PeggyTulle

Grace Shibley is not on the updated dancer list.

I think the 2015-16 apprentices were Grace Choi, Blake Kessler, Anastasia Kubanda, Chisako Oga, and Francisco Sebastião.

Chisako Oga announced that she's going to Cincinnati Ballet.

Not sure where to put this, but on his public Instagram, Aaron Renteria posted that he's joining the Joffrey this coming season.

Anyone get a chance to see the first two casts?

@Josette, I saw the casting for Joan, too! What a (nice) surprise.

Interesting casting. I thought Joan was done with the season? Interesting that he is now slated as cast for Gremin...

What a wonderful interview. I wonder where Joan is going. He mentions moving for work...

I always referred to that as a side cambre.

I loved his dancing, too. I expected other retirements this year, but not his.

I, for one, would love to see Sofiane do O/O (and for that matter, Giselle, Kitri, etc...). Not sure if I could see Stahl as O/O. Sasha De Sola would be a lovely casting choice as would Koto Ishihara. I also have a "wish" list for promising corps! WanTing Zhao, Norika Matsuyama, and Ellen Rose Hummel.

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Any news on Sasha De Sola? She danced during Nutcracker, but so far I haven't seen her cast in programs 1 or 2...?

Hmm, I think it's very possible that Pascal may stay on as a principal character artist post-official retirement. He really is a wonderful and vibrant actor. It would be a shame to lose him completely!

From SFB's September News to the press yesterday:

Clara Blanco Departs to Teach

Soloist Clara Blanco will leave SF Ballet to serve as both a ballet teacher and head of the classical dance department at Escuela Profesional de Danza de Castilla y León, in her hometown of Valladolid, Spain. As part of her application to the government-funded Conservatory, Blanco underwent rigorous exams and interviews, and both of her new appointments with the School are for life. Blanco trained at the Estudio de Danza María de Avila as well as the San Francisco Ballet School, before joining the Company in 2001 as a corps de ballet member. During her tenure at SF Ballet (with the exception of a year at Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2006), Blanco performed a diverse repertory that included works by George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Val Caniparoli, Michel Fokine, James Kudelka, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, among many others.

My initial thought was maybe Elyse Borne, but it's too grainy to be sure.

It's (well, the pdd and finale are) also on SF Ballet's program for Stern Grove.

Jeff Cirio comes from Boston Ballet, where he was a principal. Maria Kochetkova will be splitting her time between ABT and SF Ballet.

I believe that Robbie's understudy is Garen Scribner, who is quite an accomplished professional dancer (formerly with SF Ballet and NDT) and performer.

@naomikage, your summary isn't quite accurate. her tweet appears to say she's giving herself class with a hastag about getting back into shape. nothing about rehearsal.

Kristina announced on her public Instagram account that she's going to Dutch National Ballet. Dana announced awhile back on her public Facebook page that she was retiring. As far as other ladies, Megan Amanda Ehrlich and Emily Kadow are also missing from the roster.

Simone Messmer is back on the soloists page (I swear she wasn't there a week ago). Does this mean she's returning to the company?

Intersesting that the text says "Farewell" and not "Retire." I'm assuming that Ruben is retiring, as he's been dancing a lot less technically demanding roles the past year or two.... And here I thought Gennadi or Pascal would be the next principal men to retire.

She's been in the corps since 2010. I think this was just an editing error.

Nicole Ciapponi is now listed on the SFB roster, and her bio is active, too.

Did anyone go? How was it?