SFB 2019 Opening Night Gala

[hernando's hideaway]

I went! My first gala and thought that everyone dancing was lovely, energetic, and joyful. I really wish they had used this opportunity to do some variations/pas de deuxs from ballets that SFB will likely never perform (Le Corsaire, for example) or something like Spring Waters. It was a lot of Helgi, which was expected and pretty, but I would've enjoyed a little more bombast! The crowd went WILD for Greco, which doesn't surprise me - and Misa was great, too. 

[Dreamer]

The new piece UnSaid by Danielle Rowe was very well received by the audience. I hope Rowe  gets to do more work for the company. Sofiane Sylve and Aaron Robison danced with so much intensity and abandonment that even the easily distracted members of the audience were able to give their full and undivided attention to what was going on on that stage. 

[PeggyTulle]

11 hours ago, pherank said:

I wonder if that has something to do with Elizabeth Powell learning/rehearsing the Little Mermaid role. 

Was it clear she was learning the lead? The photo she posted on IG had a LM hashtag, but there are lots of mermaids in the underwater scenes. 

[Quiggin]

My friends all commented on how musical, with what great phrasing, Misa Kuranaga was in the Tomasson Soirees Musicales piece. Benjamin Freemantle looked terrific in a unique take on all the intricate twists and turns of the Agon pas de trois, alongside Jennifer Stahl and Wanting Zhao. But the Stravinsky score was conducted so politely and so without any of its requisite sass that it didn't give the dancers the support and strong beats they needed to really top off some of the effects, as when the three dancers bump shoulders at the end. The Lander Etudes excerpt was brilliant fun – with a  kind of wonderful excercise book spilling out on diagonals – and with Sasha de Sola, Aaron Robison and the reinstated Ulrich Birkkjaer all in great form. I also liked the first pas in Hurry Up (despite the overly contrasty lighting) and how refreshingly clean-cut and decisive the choreography was – though with some of the Peck ballets I find there gets to a bit too much of boy meets girl for the first time business. Anyway I enjoyed it all, though as Dreamer said it was more low keyed than in the past. And I noticed the audience itself was a bit more subdued in manner and dress – fewer eye-catching dresses, fewer long trains to be cafeful of stepping on. But the spirit was still there in this difficult time.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Quiggin

[pherank]

50 minutes ago, PeggyTulle said:

Was it clear she was learning the lead? The photo she posted on IG had a LM hashtag, but there are lots of mermaids in the underwater scenes. 

Is anything clear on Social Media? You may be right, but we likely won't know until that program comes along. Or there's more definitive photos  😉
I thought she was making a subtle point.

34 minutes ago, Quiggin said:

My friends all commented on how musical, with what great phrasing, Misa Kuranaga was in the Tomasson Soirees Musicales piece. Benjamin Freemantle looked terrific in a unique take on all the intricate twists and turns of the Agon pas de trois, alongside Jennifer Stahl and Wanting Zhao. But the Stravinsky score was conducted so politely and so without any of its requisite sass that it didn't give the dancers the support and strong beats they needed to really top off some of the effects, as when the three dancers bump shoulders at the end. The Lander Etudes excerpt was brilliant fun – with a  kind of wonderful excercise book spilling out on diagonals – and with Sasha de Sola, Aaron Robison and the reinstated Ulrich Birkkjaer all in great form. I also liked the first pas in Hurry Up (despite the overly contrasty lighting) and how refreshingly clean-cut and decisive the choreography was – though with some of the Peck ballets I find there gets to a bit too much of boy meets girl for the first time business. Anyway I enjoyed it all, though as Dreamer said it was more low keyed than in the past. And I noticed the audience itself was a bit more subdued in manner and dress – fewer eye-catching dresses, fewer long trains to be cafeful of stepping on. But the spirit was still there in this difficult time.

Thanks everyone for the reports - it must have been good fun. I wish I had seen Sylve and Robison dance together.

