Terez

I just love reading others' comments about this production! Especially enjoyed that some of you were there on Friday night as well. I saw that Rachel Howard gave a great review of the first 3 performances (not sure if I'm supposed to include links here, so I won't -- easy enough for others to find). Josette, I went the other way on Sasha's Giselle -- I absolutely loved it and found she was much more realistic in all three iterations of the character, than dancers I've seen in past performances. Although I realize in my Bachtrack review, I didn't even mention her actual steps or phrasing or the details you elaborated on. Oops -- I was just so smitten with how honest and natural her portrayal seemed, and nattered on about that. But I am nodding at all your other comments. So nice to see Nikisha Fogo dance as Myrtha. And agreed on the Wilis who were, as per normal, a show-stealer. 

I do think those last few minutes of the ballet, as Giselle embraces Albrecht one last time, and then, his last moments alone onstage, were both just outstanding. So beautifully intense.  It made me a little dizzy, getting up after all that, shuffling out with a boisterous crowd, when my head was in that other place. (Do other people have these strong, visceral reactions at the end of ballets and movies, where you really just want to sit quietly, alone, in a dark space and come down a bit, before joining humanity once again?!)

Then again, I'm forgetting the role of Myrtha. I'm sure at least two of the above mentioned dancers will be shining brightly in that role. (Has there been an update on Froustey's status?)

Very much enjoyed reading your comments and impressions, Phrenchphry11 and leee. Sounds like we all liked a lot of the same stuff. 

And leee, your "salve for my soul" comment was EXACTLY what I was feeling. Maybe it's because it's the first program(s) of the season, but I just felt like parched earth, drinking in every drop, feeling so nourished after a weekend of performances. Nice!

I know it's good to have "the next generation" to look forward to, in these big roles, but I just feel... bereft. It makes sense that if Katherine Barkman is injured, and Jasmine Jimison is part of that rehearsal group, then she's being handed the baton. It's just that there are so many talented soloists (and principals)  that I'd like to see have their chance. And no Joseph Walsh (even though he and Wona P seem to pair together so nicely). Sad face. And Luke Ingham. On the positive side, happy to see Aaron Robison get an opening night. Froustey, Fogo, Stahl, Zhao -- I would have found those to be so exciting. Then again, I can only make it to one performance, and that's opening night, so I guess it's a moot point. 

There is still a bakery on the corner of Gough and Oak (198 Gough) that is lovely and intimate. It's called Café Loquat. Someone above mentioned Hayes Valley Bakeworks; this took its place -- or maybe not, since this is on the corner of Oak and not Fulton. They have wonderful homemade pastries, including babka. I love its Central European vibe.

A Mano is on Hayes and has excellent pasta. What I like about it is that, like Chez Maman, you can just walk in and/or wait for a table -- they don't take reservations.

A new restaurant opened up very recently: Dumpling Home, on Gough, right in the thick of things. Incredibly popular and crowded, but I take that as a good sign for its food and affordability. They don't take reservations.

Agree with all you said, pherank. I just now re-read Rachel Howard's review from SFB's past performance of Blake Works. Maybe it's a must-see for me (didn't catch it the first time around). And yes, what will COLORFORMS look like onstage? One good way for me to find out...

At times like this, I so wish I lived closer to SF!

You're welcome, pherank. I'd love to hear others' comments, particularly on the program I won't be able to see.

It's a little frustrating this season, the way the programs I'm eager to see are so closely grouped together. I can appreciate that they wanted to put Cinderella between Giselle and R&J but I don't plan to attend R&J (am I the only one who doesn't particularly enjoy this story ballet? Amazing dancing and costumes and choreography aside, I just don't like the story and all its pathos), and will either squeeze the next 3 programs into my schedule or, more realistically, be forced to miss the mixed-bill program in the middle. But then, yikes, that might be it for me, for the season. So much wonderful stuff, so condensed. 😐😔

Saw opening night of Program B last Saturday and a performance of Program A on Sunday afternoon. What fun! Boy, have I missed seeing the company perform. The orchestra sounded sensational, and this was particularly important because the classical music pieces were heavy hitters. Mahler's "Totenfeier for Orchestra" (although to me it's his Symphony No. 2, first movement, largely identical) just MADE Resurrection (as did Dores André) and the Britten Violin Concerto did the same thing for me for The Queen's Daughter. And then, of course, the super-fun Bolero by Ravel, that is so thrilling to hear performed live. So. Two programs that classical music fans will doubly enjoy. MADCAP didn't fall into this category, but it was sensational, transformative. Reminds me of the first time I saw Swimmer and its creativity just gripped me and held me enthralled. MADCAP was even better. Seems to me it will be the winner of the whole festival, but there's a third program I haven't seen (nor, alas, will I be able to). I also enjoyed Bolero and its originality. I thought Haffner Serenade was lovely and soothing (I think I always, always say that about ballets set to Mozart) and the costumes were so pretty, but it just felt like Balanchine and nothing really spelled out "the future of dance." But, amid 6 new ballets in 24 hours, that was fine for me. Val Caniparoli's ballet started things on Saturday night, and, gotta be honest, I felt it was the weak link of the 6 ballets. We all know what "pandemic ballets" look like because we watched so many clips of so many dancers and choreographers, while we were all in lockdown. Yes, we all remember how hard it was, how it tested us, but there's just not depths beyond that to plumb for a ballet, and they all look so similar, the being flung apart, the face-to-face up close, reaching the hand out to touch, whirling away. Et cetera. I very much like Val C as a choreographer, and have enjoyed his ballets. Just doesn't feel like this one brought anything new to the table. 

