pherank

I won't choose a side. ;) But we're always looking for charisma, like these two have in spades: (Is that Natasha in the still image below, first row, 2nd from left?) Eventually, there will be two more openings for female principals, but I'm personally not in a rush to have Yuan Yuan and Sofiane retire - let them dance a reduced schedule, sure, but if they want to be around 3 or 4 more years, why not? Neither one of them has reached the point where it's clear they can't make the moves anymore.

Madison probably has seniority at this time, but the competition is tough. Elizabeth Powell and Ellen Rose Hummel also have a lot of experience. And then there's all these young ones like Wona Park, Norika Matsuyama and Ami Yuki being pushed into demi-soloist/soloist roles. Madison definitely has her fans. The question is always: will people purchase tickets specifically to see this dancer? Do they have that kind of charisma? Or will they be a dependable 'work horse' for the company? Dores André is a good example of a dancer that everyone seemed to think was a good work horse, but when she was finally promoted to principal, the audience finally began to see that she has all sorts of personality and is rather photogenic too. But somehow that wasn't noticed during her early years: she wasn't promoted to soloist for 8 years. FYI: there are new Meet The Artist interviews with Keesler (3/14/18) and Hummel (3/28/18) in the podcast section of the SFB website: https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts

If the idea is to keep an even number of males and females (and I'm not sure that it is), then there are already enough female principals - SFB is 'short' 2 male principals. There are, I think, currently 13 soloists and 6 are women, so 1 more could be promoted from the Corps. But budget plays into all of this - there has to be money to pay increased salaries and who knows if that money is available at this time, or starting with the next contract period...

Mathilde Froustey posted this footage of Marie-Agnes and Aurelie Dupont's improvised dance at the retirement ceremony:

Everyone always does. ;) The 'plot' explanations don't really do the ballet much justice. And neither do these official clips because they don't give one the sense of what the mixed media environment is like. I like the rehearsal footage best just because I see details in the choreography that weren't apparent to me before (too bad that video is so low-resolution though).

With PNB about to perform Possokhov's RAkU, I came across these - Carlos Quenedit happened to post some footage of RAkU which I hadn't seen before: Carlos Quenedit and Yuan Yuan Tan in Possokhov's RAkU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT5ZAk6VOP8 And someone posted some of the RAkU rehearsal footage from World Ballet Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FND1pfLuBvo

As per Helene, the link to Rachel Howard's nicely written review has been moved here: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/43630-program-5-celebrating-jerome-robbins-reviews-discussion/ If you're looking for examples of engaging dance reviews, this one should be on the list. Paul Parish's review in the Bay Area Reporter was ultra-favorable: "There has not been a more entertaining evening in the Opera House for years than last week's Jerome Robbins show danced by the San Francisco Ballet." The point being, that even though Program 5 was basically overshadowed by all the press around the Unbound Festival and Sleeping Beauty, many audience members ended up thinking the Robbins program was as inspired in performance as anything SFB has done in recent years. Which is as it should be, given that Tomasson was a Robbins protégé of sorts.

I found an article online with photos of the PNB production you mention: https://blogpnborg.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/inside-the-ballet-a-midsummer-nights-dream-at-pacific-northwest-ballet/ Martin Pakledinaz obviously loves to use saturated, 'jewel' tones in his costumes and sets.

Rachel Howard's review of the Robbins Program: The Dreamer San Francisco Ballet pays tribute to Jerome Robbins https://www.fjordreview.com/san-francisco-ballet-jerome-robbins/ [How is this for a wonderful opening?] 'I can’t remember the first time I saw “Swan Lake” or “Serenade,” but I will never forget the first time I saw Jerome Robbins’s “Dances at a Gathering.” I was twenty-six and had just flown from California to New York City for the first time in my life. Equally frightening: I had just received a marriage proposal from the man I’d begged, for years, to marry me—and suddenly I wasn’t sure whether I should marry him. I sat smack in the middle of the orchestra section for a New York City Ballet matinee and up went the curtain and out came the man in brown (Damian Woetzel, I was very lucky in my casting). He touched the ground and strolled with his head tilting as though to take us back in his memory. And then the stage was filled with his friends, dancing for one another like real people with distinct personalities, playing games like lambs, pausing in moments of intimacy as though shocked by the seriousness of love.'

Contrast and compare with Sleeping Beauty tutus... SFB Don Quixote costumes Here's a nice video people may have forgotten about: SFB - The Costumes of "Don Quixote"

Just a note: I've tried to purchase downloadable music from amazon.uk (I reside in the US) and it is disallowed having something to do with international payment issues. Given that I've used PayPal to pay for other purchases from the UK, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I thought I would warn you. DVDs/Blu-rays may be different, but music downloads have their own set of rules.