[pherank]

As close as I'm going to get to the gala...

So far, I've only seen these two Instagram postings:

"The ladies of Dressing Room 12! With adopted beauty @misakuranaga and guest appearance by @_angelogreco_"
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtCAQrpniCw/

Natasha Sheehan
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtBt7drALGd/

EDIT - Here's a couple more posted by Scheller:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtClA24gmQL/

and this one (I like how Yuan Yuan's leg appears to be attached to Marlene)

And a 2 photo sequence posted by Aaron Robison, also featuring Sofian Sylve and Danielle Rowe:

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

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by pherank

[PeggyR]

‘Low key’ is putting it mildly; Like Hernando’s Hideaway, I could have used another showcase pas de deux to add a little zip to the proceedings (btw, Le Corsaire was performed at the 2018 Gala, with De Sola and Greco).  Most of the oomph was provided by terrific Kuranaga/Greco performances in Tomasson’s ‘Soirees Musicales’.  She’s wonderfully musical with glorious balances – relaxed, never forced or overheld for effect.  As expected, Greco dazzled.

Also liked ‘UnSaid’, even if it was a bit bleak for a gala.  I’d like to see what Rowe would do with an actual narrative story to tell, like Cathy Marston did with Ethan Frome.  I hope we see more from her.

‘Rubies’ fell a little flat for me.  Scheller was nicely flirtatious and, of course, danced beautifully, but she didn’t quite seem to capture that hip-swinging, jazzy flavor that I was expecting.  

Edited January 25, 2019 by PeggyR

[pherank]

A portion of Sam Whiting's Datebook write-up of the gala:

'Retired ballerina Danielle Rowe, who choreographed a duet titled “UnSaid” — the only world premiere commissioned for the gala, sat in orchestra seats with a strong grip on the hand of her husband, principal dancer Luke Ingham, who had been scratched from the program due to a back injury. Rowe’s piece, danced in the second half of the evening by Sofiane Sylve and Aaron Robison, brought the first standing ovation of the night. The piece was so well-received, the crowd demanded Rowe be brought to the stage to take a bow with the dancers.
“I kept it together more than I thought I would,” she said afterward, her hands still clammy.'

I'm really hoping Ingham's back issues are minor. The story ballet's need him.

[pherank]

I've been poking about for opening season reviews. I'm probably behind the times, but it looks like most SFB dance reviews are now being posted to the Datebook website, which is new to me (though I certainly remember the days of the "Pink Section" of the Sunday paper). Rachel Howard did a short write-up about the gala:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/dance/review-falling-in-love-with-sf-ballet-all-over-again-during-gala-performance

And there's a good article on Danielle Rowe and her new piece for the gala:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/dance/building-a-dance-step-by-step-for-a-world-premiere-at-sf-ballet-gala

'Her first commission was “For Pixie,” named for her grandmother back home in Adelaide.  It premiered three years ago.
“It went well,” she says.  “People are still dancing it.”
Last summer, Dores Andre and Joseph Walsh of the SF Ballet danced it at Ballet Sun Valley.  Tomasson asked for a tape of it and two weeks later offered her the commission.  She went to her music library, meaning she put Spotify on her iPhone and arrived quickly at “Grains (An Hailstorm)” from the album “And the Things that Remain,” by Bosso.'

"...Just then the studio door opens, and in comes ballet master Katita Waldo.   Then the door opens again, and in comes Tomasson to lean on a chair and watch. “That made me nervous,” she says later.  “But I tried not to show it.”  No one says a word, and when the piano slows to a tinkle at the end, all that can be heard are four feet pounding on the studio floor."

Edited January 26, 2019 by pherank

[sf_herminator]

On 1/25/2019 at 2:30 PM, pherank said:

I'm really hoping Ingham's back issues are minor. The story ballet's need him.

Luke danced Espada in the Saturday evening performance of DonQ, so it does appear it was a minor issue.  He should be fine (fingers crossed) for The Sleeping Beauty.