pherank

Here's that surprise you ordered. ;)

I imagine Tomasson will try to stick with his original program theme. It's going to have to be something the dancers can dive into without any added stress. So I'm guessing it will be a contemporary work that's been danced in the last 2 years.

It feels like a "knee-jerk" reaction to me because SFB acted after the issue became viral on social media. Did they know about the allegations and suspension 4+ months ago? Then why not quietly remove the ballet from the program list then? It's not as if they haven't changed programming before. I thought SFB should have brought back Die Toteninsel rather than perform Hummingbird, yet again. But that's just me.

One of the Unbound Festival works would probably be the "easiest" choice (given that they would remain in muscle memory). I'm not fond of knee-jerk reactions, myself. Pulling the Scarlett ballet at this late date over "allegations" makes no real sense to me.

I recommend reading Rachel Howard's review of the SFB 2020 Gala, Dancing in Unison (on the Fjord Review website), as it is a notch above the usual gala mentions.

Madison Keesler "I'm so excited to perform the stepsister Edwina tonight in @Wheeldony's Cinderella!⠀ Since I am not allowed to share anything from San Francisco Ballet, and there were also no photos taken at our dress rehearsal....here is a picture of my beautiful friend @ali_mac_26 in the same role of Edwina with @englishnationalballet alongside the handsome gentlemen @sdynott and @theballettwins." https://www.instagram.com/p/B7uXoQPFsz3/

Sat, Feb 1 at 2:00 pm Conductor: Martin West Cinderella: Misa Kuranaga Prince Guillaume: Angelo Greco Stepmother: Maggie Weirich Stepsister Edwina: Madison Keesler Stepsister Clementine: Isabella DeVivo Benjamin: Hansuke Yamamoto Sat, Feb 1 at 8:00 pm Conductor: Martin West Cinderella: Frances Chung Prince Guillaume: Joseph Walsh Stepmother: Jennifer Stahl Stepsister Edwina: Elizabeth Powell Stepsister Clementine: Ellen Rose Hummel Benjamin: Esteban Hernandez Sun, Feb 2 at 2:00 pm Conductor: David LaMarche Cinderella: Sasha De Sola Prince Guillaume: Luke Ingham Stepmother: Jennifer Stahl Stepsister Edwina: Elizabeth Powell Stepsister Clementine: Ellen Rose Hummel Benjamin: Myles Thatcher

We appreciate your report, Seattle_Dancer. These Opening Night galas are always a hodgepodge. I think there’s supposed to be something for everyone (but never quite enough of any one thing). Hopefully the audience notices a wide range of works and a company of dancers able to perform most anything given to them. Re: Diamonds tempo - when I saw PNB perform Diamonds (two performances) I felt that the tempo the conductor was using was rather slow, so this may be a case of what people are used to. I just compare with the orchestral recordings I know. But to your complaint - others have mentioned that the Diamonds finale wasn’t quite ready for prime time. Hopefully once there are a couple of full performances done, the dancers will hit their stride. Elyse Bourne was a main repetiteur for the upcoming Jewels program, but now that she’s passed away, I’m not sure who has taken over responsibility. Tomasson always has a say on the Balanchine works, but he’s too busy in general to be acting as repetiteur.

I just received my SFB 2020 Season Guide in the mail. This volume has the updated photos of the principal dancers now seen on the website (photos by Erik Tomasson). All attractive action portraits - I particularly like the one of Tiit Helimets for his great costume coupled with the mid-air pose. ET did well with this set of images.

Many Tolkien readers were not fans of the Jackson blockbuster films. 😉 The sad thing is, the Tolkein characters, themes, etc. are set to be made into an enormous expanding franchise (a la Star Wars and Star Trek) without Christopher Tolkien around to defend his father's vision. May he rest in peace.