Good eye, sf_herminator - that does leave open a place for The Cage or Fancy Free. But it's impossible to guess which one would be chosen - I would prefer Fancy Free myself, but the female dancers love The Cage. It's doubly impossible to know which Unbound works will be preferred by the audience. There are certain ones that appealed to me in rehearsals, but that's never the same as seeing a finished, staged work with costumes, lighting, and orchestra. Some ballets will suddenly look unfocused, or underdeveloped, while others are mostly riveting, so who knows? EDIT: I was just thinking - The Cage is only 14 minutes so there's room for another short piece such as Other Dances.

Clip of Masha (and Sebastian Kloborg) dancing at the Joyce Theater in Millepied's Closer

Agreed. Apparently the Kennedy Center people specifically asked for SFB to bring the Unbound Festival works only. But there could be another mini-tour...

There are recent Meet the Artist interviews with Madison Keesler, Corps de Ballet March 14, 2018 Frances Chung, Principal Dancer March 12, 2018 [Select Meet the Artist Interviews on the horizontal menu tab] https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts

There is a Pointes of View Lecture now available about the Robbins Program: Jerome Robbins with Lonnie Weeks and Esteban Hernandez March 27, 2018 https://www.sfballet.org/explore/podcasts This is a particularly good interview once it gets going and the dancers are reminiscing about working with Robbins répétiteur Jean-Pierre Frohlich. Lots of interesting insights into how the dancers learned their roles. [Fancy Free] "It was more like working on a play, than a ballet."

Mathilde Froustey tells us why she loves Don Quixote: It's a big leap, but I'd like to see what Frantziskonis and WanTing Zhao could do with the Little Mermaid role. Also Froustey - if she's well coached, she could be very moving in the role, but if she's poorly coached, it will be a retread of the Giselle 'mad scene'. I think she could find a lot to relate to in the part. The TBA's in the 2019 season list, according to Allan Ulrich, seem to be intended for Unbound Festival works. So we're not likely to see more Robbins. "Tomasson will reprise four dances from this season’s Unbound festival as part of next year’s program." https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/SF-Ballet-announces-its-2018-19-season-lineup-12785049.php

And there needs to be a mixed rep program in between Mermaid and Shostakovich - it feels too heavy, too solid, for the final weeks of the season. 2018 ends on fireworks and explosions, but the 2019 season will be much more brooding and 'thoughtful' on the way out. Otherwise, I really appreciate the overlap of Programs 2 and 3, 5 and 6.

OK, so it's a little weird to see so many TBA's - partly/mostly because we don't know how most of these Unbound Festival works are going to go over. It also feels like time for Tomasson to introduce a new work rather than bring back an older one. This is one time I'm probably more interested to know what Yuri Possokhov will come up with than how the company grows into Don Q and Sleeping Beauty, but that's just me. Tomasson may have taken to heart comments that the dancers needed more experience with SB and other classical works. Like Helene, I'd be happy to see Shostokovich Trilogy, which was excellent the first time, but alas, Davit Karapetyan won't be around to dance the lead. I wonder how Angelo Greco or Walsh will look in this role? A single Balanchine piece (Divertimento) is underwhelming though. I'm still waiting to see Episodes and Square Dance at SFB. And no Robbins encore, at least not yet. Joe Walsh was born to dance Fancy Free and he's not getting to do that in 2018, so… The Little Mermaid makes me think there's a sad goodbye coming. Hopefully I'm wrong, and the youngest principal ever at SFB will set a record as the oldest principal ever.

Program 1 Don Quixote January 25–February 3 Program 2 Divertimento No. 15 Appassionata Encore Work TBA February 12–23 Program 3 The Fifth Season Encore Work TBA Etudes February 14–24 Program 4 The Sleeping Beauty March 9–17 Program 5 Encore Work TBA Encore Work TBA Yuri Possokhov World Premiere March 27–April 7 Program 6 Encore Work TBA Liam Scarlett World Premiere Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes March 29–April 9 Program 7 The Little Mermaid April 19–28 Program 8 Shostakovich Trilogy May 7–12

And here's a photo of Lauren Strongin as the Novice Sasha De Sola celebrating Wei Wang

You've just been unlucky. Though she may have died at the end of Frankenstein: You do have the Unbound Festival to look forward to:

Totally agree about Wang - he's just young, and not physically and mentally as strong and seasoned as he could be. Strongin is now most likely at the top of the women's list, though, given a couple more years of experience, I would give the nod to Frantziskonis.

Felipe Diaz Gomez, Ballet Master at SFB posted this image of his notes for, I don't know, Nutcracker??? It's not easy to tell. Is "canon" a musical canon or the cannon fired on stage? "Luke" = Luke Ingham, "Joseph" = Joseph Walsh, and "Carlo" = Carlo Di Lanno.

Here's what I've been listening to, and thoroughly enjoying: Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Incidental Music, Op.61 Seiji Ozawa & Boston Symphony Orchestra with Judi Dench reciting from Shakespeare Someone has posted the entire piece along with the Shakespeare text to YouTube, but I recommend using the Amazon search on BalletAlert to purchase the digital download (the audio will sound better).