Here's a tip: Wait till the Dec 13 7 PM perf and you can see him, Vadim as Nutcracker with Sarah, AND the 1st performance of our newest Principal Vitor Luiz as he debuts in Snow with Lorena Feijoo! And Frances Chung's SPF is one of the most endearing interpretations around, so it's quite a cast. Taras Domitro fans can catch his debut as Nutcracker Prince (with Vanessa Zahorian in the Grand pdd) on 12/12 at 7 PM. Keep checking the casting on their web site as things can and do change, but there's a whole lot of reasons to go and that's just the 1st week! Go team go!