I loved The Queen's Daughter, and was just floored by the performances from Jennifer S, Sasha De Sola and Tiit. Just amazed. Interesting to see them the next day in MADCAP and be equally impressed (Jen S and Tiit in particular on this one). But there was such a sadness to Queen's Daughter, which also has to do with the elegiac nature of Britten's Violin Concerto, the sorrow built into it, I was pretty emotionally exhausted by its end. Oh, and Wei Wang was just stunning as The Prophet. He did this miraculous job of applying a spiritual levity to his movements, that was, at the same time, heavy with portent. His leaps seemed to hover in the air. His turns just seemed to go on and on. You really got the sense of his being a human on an elevated plane of existence. And Sasha de Sola delivered such a stark, emotional performance, like something you'd see from Mathilde Froustey. Super impressive. 

Great ballets, great programs. They really exceeded my expectations. (And, like I said, MADCAP was such a "wow," I'm going to go on and on about that one.

Hoping that others chime in about how they felt about these programs. I could see The Queen's Daughter being off-putting and "too heavy" to viewers, especially if they didn't know and love the Britten Violin Concerto. And if you're a Mahler fan, you will love, love, love Resurrection. 

Lastly, although I would have loved to see Katherine Barker dance not one but two leads over the weekend, I was happy for Julia Rowe that she was given the chance to shine. As dancers, they seem very similar to me (although Barker dances with an extra intensity and abandon that seems to mark her as principal material in the future, if you ask me). I felt like Julia R deserved this opportunity, and I'm glad she got it. She handled both roles admirably.

Am appreciating all these informational tidbits! Thanks, all, for taking the time to share them.

Wow, I am so missing Froustey!!

Oh, bummer!! Was so glad to see he was featured in MADCAP and thought that meant he'd have a fruitful year. So sorry he's not staying the whole season. At least I'll (hopefully) get to see him perform next weekend.

So glad he's staying on as a principal character dancer. Echoing the comment that it would be a delight to see him perform with his daughter. (I know I saw something last year - assuming it was Nutcracker, that they both danced in.)

Yes, best wishes to him; glad he's not going far away.

That article touched me to tears. Thanks for sharing it, Tom.

The traditional headpieces were back on opening night!

I now realize the caps are an "either you love 'em or hate 'em" thing. I've always hated them. 

Beautiful performance, unsurprisingly. (Have to save a longer analysis for the review I'm penning for Bachtrack, as we speak.)

Well, this is all gutting to read, but I guess that's just how it's going to be for a year or two. (Good thing the past few years have been so calm, stable, soothing, so that I'm not already feeling shocked, jittered and exhausted by the world in general.)

On 4/1/2022 at 1:11 PM, pherank said:

Madison Keesler mentioned on IG that she will dancing in Finale Finale later in the run:

"I’ll be performing [Lizzy Powell's] role in the second cast (I’m not sure what my performance dates will be yet)"

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb0Z2dxvAmm/

She was lovely and a delight in Sunday's performance! I got a lump in my throat, thinking that this might be the last performance I see her in, on the SFB stage. What a great and fun farewell to SFB audiences, if that proves to be the case. 

I saw Sunday 2pm performance and absolutely loved it. Everyone danced so beautifully (no surprise there - do they ever not?) and I relished seeing some of the younger dancers in the bigger roles. In Prism, loved watching WanTing Zhao and Henry Sidford. He seems to be developing extraordinary skills in partnering the (taller?) female principals. I've seen  him excel in that, something like 4 times this year (including with YY in Land of Snow). Kudos to him. Max Cauthorn, too, is making good on the considerable promise he showed at a new corps dancer, years back. I remember my eyes settling on him during an early World Ballet Day, and being so impressed by his control, a certain precision stillness to the upper body as he delivered all these technically assured jumps and leaps. Finale Finale was pure fun from start to finish. The music was fantastic. Costumes were fun and fantastical. The dancers must have had a ball.

