Terez

Thanks for sharing this. Definitely worth a dig into my pockets. $9.5 million - oh, wow. Might need to dig deeper into that pocket than expected.

Oh, me too! So very, very precious to watch, in so many ways. Brought some sunshine into my heart.

You know, if it had been one of the company's productions, and they held all rights, I'd bet it would be a different scenario. With Dream, there's PNB costumes/sets, there's the Balanchine Trust, not to mention all the waivers required for unions and their various regulations. I imagine some compromise was required in the negotiations to make it happen, even in this limited way. Glad they could offer this! I'm just relieved they are able to placate ticket holders who, in turn, will not ask for refunds. And I'm very relieved they'll bring it back next year. Because of the above restrictions, it wasn't necessarily a given.

This was the first peep of hopeful news I've heard from, and regarding, the SFB, taken from SF Datebook today. "S.F. Ballet is exploring the option, mulling the idea of offering patrons a streamed capture of its production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” free of charge. “While we know nothing can replace the vibrancy of a live performance, our hope is to be able to still share the beauty of this ballet and the extraordinary artistry of our Company dancers and S.F. Ballet Orchestra,” Kelly Tweeddale, executive director of the organization, said in an email to The Chronicle on Wednesday. https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/as-coronavirus-cancellations-ramp-up-organizations-scramble

Well, this was a bad day to learn this news (in the aftermath of SF Ballet cancelling Dream run). Bad news atop bad news. I won't ask, "When will it stop?" because maybe I don't want to know the answer.

Well, I'm speechless with loss about the venue closure. Speechless. All the company's hard work and costs. (And okay, ME and my special weekend of ballet.)

It will be much easier to get a post-performance report out this time around; I've written a preview instead of a review, which means all the work ends... around now. {{Happily pushes "publish" on preview at my blog.}} Tossing in a hotel overnight in the city on Sat pm, so I'm all set for a relaxing ballet-centric weekend. What fun!

I had the good fortune to attend a rehearsal yesterday, a first-cast run-through of Act I. Dores and Benjamin F danced Hermia/Lysander couple and Mathilde and Ulrich danced Helena/Demetrius. So that's the opening night lineup. I've also heard Elizabeth Mateer will be dancing Helena on the Sat 2p performance. I will be attending Sat pm (the 7th?) and next day's matinee. I was grateful to have seen the first cast dance in such a polished run-through since I will have to miss opening night. So many great dancers, so little time!

Thanks for the shout-out about my review, Pherank. I am utterly buried in other stuff and dismayed that I'm not finding the opportunity to offer my comments about the production, because this is my favorite place to come and chat and listen about what others have to say. At least I can enjoy the latter, a week after the fact! Love reading what others have to say.

Ugh, what a disaster. I'm going tonight; I would have been so upset and disappointed if this had happened while I was there. I really have to jump through hoops and make sacrifices to make a night in the city happen. My heart goes out to the performers - particularly after seeing Sasha M's Instagram message above (am assuming the performance didn't get that far) - and the audience members as well. Such a costly disappointment. Good ole PG&E, keeping on top of that infrastructure.

Oh, now I'm really sad! (Such a shame he didn't want to finish the season and his SFB career off with Romeo, but his future job sounds amazing.)

I was shocked to read more closely and discover that this will be Vitor Luiz' farewell performance with the company. Noooo! Can't believe that's all the notice and viewing opportunity we're getting from this esteemed senior principal. He will be missed.

I enjoyed the "Nutcracker Close Up" article, Pherank; I've never seen that one before. Elizabeth Mateer looks gorgeous in Arabian; that would have been a fun performance to see. BTW, I was referring to Swane Messaoudi when I queried whether others had seen her perform it. She was a sub for Lizzie P, whom I saw perform it last year (beautifully, of course). Hope it was just a minor issue that took Lizzie P off the cast list for Sunday afternoon. Thank you, too, for posting the link to the discussion about Allan Ulrich's passing. That was nice to read. There doesn't seem to be a reviewer currently who can match his artfulness. But there you have it -- just like dancers moving on, so do the reviewers.

