BalletNut

SF Ballet has, fairly recently, performed The Invitation. It is indeed a creepy ballet, involving not one but two statutory rapes and classic, MacMillan-esque, suggestive pas de deux. I don't know which rape is worse, the one between the older man and the young girl, or the one with his wife and the girl's male cousin. The score is also "creepy" in its own right.

I definitely love the final tableau of "The four temperaments"...

Seconded.

I also like Symphony in C.

With Silly Season around the corner, I thought now would be a good time for this topic.

At one time, many of us may have overheard audience members saying things about ballets that were insightful, humorous, witty, clueless, charming, clever, or some combination thereof. For instance, at a performance in San Francisco, I overheard a lady asking her male companion if there was going to be singing. This performance being Swan Lake, her companion informed her that there wouldn't be. (To be fair, some ballets do involve singing, but that's neither here nor there.)

What humorous and/or thought-provoking things have you overheard your fellow audiencemembers saying during a ballet performance?

Here is a thread where those of us seeing SFB at Lincoln Center can post about what we're seeing!

Thank you for the information, jps. I'll have to take the opportunity to take a look at this.

SF Ballet has announced the following promotions and new dancers for the 2007 season:

Promotions/Level

Ruben Martin, Principal Dancer

Garrett Anderson, Soloist

Jaime Garcia Castilla, Soloist

Rory Hohenstein, Soloist

New Company Members/Level

Molly Smolen, Principal Dancer

Diego Cruz, Corps de Ballet

Adeline Kaiser, Corps de Ballet

Brian Malek, Corps de Ballet

Alexandra McCullagh, Corps de Ballet

Patricia Perez, Corps de Ballet

Anthony Spaulding, Corps de Ballet

Jennifer Stahl, Corps de Ballet

Benjamin Stewart, Corps de Ballet

New Apprentices

Ludmila Campos, San Francisco Ballet School

Christopher Mondoux, San Francisco Ballet School

You can read more about these dancers here.

SFB (as in, San Francisco ) is performing at Lincoln Center this summer, and there is no indication that they are performing at Edinburgh this year.

But they do have some spectacular dancers from Spain, like Garcia, naturally, and corps dancer Clara Blanco.

I'm quite fond of Costas' Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance, with photos and commentary for fifty Balanchine ballets.

And, for what it's worth, you might want to take a look at this topic on favorite ballet photographers:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=20953

Just a question for everyone out there:

What makes a perfect ballet perfect?

There's no wrong way to post about a performance, tikititatata. Your review was excellent. It's always fascinating to read comparisons of multiple casts, and probably even more fascinating to be able to compare them.

I'm almost positive somebody, somewhere has done Beauty and the Beast, but I can't for the life of me remember which company or choreographer it was. I'm wanting to say it was a company in Asia, maybe Singapore? Or else it was one of the smaller regional companies in the US.

Does anyone have any more information about a Beauty and the Beast ballet?

SF Ballet has posted details of its new season on its website, along with many photographs.

What do people think of the selection of ballets coming up next year?

Here are the ballets being performed in San Francisco Ballet's 2007 Repertory Season:

Program 1

January 30 – February 10, 2007

Divertimento No. 15

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Choreography: George Balanchine

Carousel (A Dance) © - NEW!

San Francisco Ballet premiere

Composer: Richard Rodgers

Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon

Pas de deux from After the Rain © - NEW!

San Francisco Ballet premiere

Composer: Arvo Pärt

Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon

Artifact Suite

Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Eva Crossman-Hecht

Choreography: William Forsythe

Program 2

Feb. 1 – Feb. 11, 2007

Blue Rose

Composer: Elena Kats-Chernin

Choreography: Helgi Tomasson

The Dance House

Composer: Dimitri Shostakovich

Choreography: David Bintley

Firebird - NEW!

World premiere

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Choreography: Yuri Possokhov

Program 3

February 24 – March 3, 2007

The Sleeping Beauty

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Choreography: Helgi Tomasson after Marius Petipa

Program 4

Mar. 13 – Mar. 24, 2007

Spring Rounds

Composer: Richard Strauss

Choreography: Paul Taylor

Chi-Lin

Composer: Bright Sheng

Choreography: Helgi Tomasson

Eden/Eden - NEW!

United States premiere

Composer: Steve Reich

Choreography: Wayne McGregor

Program 5

Mar. 15 – Mar. 25, 2007

Pacific

Composer: Lou Harrison

Choreography: Mark Morris

Other Dances

Composer: Frédéric Chopin

Choreography: Jerome Robbins

The Fifth Season

Composer: Karl Jenkins

Choreography: Helgi Tomasson

Fancy Free - NEW!

San Francisco Ballet premiere

Composer: Leonard Bernstein

Choreography: Jerome Robbins

Program 6

Apr. 4 – Apr. 21, 2007

Night

Composer: Matthew Pierce

Choreography: Julia Adam

Tomasson world premiere - NEW!