Sat, Jan 25 at 2:00 pm Conductor: Martin West Cinderella: Frances Chung Prince Guillaume: Joseph Walsh Stepmother: Sarah Van Patten Stepsister Edwina: Elizabeth Powell Stepsister Clementine: Ellen Rose Hummel Benjamin: Esteban Hernandez Sat, Jan 25 at 8:00 pm Conductor: David LaMarche Cinderella: Sasha De Sola Prince Guillaume: Luke Ingham Stepmother: Sarah Van Patten Stepsister Edwina: Elizabeth Powell Stepsister Clementine: Ellen Rose Hummel Benjamin: Myles Thatcher Sun, Jan 26 at 2:00 pm Conductor: David LaMarche Cinderella: Dores André Prince Guillaume: Carlo Di Lanno Stepmother: Jennifer Stahl Stepsister Edwina: Jahna Frantziskonis Stepsister Clementine: Julia Rowe Benjamin: Diego Cruz

Benjamin and Madison echoing the vines visual theme: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7cJUttAIo_/

Lauren Strongin designed the costumes for Danielle Rowe's For Pixie: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7b6sLRAOy6/

This made me laugh: an SF Chronicle article with photos of the SFB 2020 Gala has the following image caption - “A ballerina’s leotard sits as a decoration before the start of the gala reception.” How "appetizing"! I believe that is a tutu on display. ;) I should know the ballet that it's from, but the name is not coming to me at the moment...

Gala photos Just posted by MF:

That was great! (Note that I was prompted to login to Instagram to view). Nice to see Gennadi Nedvigin was there.

Thanks for the report, sf_herminator! So far, I can only find images of Natasha Sheehan’s gown: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7bgobWAx_K/ And Ben Freemantle's ??? https://www.instagram.com/p/B7Z-aGxgers/

Yes, it's still a possibility. MF has real comedic abilities too (like the stepsister roles in Cinderella), but sadly she doesn't get many opportunities to show that. This season, besides seeing the new-to-the-company dancers, I'm hoping to get to see the new soloists perform in some meaty roles, and deliver some welcome surprises.

And that's what Froustey mentioned in the above quote. But now you get to predict what roles she will be dancing in this upcoming season - if not Cinderella, which ones? What will she be dancing in Midsummer Night and Jewels?

I don't think Froustey has any physical issues, she's just doing other things this season. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7ZTN2inKlA/ "The Opening Night Gala is coming in few hours... This photo describes the best how it feels to start a new season with SFBallet. From tonight until mid May we dance 7 shows/week, sometimes up to 6 ballets/night, changing ballet every 2weeks. We are going on stage in front of 3000people every evening dancing challenging modern ballets and/or historical demanding classical ballets no matter if we are sick, sad or in pain. We sometimes have the best show of our life and sometimes the worst. But I couldn’t live without this and being on stage tonight to open a new season makes me the happiest person in the world."

Mukhamedov had mentioned in the past that she has an ankle(?) issue, but I forget the specifics. It is alluded to in this post: https://www.instagram.com/p/B55d0LeAH_t/ Duh! I should have looked more closely - there's a conversation in the post with Ana Sophia Scheller regarding, "stress on ankle/fibula 😞 but it’s getting there slowly!"

Here's a nice sequence of images from the Dawson Swan Lake with SS and Carlo Di Lanno: http://www.jackdevant.com/sofiane-sylve-and-carlo-di-lanno-in-the-duet-from-swan-lake/

I believe Dawson was the first choreographer to create a role on SS. And this was long ago, when she was at Dutch National Ballet. It may even have been one of Dawson's earliest commissions (perhaps the first).

I think I saw both those performances, now that you mention it. If Rowe's latest gala piece is a success, I think it's time for her to get a full commission. RE: Sofiiane - in interviews/talks she keeps indicating that she's not particularly interested in dancing those "young maiden" roles in the traditional ballets. But obviously, she makes the effort when required to do so.

SFB participated in WBD broadcasts a number of times and it was all worthwhile , imo. There's been no better way to market to people living on the other side of the world. The new policy regarding at-work images is simply going to be a problem for SFB. And may not go away anytime soon. I'm definitely curious about how this affects the dancer's ability to record their work - everyone wants a quality video resume. I almost want to say that ballet is uniquely hampered by these kinds of copyrights, rules and regulations but I wonder if there are other art forms that are just as hamstrung when it comes to self-promotion and marketing.