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Vanessa Zahorian also paid tribute to Tomasson: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccxx_HMrpCv/

Remez has oodles of talent for character roles. He could go straight to Principal Character dancer at SFB.

Julian MacKay and MacKay Productions produced a Helgi Tomasson documentary (excerpted at the celebration), which will be shown "in NYC May 23 at Chelsea Factory as a part of a celebration of his 37 year career!": https://www.instagram.com/p/CczSoUMryq6/ It's nice that MacKay could be involved in this celebration - it seems to confirm that there are no issues between Helgi and Julian.

Wei Wang posted this group photo from the celebration: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcyBlcNJ80B/

Agreed. All the couples would be great to see. I believe there's one more couple to be listed, too.

Sasha De Sola (shown with Max Cauthorn) has posted this bit of rehearsal footage - looks like Helgi Tomasson and wife Marlene sitting with their backs to the camera: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cctin3GFFQG/ Misa Kuranaga says that her schedule for Swan Lake will be: Saturday 4/30 at 8 PM Thursday 5/5 at 7:30 PM Sunday 5/8 at 2 PM "I’m dancing the role of Odette/Odile with @_angelogreco_ as my prince. Photo by @sashaarro and he is my Rothbart." https://www.instagram.com/p/CctrSIZvTyW/

Thanks for plugging Starry Nights, Josette - I just added that topic. As I recall, it was a success last time, and it makes sense for SFB to do these short "tour" performances in the greater Bay Area.

SFB e-mail announcement: Experience the Beauty of Dance under the Stars this Summer! San Francisco Ballet presents Starry Nights in partnership with Stanford Live Arts Festival in a two-evening residency at Frost Amphitheater August 5–6, 2022 at 8 pm. The lively program thrills with audience favorites––three short ballets that range from romantic to athletic and brilliantly cool: Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s 7 for Eight, Jerome Robbins’ In the Night, and the South Bay premiere of William Forsythe’s Blake Works I, a ballet that "will explode your ballet prejudices'' (San Francisco Chronicle). The Grammy Award–winning San Francisco Ballet Orchestra plays J.S. Bach's music for 7 for Eight and Chopin nocturne's for In the Night, while Blake Works I is danced to the sultry sounds of James Blake's 2016 album The Colour in Anything. SF Ballet will also co-present Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s Stanford Live debut on August 3 at 8:00 pm, presenting STAR DUST: From Bach to Bowie, featuring two exhilarating dance pieces inspired by musical masters. More information is available at this link. Include Starry Nights into your summer plans; tickets go on sale on Friday, April 29, 2022 at Stanford Live. https://live.stanford.edu/calendar/august-2022/starry-nights

Helgi Tomasson's Swan Lake runs from April 29 to May 8, 2022. And as of today (04/21/22), a matinee has been added on Saturday, April 30, at 2 pm. https://www.sfballet.org/productions/swan-lake-2/

Another dimension to Misty Copeland - she authored the NY Times review of Toni Bentley's "Serenade: A Balanchine Story": "I have yet to dance “Serenade,” but I felt the spirit of the movements through Bentley’s descriptive prose. She weaves in impressive detail about the actual technique of ballet, articulating the dancer’s physical experience for the reader. Turnout, she writes — “the rotation of both legs from the hip sockets in opposite, outward directions, simultaneously” — is both the “core” and the “central contradiction” of classical ballet." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/10/books/review/serenade-a-balanchine-story-toni-bentley.html Will there be more articles from Ms. Copeland in the future?

Misa Kuranaga posted images relating to the SVP farewell, and farewells to Ulrik Birkkjaer, Benjamin Freemantle, Madison Keesler and Julian MacKay: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcgljkfvWXK/ SFB video of SVP and Birkkjaer making their final bows: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccgx1LjlMw-/

She seems to be giving lots of master classes these days. Here's her February 1, 2022 resignation announcement on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZcK3NEuNhD/ English translation: "Dear followers, I wanted to tell you that yesterday I resigned from the position of director of the Ballet of the Teatro Colón,,, (I share in the photos the original letter that I send to the Director General, María Victoria Alcaraz, where I explain perfectly the reasons) I leave the position after 5 years, immensely grateful to the public who valued from the first day my management, always demonstrating their enormous affection and support, and of course to my work team that was by my side at the foot of the canyon ALWAYS! I will continue to work and enjoy this wonderful art that is dance, but in places where the love of dance can be truly enjoyed."

👍 It's great that you could be there, Josette.

Citing Ukraine War, an American Resigns From Russia’s Mariinsky “There’s no way I could ever be in denial of what is happening,” said the conductor Gavriel Heine, a fixture at the prestigious Russian theater. 'Mr. Heine, 47, had been increasingly disturbed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “There’s no way I could ever be in denial of what is happening in Ukraine,” he said during a series of interviews over the past week. “Russia is not a place where I want to raise my son. It’s not a place where I want my wife to be anymore. It’s not a place I want to be anymore.”' https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/arts/music/gavriel-heine-resigns-mariinsky.html

Specifically at SFB, at the end of each season there's normally a handful of people who leave (for various reasons), but also a number of promotions are announced to balance things out. As far as exits related to directorship change, I would say that we have yet to hit an unusual number of exits. It's the added exits due to retirement that are going to hurt this next season - unless there are going to be important new hires coming from Rojo. And those hires will have to happen before rehearsals begin later this summer (SFB begins new work creation and rehearsals in the summer, even though they don't perform on the Opera House stage again until December). Losing the young principal Ben Freemantle is a shock because he's the kind of person we would expect to see as a mainstay of the company going forward. Trained at the SFB Ballet School, Freemantle was asked to join the Corps in 2015 and was promoted to principal in 2019 - a mere 4 years. That's very unusual, but Freemantle is that talented. And he's still growing as an artist. So we're losing the poster boy for the school. Hopefully the various injured dancers from this year, such as Fogo, Robison, Mukhamedov, are still planning to return next year to see how things go under Rojo. EDIT: Like Keesler, Robison spent time at ENB, so if he decides to leave this year, it will make people very nervous about Rojo.

