Terez Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 (edited) SARAH VAN PATTEN TO DEPART SAN FRANCISCO BALLET FOLLOWING THE 2022 SEASON, HER 20TH SEASON IN SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO, March 1, 2022—Today, San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) announced that Principal Dancer Sarah Van Patten will be leaving the Company following the 2022 Repertory Season, her 20th season with SF Ballet, to focus on her family and pursue leadership opportunities within the arts. Van Patten, who joined SF Ballet as Soloist in 2002, and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2007, will give her last performance with the Company on Saturday, April 16 at 7:30 pm PDT at the War Memorial Opera House in a special evening celebrating her 20-year tenure. Reprising some of her most celebrated roles, Van Patten will perform selections from Danielle Rowe's Wooden Dimes, George Balanchine's Diamonds, the North American premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Gabrielle Chanel, and the balcony pas de deux from SF Ballet Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet. The evening will also include a special video commemoration of her career. Tickets will be on sale on Friday, March 4 on SF Ballet’s website. “Sarah is an immensely talented artist who has brought to this Company a diverse range of abilities, both in her dancing and in her dramatic interpretations of some of the great roles of classical ballet,” said Tomasson. “She has been integral to the creation of some of my own ballets, as well as ballets by numerous other choreographers who have worked in our studios throughout the past two decades. It has been a pleasure to work with her and we will miss her dearly.” “It has been an incredible 20 years dancing for San Francisco Ballet,” said Van Patten. “I feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity from Helgi when I was 17 to join the company as a soloist. I never could have imagined then what has ended up being such an amazing journey. Thank you to so many people behind the scenes and in the audience who have supported and helped me along over these years. I will forever cherish this chapter in my life and I look forward to what is next!” ** Well, I'm inept at starting a new thread; I suppose I should have prefaced it with a note, but, hey, I can reply below with a note. News just came through; I'm sure others received it as well, so if this is a double post of news, feel free to delete this one! Edited March 1, 2022 by Terez Link to comment
pherank Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I could feel this coming, but it's still very sad for me as I watch the end of an era. Tan will likely follow soon. The coming Rojo era will definitely have a completely different chemistry to it. The announcement doesn't give details about what comes next for SVP, but she seemed to be very pleased with her Tahoe Dance Camp initiative, so I assume that will continue - now with her full-time focus. Link to comment
PeggyTulle Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Yeah, I had a feeling this was coming, but I was hoping to have another year or two of SVP onstage. Link to comment
Josette Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I got an email on this and have purchased a ticket for her farewell performance. I will miss watching this special artist tremendously. Link to comment
Phrenchphry11 Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Sad, but not surprising. I'm somewhat bracing for some of the longer-tenured dancers to not stick around for the management change. Nevertheless, she brought so much to the company - most recently with Mrs. Robinson, but also with her tremendous acting abilities in both classical roles (her Mercedes in DQ stands out to me) and contemporary work (Snowblind is another that stood out to me, along with the Siren in Prodigal Son). And so much more. I'll eagerly follow the next chapter of her career. Link to comment
Terez Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Yes, yes, to all everyone has said. I will so miss her. And I'm bracing myself for others' departures. As we all know, that's the way these things go, alas. Link to comment
pherank Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 (edited) Sarah Van Patten Farewell Performance After 20 incredible years, Principal Dancer Sarah Van Patten will depart SF Ballet following the 2022 Season to focus on her family and pursue leadership opportunities within the arts. We invite you to honor her remarkable tenure with an evening reprising some of her most celebrated roles on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at 7:30 pm. Pas de deux from Diamonds Pas de deux from Gabrielle Chanel Excerpt from Wooden Dimes Pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet “It has been an incredible 20 years dancing for San Francisco Ballet. . . . I will forever cherish this chapter in my life and I look forward to what is next!” says Van Patten. There will also be a virtual event with Sarah and special guests, In Conversation with Sarah Van Patten, on April 26 at 6 pm to reminisce and say farewell. We hope you'll join us in celebrating Sarah at the War Memorial Opera House. Click the button below to purchase tickets to her final performance with SF Ballet. BUY TICKETS Edited April 9, 2022 by pherank Link to comment
Josette Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 Pas de Deux from DIAMONDS SARAH VAN PATTEN, ULRIK BIRKKJAER Pas de Deux from GABRIELLE CHANEL SARAH VAN PATTEN, MAX CAUTHORN Excerpt from WOODEN DIMES SARAH VAN PATTEN, LUKE INGHAM Samantha Bristow, Thamires Chuvas, Gabriela Gonzalez, Anatalia Hordov, Ellen Rose Hummel, Norika Matsuyama Balcony Pas de Deux from ROMEO & JULIET SARAH VAN PATTEN, ULRIK BIRKKJAER ABOUT CONTACT US SUPPORT US PRESS CENTER PRIVACY POLICY CONDITIONS OF USE All production and dancer images © Erik Tomasson unless otherwise noted. Link to comment
pherank Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 Mathilde Froustey's tribute to SVP on Instagram: "It’s hard to find the words to say goodbye to you @sarah.vanpatten .. I guess I’ll just say thank you. For your kindness, you have guided me when I arrived in SFballet, for your generosity, you always helped when someone asked for advices and most of all thank you for your artistry. Watching you being Juliette, Giselle, Mrs Robinson, Odette/Odile, the mermaid, Anastasia and so many other amazing women on stage was a privilege and I will always cherish the memory of your interpretations. Also thank you for showing to the ballet world that it’s possible to be a great principal dancer and loving mother of 2. I’ll miss you mama Sarah❤️" https://www.instagram.com/p/Ccbl5orvuf8/ Link to comment
pherank Posted April 17, 2022 Share Posted April 17, 2022 (edited) One last photo from dressing room 10 - SVP wearing her "SVP MVP" tag: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcboFNZP7kx/ Even Lorena Feijoo comments of this one. I'm noticing Sara Mearns putting emoji comments on a number of IG posts from SFB dancers lately - so she's paying attention to what's going on over here. Edited April 17, 2022 by pherank Link to comment
Josette Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 It was a beautiful evening and so moving to see her dance with Ulrik, Luke, and Max. The Diamonds pas de deux was breathtaking. The four exceptional dancing excerpts showing her transparency and versatility as a performing artist were interspersed with videos of her talking about her career and life, including some clips in the Balanchine repertory, and homages by Helgi Tomasson, ballet masters, dancers, and choreographers, including a particularly serious comment by Yuri Possokhov. Link to comment
pherank Posted April 18, 2022 Share Posted April 18, 2022 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Josette said: It was a beautiful evening and so moving to see her dance with Ulrik, Luke, and Max. The Diamonds pas de deux was breathtaking. The four exceptional dancing excerpts showing her transparency and versatility as a performing artist were interspersed with videos of her talking about her career and life, including some clips in the Balanchine repertory, and homages by Helgi Tomasson, ballet masters, dancers, and choreographers, including a particularly serious comment by Yuri Possokhov. 👍 It's great that you could be there, Josette. Edited April 18, 2022 by pherank Link to comment
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