Choreography: Helgi Tomasson

Rodeo

Composer: Aaron Copland

Choreography: Agnes de Mille

Program 7

April 11 – April 24, 2007

Elemental Brubeck ©

Composer: Dave Brubeck

Choreography: Lar Lubovitch

Mrozewski world premiere - NEW!

Choreography: Matjash Mrozewski

Symphony in C

Composer: Georges Bizet

Choreography: George Balanchine

Program 8

Apr. 28 – May. 5, 2007

Don Quixote

Production and Staging: Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov

Composer: Léon Minkus

This post is for reference purposes only and will remain closed; however, please discuss these programs in the forum below!

You can read more about the 2007 season here.

If you did, please tell us how it went!

Welcome to Ballet Talk, tikititatata! It's never too late to post a review of a performance. Thank you for sharing your impression of Swan Lake with us. I agree about the need for fine-tuning in this production; however, that doesn't mean that a well-danced performance can't still be breathtakingly beautiful.

I encourage you to tell us more about yourself in the Welcome Forum here, and to continue browsing and posting on Ballet Talk.

Here is the casting for the "farewell performance."

Farewell Performance Evening

Friday, May 05, 2006 8pm

IN THE NIGHT

VISELLI, LEGATE

MAFFRE, SMITH

FEIJOO, POSSOKHOV

Intermission

REVELATION

POSSOKHOV

SOLO

BRANDENHOFF, LEGATE, MOLAT

R&J BALCONY PAS DE DEUX

Conductor: Martin West

TAN, POSSOKHOV

MY FUNNY VALENTINE

Piano: McGraw

LeBLANC, LEGATE

"SUMMER" from QUATERNARY

McGraw MAFFRE, POSSOKHOV

10 min

Here is a thread where people can post what they thought of this year's performances of Sylvia and the ballets on Program 8.

Program 8 Evening

Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:30 pm

CONTINUUM

Piano: Michael McGraw

Vanessa Zahorian, Moises Martin*

Kristin Long, Gonzalo Garcia

Katita Waldo, David Arce

Dores Andre*, Ruben Martin

INTERMISSION

ELEMENTAL BRUBECK

Music: Tape

Rory Hohenstein*

Elizabeth Miner*, Damian Smith*

INTERMISSION

REFLECTIONS

Conductor: Martin West

White Woman: Kristin Long

Red Woman: Lorena Feijoo

2nd Movement: Katita Waldo, Pierre-François Vilanoba*

3rd Movement: Guennadi Nedviguine, Pascal Molat

Thank you for the link, balletdad.

FYI, the press release also contains information about Legate and Brandenhoff, as well as alluding to a subscribers-only event honoring the three, to be held on May 5.

Program 8 Opening Night

Tuesday, April 25, 2006 8 pm

CONTINUUM

Piano: Michael McGraw

Yuan Yuan Tan, Damian Smith

Kristin Long, Gonzalo Garcia

Muriel Maffre, Yuri Possokhov

Rachel Viselli, David Arce

INTERMISSION

ELEMENTAL BRUBECK

Music: Tape

Gonzalo Garcia

Katita Waldo, Stephen Legate

INTERMISSION

REFLECTIONS

Conductor: Martin West

White Woman: Kristin Long

Red Woman: Lorena Feijoo

2nd Movement: Muriel Maffre, Damian Smith

3rd Movement: Guennadi Nedviguine, Pascal Molat

Sylvia Opening Night

Friday, April 21, 2006 8 pmSYLVIA

Conductor: Martin West

Sylvia: Elizabeth Miner

Aminta: Pascal Molat

Orion: Pierre-François Vilanoba

Diana: Muriel Maffre

Eros: Jaime Garcia Castilla

Sylvia Evening

Saturday, April 22, 2006 8 pm

SYLVIA

Conductor: Martin West

Sylvia: Yuan Yuan Tan

Aminta: Gonzalo Garcia

Orion: Yuri Possokhov

Diana: Muriel Maffre

Eros: James Sofranko

* Designates premiere in a role.

Casting subject to change.

Thank you for posting this, Dale. I've always liked both of these dancers, and was hoping this release would be about them being promoted, instead of retiring.

Best of luck to both of them, though, and I'm grateful for the times I've been able to see them dance.

Thank you for that, Quiggin. I agree about LeBlanc's beats and technique. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

How about a companion topic to Bart's "Opening Images" thread?

Which ballets have closing images, right before the curtain goes down, which stick in your mind long after the ballet is over?

For me, I'd say Glass Pieces, Serenade, 4 Temperaments, and Apollo.

What are your favorite closing images?

Balanchine seems to have a way with curtain openers, doesn't he? I agree about Serenade, Rubies, and Symphony in 3 Movements.

I also like the opening for Glass Pieces very much, myself.