lillianna

I was hoping that dusting and coat check were not part of the "pay your dues' for new Sugar Plum Fairies.

I see on Thursday Dec 23 that Julie Diana is listed as both the Sugar Plum Fairy and a maid. Certainly hope that it is either a typo or there are 2 Julie Dianas.

He is one of my favorite dancers. I hope that he enjoys his work at Boston Ballet. He is missed in California.

I had the privilege of seeing the 2 matinee performances. I think what struck me the most was the corps. Often companies focus on their principals and the corps looks poorly rehearsed. This is not the case with PA Ballet. The corps looked wonderful. They worked well together and looked very comfortable with the choreography. The principals were wonderful also, so a very exciting ballet package. I have seen Ballo before and it is not as exciting a number as many other Balanchine numbers. My impression this time was that it is a "pretty"ballet. The dancing was lovely and the costumes seemed to work well with the number. Agon has always been one of my favorites, especially the Pas de deux. I had never seen Arantxa or Meredith dance before. They did a wonderful job, very enjoyable to watch. I am not a great fan of Slaughter. I guess that it is not dancy enough for me, but it was fun and I left humming the songs. I look forward to seeing more of this wonderful company. I'm hoping for a trip east to see Nutcracker.

According to PA Ballet's website, they offer student rush tickets. The tickets are available 1/2 hour prior to each performance. Valid Student ID is required and the tickets are just 1/2 price. Sounds like a great deal. Just remember to take your ID with you and hope that it is not totally sold out. I am planning to attend the Saturday and Sunday matinees. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

The West coast dancers are under represented here. Add Moises and Ruben Martin to the list. Also, newly promoted SFB principal dancer, Nicholas Blanc. James Sofranko gets lots of notice from the younger crowd.

You haven't "missed" it yet. The program has been selling so well that they have added additional shows. It is playing through Sunday the 12th. I also saw opening night. I am still trying to get all of my thoughts together. The major comment that I have is that the company danced beautifully. I really enjoyed Zachary Hench's performance. Riolama really came alive as the black swan and was truly amazing in the final act. I must admit that I am pretty much a traditionalist so this version will take some getting used to . I much prefer the more traditional choreography but did enjoy the performance. I was very impressed by young Jermel Johnson, an apprentice performing in the Pas de Tris in the first act. I also don't think that I have ever seen a better performance of the 4 little swans. Very nice. I am looking forward to seeing more of this company.

I will be in the Philadelphia area on business from SF and lucky enough to be there for opening night. I am really looking forward to it. Hope that it isn't too far from the original. I really love the music. Swan Lake is one of my favorite ballets.

I attended Friday night's performance. My second time to see Sylvia. It was a different cast and I appreciated Megan Low as Sylvia. I really did not enjoy the choreography. Wouldn't pay to see it again. Just no substance to it. Disappointing.

I guess that I will brave enough to post. I saw Sylvia on Friday night. I didn't love it, hardly even liked it. I really did not appreciate Yuan Yuan Tan in the lead role. She is never very animated and despite what the Chronicle said , I didn't think that she was animated here either. The best part was the sets, especially act 1 and 3. My favorite part of the night was Muriel Maffree as Diana. She is such a gorgeous dancer. The part was not big, but she made it shine. There didn't seem to be much dancing in the production. The first act repeated the same corps numbers a couple of times. There were some interesting costumes. I really don't know much of Morris's work, but this wouldn't make me want to see more. Some audience members seemed to be enjoying it but I heard more comments about sets than the dancing as I walked through the audience. I will be seeing it one more time. I hope to see a different cast to see if I enjoy it more. I did think that Gonzalo Garcia (he is a principal dancer, by the way) did very well. Jaime Castilla was very funny in his very unique costume. I'm still trying to figure out the reason for the swing. That intriques me.

One of the principal dancers speaking at the Ballet's volunteer organization meeting, was very happy with the choreography. He seemed very excited about it. Said that it was funny and very fun to dance. I am looking forward to seeing it also. Right now I am enjoying the Balanchine series. The audiences have continued to be full, showing the community's interest in the Balanchine ballets. I hope that there are more scheduled for next season.

I also LOVED Tina LeBlanc in Square Dance. She is such an amazing dancer. I have seen Square Dance performed with a caller before and I much preferred this production without one. It has such a different flavor without a caller. It seems much smoother. I saw Joffrey perform it with a caller at the Kennedy Center a few years ago at the Balanchine Celebration, complete with haybales on stage. It almost seemed silly. This was much classier and far more to my taste. I also found the Who Cares costumes distracting. The ones for the principals were fine, but the ones for the corps were terrible. They looked very old and dreadful colors, especially that neon green. I was pleased with the corps in Serenade, 4 Ts and Square Dance, but thought that they were not together for Who Cares. Overall it was a wonderful 2 nights. The audience was very full so obviously the fans enjoyed seeing Balanchine numbers also.