I attended both opening night and Sunday’s closing matinee performance and was delighted by the energy of the latter – maybe it was like horses sensing they’re close to home/dinner and picking up the pace. (Or is that cows?) The Opera House had a full house; I think there was some hugely popular 11th hour promo (that made picking up will-call tickets a perfect nightmare but we won't go there...). Lots of fun dancers to see in solo roles: Jahna F and Wei Wang rocked as Queen and King of Snow. Agree with PeggyR’s comment that Jahna dances big, and really looked at home in the role; great upper body presentation throughout. She nailed her final pirouette—four rotations and a clean finish. And Wei Wang has those big leaps, those clean, quiet finishes. Jennifer Stahl danced SPF and she was a delight to watch. I don’t think I’ve seen her dance that role before (she’s one of my favorite Snow Queens although YY and Carlo on opening night were predictably stunning). It seems each year Jennifer S refines her style, and this year she had a subdued refinement that reminded me of Sofiane in the SPF role. A late change swapped Elizabeth Powell for Swane Messaoudi in Arabian, and she did wonderfully. I’m thinking I’ve never before seen her in a soloist role; anyone else see her dancing this? Gorgeous extensions and arches, she easily maintained the mystique the role requires. Even though she was stepping in on short notice, she worked well with the two males, Sean Bennett and Alexander Reneff-Olson. Bennett was Dr. Stahlbaum in Act I and really stood out, in a good way. I didn’t realize he was so tall. He made a great Dr. Stahlbaum. I was very much looking forward to seeing Benjamin Freemantle as the Nutcracker Prince and he did not disappoint. He’s still young, green, (some landings could have been softer) but that always makes it that much more of a thrill to watch. He's got the important stuff: the instinct and the technique (not to mention the talent) for big roles. What I find particularly appealing about him is this enthusiasm and good will that flow from him. (One gets this feeling watching Angelo Greco too.) He and Sasha -- I guess now we have to add “de Sola” since now there are two Sashas -- seemed to work very well together. They both had this youthful enthusiasm that, combined, seemed to make this the happiest (bad description) grand pas de deux I’ve seen performed. Better put, they seemed, as characters, to take delight in it all. The energy, from the audience, the orchestra, the stage, seemed to keep building throughout the grand pas de deux, as the two danced without any visible hiccups/bumps. It was hard to believe it all was at the end of a 30-performance (?) run. Benjamin just gave and gave, and Sasha skipped the single fouetté business in the coda in order to go with all doubles, just tearing through them in perfect form, and you got the sense she could keep going. The audience just went wild at the end. In Spanish, I really enjoyed seeing Carmela Mayo and Natasha Sheehan. Although the guys certainly deserve a shout-out (Daniel Deivison-Oliveira, Davide Occhipinti, Jacob Seltzer), my eyes are always drawn to the females dancing here, and those two were really fun to watch. Oh, and in Act 1, Joshua Jack Price threw in an aerial flip/walkover during his solo as the harlequin/jack-in-the-box, which I don’t think I’ve seen a dancer do before. It was very cool, and as surefooted and soundless as the rest of his dancing. Nice. No new Waltz of the Flowers costumes in sight; that was indeed a strange little blip last year, reading the news in the Chronicle and then, nada. Oh well. I've made my peace with those costumes, and the icky-colored French costumes. Great show, both times, but I think I would have to say I enjoyed the second one more. (My review for opening night is at Bachtrack, but I'm thinking I'm not supposed to post links here, so I won't, but links can be found at The Classical Girl.) On a somber note, and this might have already been discussed elsewhere, but Allan Ulrich passed away this past July, and I, for one, will forever miss his elegant, eloquent reviews. Not that I always agreed with what he said, but it amazed me, the poetry and insight he’d put into a 350-word review. As someone who writes about dance (always a work in progress), I've been studying his reviews, his words, over the past 10 years, and just marveling at how interesting they were to read, how much they said about the art form. I will sorely miss his presence in the dance world.

Oh, so very sorry to hear Vitor Luiz has left. I very much enjoyed all his performances this past season in particular. Wishing him the best!