Times have changed though, and dancers are definitely expecting more from their 'employers'. I think it's fair to say that Keesler is one of the dancers that has been pushing for change in the ballet workplace. EDIT: I'll add that performers attitudes now parallel changes in the tech industry workplace (and other industries) over the last 20 years. Workers can't rely on loyalty from employers, or a reliable pension, so they are willing to ask for more up front, and move around from place to place gathering experiences. Madison Keesler's announcement on Instagram makes for a nice tribute to Tomasson: "Thank You, San Francisco… Hello NYC! I am finally ready to make my big announcement... This will be my last season with @sfballet. My final performances will be this May in Swan Lake in the roles of “Pas de Trois” and “Aristocrats”. ✨In June I will be moving to New York City! I have had an incredible 15-year career in ballet while dancing within some of the world’s best companies — The Hamburg Ballet, English National Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. And my career performing ballet is definitely not over. I will be continuing to perform classical ballet as a freelance artist and I’m currently looking for principal guesting opportunities and gala performances. I’m also excited to spread my wings into some new directions through Broadway, acting onstage and on-camera, print modeling, and much more. When it was first announced that Helgi Tomasson would be succeeded by Tamara Rojo my heart sank because I knew that my time in San Francisco had to come to an end. San Francisco and San Francisco Ballet has been the one place that always felt like home. I grew up coming to the San Francisco Ballet School summer programs since I was 14 and I have worked in the company for a total of 9 years out of my 15-year career. Helgi Tomasson has played a huge role in shaping my career throughout all these years and I have endless gratitude for all that he has done for me. Helgi gave me opportunities and believed in me even before I believed in myself. He allowed me to leave and come back not once, but twice. My life and my career would not be the same without the support and understanding he always gave me. Leaving my friends, this company, the SFB audience, and this city to head to New York City is certainly bittersweet. However, I know with all my heart this is meant to happen right now. I’m scared, but also so freaking excited!!! I’m grateful that life is giving me the push I needed to continue following my dreams within ballet and to finally start pursuing my dreams in acting, singing and so much more. I’m thrilled to be able to call New York City my new home!" LINK: https://www.instagram.com/p/CceQ7IAJ3i1/

Forgetting about Birkkjaer, Fogo, MacKay, Freemantle, SVP, Robison and Tan for the moment (and Dores Andre who shows little interest in Swan Lake-type roles) - that leaves Cauthorn, Chung, De Sola, Froustey, Greco, Helimets, Hernandez, Ingham, Kuranaga, Park, Stahl, Walsh, Wang and Zhao of the principals. And there may be a couple of soloists who are being groomed for this - Mukhamedov being one likely choice. Froustey isn't doing much at present so she may have an issue we don't know about.

I'm guessing there was already a backup in place (since it's a plum role). Or perhaps maybe MacKay wanted to be free to move on before the last program occurred. Off to NYC.

With Fogo injured, no Swan Lake for JM. I'm sure Tomasson intended to bring MacKay "into the fold" as it were, and shape him more as a dancer, but the pandemic ruined many plans.

One last photo from dressing room 10 - SVP wearing her "SVP MVP" tag: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcboFNZP7kx/ Even Lorena Feijoo comments of this one. I'm noticing Sara Mearns putting emoji comments on a number of IG posts from SFB dancers lately - so she's paying attention to what's going on over here.

Mathilde Froustey's tribute to SVP on Instagram: "It’s hard to find the words to say goodbye to you @sarah.vanpatten .. I guess I’ll just say thank you. For your kindness, you have guided me when I arrived in SFballet, for your generosity, you always helped when someone asked for advices and most of all thank you for your artistry. Watching you being Juliette, Giselle, Mrs Robinson, Odette/Odile, the mermaid, Anastasia and so many other amazing women on stage was a privilege and I will always cherish the memory of your interpretations. Also thank you for showing to the ballet world that it’s possible to be a great principal dancer and loving mother of 2. I’ll miss you mama Sarah❤️" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccbl5orvuf8/

Which is all good to hear, and it's a shame that MacKay won't be around anymore. I never doubted his basic talent. I should point out that so far, this is the only loss that can be tied to the change in directorship. The other retirements and leavings seem to have been initiated by the dancers themselves. There's no evidence yet that any of those people were told that they were no longer wanted.

The text was posted on this other thread: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/46885-roster-changes-2022/#comment-439207

For the record, this is what MacKay posted on Instagram (these posts sometimes disappear): "When you get a raise and your boss is happy with your work, things are going well.   So I was quite shocked when I recently found out that my contract for next season would not be continued with SFB.     When my director first called me on the phone, I was still working in Russia.   One of the first things I said was I was tired of all the politics and wanted a place to grow and explore new ballets…. and that is what I have found these past 2 years with SFB.     Now it makes me quite emotional to hear from my director that the decision to not offer me a contract for next year was not made by him but rather someone who I’ve never worked with and was not present for the last 2 years here.     Thank you for telling me the truth Helgi and thank you to all the wonderful people that have supported me in San Francisco and at my performances with SFB!   In the spirit of Easter I’m looking forward to new beginnings and sharing with you all my summer performance schedule soon" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccdav08JY9x/

YY posted this great cast shot from Program 5's closing night: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccby5nHugBR/