I was fortunate to have seen this program last night. All that I can say is WOW!!! I loved Helgi's new piece. The men of SFB are so amazing. Everyone just glided through the piece, it was breathtaking. Loved every movement of it, every minute of it. Paquita looked a lot better than last year. Again, I was most impressed by Guinadi N. Wow, again. Carnival of the Animals is cute. Not my favorite, but cute. It was fun to watch and looked fun to dance. I loved Muriel M. as the dying swan. Perfect for the part. Elizabeth Miner was very cute as the elephant. She is getting to dance more this season. Great night at the ballet.

I was able to see 3 performances of Don Q this season. Two of the performances included Vanessa Zahorian as Kitri and Vadim as Basilio and one was with with Tina LeBlanc and Guennadi. (Sorry, I know first names instead of last names). I have really enjoyed the program, last year as well as this year. I think that there are many fine dancing variations in the production. SFB has such wonderful male dancers, and this production gives many of them a chance to perform. Since this is only my second year in the Bay Area, I am enjoying getting to see Tina LeBlanc perform. She would out on maternity leave last year. What a wonderful performer. Technically, she is everything that I have heard her to be, absolutely wonderful. What really delights me, is how she can bring a role to life. She was able to make me feel her emotions as she wanted to be with Basilio instead of the rich count that her father preferred. She was so at one with the choreography. Vanessa Zahorian was wonderful also, technically right on, but not as at home in the role, it seemed to me. I loved Murial Maffrey in Mercedes and Julie Diana as Driad Queen. All in all, a very enjoyable program. It is nice to see a very well done story ballet. Thanks SFB.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the SFB gala performance. I must say that I enjoyed it much more than last year's gala event. It was such a nice mix of performances. The pas de deux were all very different some very classical and others at the other end of the spectrum. This is only my second year to be in the SF area and to enjoy this company. I am very happy to be able to see Tina LeBlanc dance. She was on maternity leave the entire season last year. So, seeing her is a special treat this year. I enjoyed the Paul Taylor piece and also loved Elite Syncopations. Just fun to watch. Tonight is opening night for Don Quixote. I'm planning on attending Friday night. Loved it last year.

For San Francisco Ballet, I think that major highlights of the year includes the company's new production of Don Quixote. Many parts of it were just breathtaking. Watching Joan Broada and Lorena Feijoo dance the lead roles was spectacular. I also especially enjoyed Elite Syncopations for the comic relief of the season. The program of all new choreography was also a really nice program.

Yes, the evening show did go on. The matinee had to be cancelled due to a malfunctioning sprinkler system , probably due to the blackout. But they got the system functioning by evening. So, although the blackout continued, they performed to a sold out crowd. There were many very disappointed people about the matinee, but it is so amazing the the other shows went on. The power went out before the evening show on Saturday night. The blackout started at 6 and the show was scheduled for 7. Of course, when power goes out, it usually comes right back on. They weren't concerned immediately until they realized that it was going to be a long process to get power again. They had to make a lot of quick decisions. Going on without makeup was one of them because there was no emergency power to the rooms used for makeup. The students from the school had dressing rooms in the basement. After receiving a warning that they would have to divert the power from the dressing rooms to the stage, their only light went out. They had one flashlight between them ( I'm talking about the advanced kids not little ones) so got around by the backlights from their cell phones. They took turns holding the flashlight on dancers dressing for Snow and Flowers so managed to be ready with a group effort. They were all cold though and so didn't feel that their muscles were ready for the show but they had enough adrenalin to get them through. By Sunday most had obtained flashlights so were a little more prepared to get ready and dance in the dark. The Sugar Plum and Cavalier on Saturday night were Katida Waldo and Moises Martin and on Sunday Night it was Tina LeBlanc and Gennadi. They danced with worklights on the stage. By Monday's matinee, the power was restored and everything went as planned.

The dancers and company of SFB showed true grit last evening as they danced the Nutcracker during a blackout in San Francisco. Performing to emergency lights illuminating the audience, the company completed the Nutcracker performances to a sold out house. The dancers dressed by emergency lights. Some dressing rooms had no lights and dancers dressed in hallways. The show went on. The Sunday matinee , however, had to be cancelled as the blackout continued. While the company was ready to go the Opera House sprinkler system was not, necessitating the cancelled performance. Lights are still out in and around the Opera House at 3 PM PST, the evening performance is now the concern.