In the Promised Land was amazing and what I loved was how it was varied and had moods that elevated, decelerated, tugged at your heart, then made your pulse quicken. I love the music of Hans Zimmer, and I imagine those were my favorite parts of the ballet, but it was all so interesting and seemed to pick up energy as the ballet progressed. Sometimes these propulsive non-narrative ballets get to be too much and I'm idly wondering how much longer it will go on (Justin Peck's work does that to me), and I seem to recall feeling that way about Dwight Rhoden's 2018 ballet. But this one really carried some magic. Several of the moments felt truly transcendent. Lucas Erni was a rock star; he really had a great performance. There was Henry Sidford, again, too, this time partnering Jen Stahl, and again, I'm so impressed that he makes these various female principals shine (they do anyway, but a poorly-matched partner, as we know, can bring the performance down). A thrilling new pair-up was Julian MacKay and Thamires Chuvas (can anyone tell me how her first name is pronounced?). He is wonderful; I saw him in Nut and was instantly won over, and she was just dynamite. I've seen her in soloist roles before, but this was a whole new level of excellence, in my mind. She was on fire. It was the kind of performance where you learn a few days later that they were promoted backstage after the performance. I imagine promotions will be tricky and political this spring, with one AD leaving and another taking the helm. But Chuvas certainly earned one with this knock-out performance. Her costume, too, was just stunning. Mesmerizing. 

Such a great program. I went into it not knowing anything about any of the three ballets. Not my usual way to get the most out of a ballet, but it was sure fun to thoroughly enjoy each one in a visceral way, versus an intellectual one.

Thanks, Sandik! 😃

And a shout-out to everyone that I'm always looking for candidates for future quarterly grants. I intend to keep this project going and going, and I love hearing from others about companies/individuals/projects they consider to be worthy.  Just PM me here or go through the "contact me" page at The Classical Girl.

Wow, glad I chanced on this thread; I learned a lot about various dancers and their physical health (and futures). Now I know why I haven't seen Nikisha Fogo, in particular, on any casting lists. 

Wishes for a speedy recovery for all. And I was pleased to hear about Danielle St. Germain-Gordon's official hiring for the position she was occupying in the interim. Sounds like a smart, uncomplicated fit. I'm looking forward to seeing some settling of dust in the year (okay, face it, it'll take two years) to come.

Aww, love those pics!

I saw the program on Thursday night, and it was fun to see Wona Park and Joseph Walsh dancing together in La Sylphide - I seem to always miss their partnerships. Then again, La Sylphide is a different kind of partnership, since there are no partnered sections (or she'd die - a really buzz kill). I agree that it's a production that holds tremendous appeal largely for its historic angle - am so glad that FINALLY I got to see it (after writing an article in 2019 entitled, "La Sylphide - the most important classical ballet you've probably never seen"), but I wasn't necessarily wowed by the energy or the dancing. It was good, no complaints. It was just... a quiet ballet. Lovely but quiet. A delight to see Tiit Helimets' daughter Chloe dancing in the first act. What a lovely young girl - also a delight to see Tiit dancing in The Season in "Winter." Misa Kurananga was a huge hit as Summer/Corn (?) - it seems the SFB audience has really taken to her. I adore the Glazunov score, so The Season was a big win for me. Can't figure out why, though, the half-dozen female student dancers wore glaring red bodice costumes and black tights/pointe shoes. It was so jarring and improbable. Other costumes, too, seemed too gaudy and distracting, reminiscent of Arthur Pita's Bjork Ballet where eccentric was the point. But I loved this ballet's energy, and it was nice to see this ballet after a two-year wait. Tons of great dancers in Thursday night's cast.

I sure would have liked Froustey as the Sylphide. Was that ever on the bargaining table? I was so enchanted by the Pierre Lacotte staging that's on YouTube and features Aurelie Dupont as the Sylphide. She was pure poetry in even the smallest of gestures, I was so sucked in. Wona Park was adorable, but she's young and still on the unseasoned side. I think Froustey, with that POB background, and such nuance in her dancing, would have been a marvel. Alas, I don't see La Sylphide coming back any time soon. But I'm delighted I had the chance to see it.

Thanks, pherank!

I'll be going Thursday night - very much looking forward to seeing Wona Park and Joseph Walsh. (And a little surprised that Mathilde won't be performing this - in my mind's eye, she was a perfect fit. But, as mentioned above, due, maybe to Aaron Robison not being around?)

I love this site! It's a privilege to be a part of it and learn from this wealth of intelligent perspective and ballet experience. So glad I can do my bit to help keep it strong.

I'm surprised casting hasn't been announced for Program 4. I keep thinking, "surely now!" and it's not up yet. (Watch it come up right now...)

Yes, yes, to all everyone has said. I will so miss her. And I'm bracing myself for others' departures. As we all know, that's the way these things go, alas.