pherank Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 Rachel Howard's summary of SFB's 2022 season and the Helgi Tomasson Celebration is worth a read. It covers the various goodbyes and changes that SFB is having to deal with. A Season to CelebrateHelgi Tomasson's final season with San Francisco Ballet https://fjordreview.com/san-francisco-ballet-helgi-tomasson/ "Helgi Tomasson, artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet since 1985, is about to finish his final season. The larger ballet world’s moment of overwhelming change, with the revamp in leadership at New York City Ballet, and Kevin McKenzie’s impending retirement at American Ballet Theatre, feels magnified here. Tomasson has served seven years longer than McKenzie has led ABT; he began his directorship just two years after Balanchine died. He has reliably cultivated civility, civic pride, and top-rate dancers, and done so in a soft-spoken, fatherly way—it’s hard to find a dancer, choreographer, or staff member with an aggrieved word to say about him." "...And so we return to the theme of this review: So much monumental change at once. After 20 seasons, Sarah Van Patten decided to retire this spring. Do ballet watchers in New York and Europe know her as well as she deserves? As Justin Peck said in his video tribute, she’s the kind of ballerina that defines a company. She ought to be as recognizable as Sara Mearns, and perhaps she is valued outside of the West Coast more than I realize" Link to comment
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