I attended opening night. I am not sure what was different but the party scene didn't seem to drag as much as I thought it did last year. This is still not my favorite version of Nutcracker, but I enjoyed the performance. I loved Julie Diana and Zack Hench as Snow Queen and King. Julie Diana is an exquisite dancer, she is so graceful and beautiful that it is breathtaking to watch. I also enjoyed the Russian dance lead by Pascal Molat --lots of fun, I hated to see it end so soon, but it is such a high energy dance that I'm sure it couldn't go on much longer. I was not as impressed with Yuan Yuan Tan as I usually am. She had a few smiles but seemed a little unsure. She didn't complete the fouette combination at the end had a very hard landing out of it. But overall a wonderful show. I also saw the Saturday Matinee. I enjoyed Katido Waldo as Snow Queen also. The Snow Pas is very nice. Stephen Norman's backflips in Russian add to the daring of the dance. Lorena Feijoo was Sugar Plum , she never has problems with her turns. Sugar Plum doesn't suite her style of dance as well as the Kitri-type roles do, but she was beautiful in the role.

Her Pas with James Sofranko in last season's Elite Syncopations was one of the comedy highlights of the year. A real joy to behold, a very tall Muriel dancing with a short compact James was just priceless.

My understanding is that Richard was injured this summer. He did a part in Streetcar Named Desire but was not able to dance in Agon.

Paticularly disturbing to the "mom" in me, this series was part of their school outreach program. Middle and high school student groups attended this program. Agon and Jaybird Lounge would have been fine, but I thought that Streetcar was way too violent for them. I know that there is all kind of violence on TV , etc, but I found this extremely disturbing as did my youngest daughter who is a teenager. Neither of us wanted to see it again and when we went to the ballet the second day, she asked if we could leave before that number. Agon was worth the price of admission so I did not object to leaving early.

I had the privilege last weekend to see 2 performances of the Sacramento Ballet at the Mondavi Center at UC Davis. The company performed Agon, A Streetcar Named Desire and Jaybird Lounge. As usual, I was very impressed by this company. I think that they get better every season. I was very pleased with their performance of Agon. The lead was danced by a new addition to the company, Neli Beliakaite. Neli is from Lithuania and has never danced Balanchine before according to Ron Cunningham, the artistic director. She is a beautiful tall blonde with Darcy Bussel extension. (A former silver medalist at the Prix de Lausanne. She was partnered by Jack Hansen. On Saturday she looked a little nervous and slightly uncomfortable with the style, but was beautiful and a pleasure to watch. Doing the role of Bransie Gay was Melanie Haller. Melanie is a tiny dancer who has bloomed at Sacramento. She is very strong with great jumps and turns. Her arm movements were right on. The First Pas de Trois was danced by Sarah Hinman and Janine Maher with Joo Hwan Cho. The women were tall and both have great extension also. The entire company looked wonderful in this number. I thought that Sunday's performance was even better. Neli looked more comfortable and everyone was having a "right on" day. I can't say that I enjoyed A Steetcare Named Desire. This production was choreographed by director Ron Cunningham. The dancing was fine, I just did not enjoy the rawness of the story. In Mr Cunningham's pre-performance talk, he said that in the famous movie much of the story is left to the imagination--the rape, etc--but he said" We will show you everything here." I was disturbed by the rape sequence. It appeared very violent and was not something that I cared to see again. On Sunday, I chose to leave instead of watching it again. Jaybird Lounge was choreographed by Val Caniparoli. He had originally choreographed it for PA Ballet. The music was a very strange combination of Bach and what sounded like a radio caught between AM stations with out of focus voices and no musid. I especially liked Colby Damon's performance--lots of jumps and turns and he did them all with pizzazz. The number will not be one of my favorites and would have been better if it was a bit shorter, it got wearing after a while. I'm looking forward to their Nutcracker this year. There has been new sets constructed for the production and there will be live music for every performance. This is a wonderful company with some very talented dancers. Hope that some of you get to see them this year.

Having moved to the west coast in the past year, it has been a real pleasure to watch the dancers of the SFB. The men are so amazing. There are so many great guys here. I think that Joan Broada's performance in Don Quixote was a real peak performance of the year. The principal women are also amazing. Kristin is the spark plug of the group, I think. She is the jumpy turny one. They each have their own special abilities and are each outstanding. I love Julie Diana's gracefulness and gorgeous smile. Lorena Feijoo is amazing in many roles--she was an absolutely amazing Kitrie. I have never seen anyone do turns like she did--triple fouettes while opening and closing a fan!! Yuan Yuan Tan has great extensions and placements. Muriel Maffree's long limbs look gorgeous in many numbers. I look forward to seeing Tina LeBlanc this season. She was off on maternity leave last year. But the men steal the show most nights. They are without a doubt the most talented group of male dancers in the country. I can't wait for the season to start again.

Stern Grove is right off 19th Avenue in the Sunset District of San Francisco. It is easily accessible on the Muni bus line. A ride on the Muni is only 35 cents for people under 18 and $1.00 for those over 17. My daughter and I are planning to attend and really looking forward to it. Bring something to sit on, it is just a field from my understanding. There are a few chairs, but they fill up hours ahead of time and are usually reserved for the handicapped or senior citizens according to my daughter who has been there before for a SFB performance.