Phrenchphry11

WOOHOO!! I just got an email that Benjamin Freemantle and WanTing Zhao were promoted! Congrats to them! I was somewhat expecting to see Wona Park in this email, but I guess the season isn't over yet! Benjamin Freemantle and WanTing Zhao Promoted to Principal Dancers As an important member of the San Francisco Ballet family, you are the first to know about two more exciting Company promotions. SF Ballet Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson promoted Soloists Benjamin Freemantle and WanTing Zhao to principal dancer, effective May 13, 2019. Please join us in congratulating Benjamin and WanTing on their promotions!

Mathilde in the Little Mermaid!

Oh wow - I've never seen Mariinsky ballet's production of La Bayadere! What a treat, and in my hometown at that Do we know when casting usually gets announced? I'd love to see Khoreva, she seems so promising, but I also want to see some of the more seasoned principals (not sure they'll be back in the bay area before they retire!).

Wow, I don't think I've ever heard of a story like this. So inspiring, and so awesome that Miami City Ballet took her in as a *soloist* even after so many years offstage. It's no secret she worked so hard for this, it's great to see a story of hard work paying off as well as it did here. I do hope she'll be able to continue her vlog once she joins the company, though I can understand if it'll be limited in the future.

https://www.sfballet.org/season/2020-season Just got an email about it! Some of it is pretty surprising to me! Was expecting more in terms of classical tutu ballets (considering we had 2 this season). Nevertheless, lots of interesting stuff in here!

More casting has been announced, but so far, no third cast! I'm super excited for both casts! WanTing felt a little underused up to this point in the season, so I'm really excited about her role! I've seen videos of Mathilde rehearsing too, so I'm still holding out for another cast.

Yes!!! These are all well-deserved promotions. I was also hoping to see Lauren Strongin in the principal roster this season, it’s a shame it sounds like she may be out for good. I do think Madison Keesler has certainly paid her dues and she’s been looking very strong this season.

This is great to see!

NOOO! A shame I missed her this year. I don't want to speculate too much, but I do have to say she was one of my absolute favorites to watch at SF Ballet. I loved her in Frankenstein.

I agree! I have a lot of thoughts on this topic too

Hah, I saw Kozlov only once this season, in the corps in Sleeping Beauty. I was impressed by him at Stern Grove over the summer. Was he out injured? I saw the program last night. Overall, very satisfying. Lots of good male dancing, including impressive solo dancing from Ben Freemantle, Jaime Garcilla Castilla, and Esteban Hernandez. I loved Your Flesh Shall Be A Great Poem (it was my second viewing, after Unbound from last year)... the best "pas de deux" of the entire evening was probably Freemantle and the stool he dances with. "... two united in a single soul..." was fine. Interesting concept but seemed a little gimmicky. I got tired of the partnering and the team-USA-gymnastics-looking costumes after a while.

Ah, it may have just been from where I was sitting (rather far off to the side). I didn't mean to blow it so out of proportion, it wasn't a big deal. She looked a bit off of her leg in her pirouettes, so from what I saw Walsh had to reset her balance with both hands for the first dive. The second dive was a bit more off, she stepped out of the second one. It merely seemed uncharacteristic from what I normally see from her dancing! However, she recovered nicely for the third and the audience broke into applause. She does it quite well in this rehearsal video, all one-handed dives here: The other thing I wanted to call out was how lovely her epaulement was through the entire ballet. She had the perfect combination of control and alignment, but also was really expressive with her head and shoulders.

Just got back from the Naghdi/Walsh Sleeping Beauty. Naghdi was really spectacular, so was Walsh. All in all, a very enjoyable evening. Definitely see Yasmine Naghdi if you have a chance!! Some thoughts: Sleeping Beauty is far from my favorite full-length classical ballet, and in particular, I don't love SF Ballet's production. I dislike the orangey-brown hue of the sets and costumes in the Prologue and Act I. I also dislike the giant staircase in Act III that takes the dancers a full 16 counts of music to walk down (makes me nervous just watching it). The use of the corps de ballet seems spare, especially during the Act I Waltz and throughout Act II. Despite that, the corps performed admirably tonight. I don't particularly like the Fairies' Pas de Deux with the Cavalier in the Prologue - it's got a bit of a classroomy partnering class feel to it. Nor do I like the fairies' variations, they don't showcase the dancers' strengths particularly well, IMO. However, there were some standouts - Ludmila Bizalion in particular looked good. Jennifer Stahl was a fantastic Carabosse. She's a great actor with a big stage presence. I can't take my eyes off her whenever she's on stage! On to the Rose Adagio - Yasmine Naghdi really brought the house down. I truly thought it was the Gold Standard of Rose Adagios that I've seen. She was attentive to all her partners, she milked the balances while staying on the music, her extensions were high but not vulgarly so. Her dancing has a crisp clarity and technical precision and is truly enjoyable to watch. I was blown away. She made it look so effortless. Joseph Walsh was great tonight - I'm constantly amazed at his versatility as a dancer. He excels in contemporary works and looks totally natural in classical ballets as well. The Grand Pas in Act III went well overall, though Naghdi did miss two out of three of her fish dives. Seems uncharacteristic from what I've seen of her dancing. I'm inclined to chalk it up to nerves/tiredness/new partner, though she did look a little shaken after her fish dives. Nevertheless, I thought she and Walsh looked great together. There was lots of clarity in both of their dancing. Lots of other good performances tonight too. I'm excited to see more of Cavan Conley, he looked promising tonight. Julia Rowe has a great assuredness to her dancing that really shown through as Bluebird. Madison Keesler has been having a great season and I'm hoping she's up for promotion soon! All in all, I love that SF Ballet brought over Yasmine Naghdi. The Royal Ballet and SF Ballet seem to have a good partnership going, I'm intrigued by the idea of more artist exchanges à la Naghdi/Wei Wang.

Wow, my legs hurt just watching that video. He's having her sink into her hyperextension so much, her weight isn't remotely over her feet. Her tendu placement is totally off - they aren't remotely in front or behind her. Not to mention, her epaulement looks totally stiff, and her hands look really tense. I know there are other ABT dancers who seek outside coaching (ex: Skylar Brandt with Irina Dvorvenko) but based off of this video, I'd be shocked if this improves Misty's dancing at all. In fact, I worry this will hinder her even more and put her at risk of more injury. For reference, lots of Bolshoi/Vaganova dancers have extreme hyperextension, and none of them sink into their hyperextension this much. I know this video is a little grainy, but here's Svetlana Zakharova (another dancer with pronounced hyperextension) in her graduation exam, not sinking into it at all.

I echo what others have been saying about the depth of talent at SFB right now, I hope the staff continues to cultivate it (rather than relying on guest artists, though I think Naghdi might just be a one-off). I'd like to see those dancers get more Principal opportunities. I've not seen much of Natasha Sheehan this season, I was hoping to see her in more Soloist roles, but it seems like she may have been injured earlier this year. FWIW, I am glad to have seen lots of corps women featured in Don Q - Madison Keesler, Norika Matsuyama, and others seemed like they were given chances at bigger soloist roles. We still have a lot left of the season, I hope there will be more Principal/Soloist opportunities to come for some of the corps dancers.

That's exciting news - I've seen Yasmine Naghdi perform at the Royal Opera House and she's lovely. Looks like Wei Wang is performing with the Royal Ballet as a guest in Frankenstein: http://www.roh.org.uk/people/wei-wang