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SF Ballet program book, April 2006

The San Francisco Ballet (SFB) is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as part of San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. SFB is the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, and along with American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."^[1]

History

1938-1950

The first major production which the company engineered was Coppélia in 1938, choreographed by Willam Christensen.^[2] In 1940, Swan Lake was produced in its entirety for the first time by Americans. The company also started the tradition of showing The Nutcracker during the holiday season, the first of which premiered Christmas Eve, 1944. This too was choreographed by Willam Christensen and was touted as the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece in the United States.

In 1942 San Francisco Opera Ballet split in two, forming independent ballet and opera companies. The ballet half was sold to Willam and Harold Christensen, who became artistic director and appointed director of the San Francisco Ballet School, respectively.^[2] The San Francisco Ballet Guild was also formed during this time as a support organization for San Francisco Ballet.^[3]

1951-1985

1951 saw the next significant shift in administration of San Francisco Ballet. In this year, Lew Christensen—the premier danseur at the time—partnered with Willam Christensen as co-directors. One year later, Lew took over entirely. With this new administration SFB began to broaden its horizons, travel, and establish itself as a significant American ballet company. Until 1956, San Francisco Ballet had remained on the West Coast, but Lew pushed the company into the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts. In 1957 SFB was the first American ballet company to tour the Far East, performing in eleven Asian nations.^[2] On New Year's Day in 1965, ABC-TV televised a one-hour abridgement of the Lew Christensen-choreographed production of "The Nutcracker", featuring San Francisco Ballet.

In 1972 Lew brought the company closer to its original home, the War Memorial Opera House, by officially naming the theatre as its official residence.

Timeline of productions

Present company

Artistic Director

Ballet Master / Assistant to the Artistic Director

Ballet Masters

Company Teachers

Choreographer in Residence

Principal Dancers

Principal Character Dancers

Soloists

Corps de Ballet

Apprentices

San Francisco Ballet at 75: The American Tour, 2008

The San Francisco Ballet, as part of its 75th anniversary season in 2008, made a national tour through four major cities: Chicago, the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Millennium Park, September 16-21; New York City Center, October 10-18; Costa Mesa, California, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, November 11-16; and Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, November 25-30. The tour featured ballets from SFB's New Works Festival, the finalé of their Spring 2008 season, which featured over the course of three consecutive nights premieres of ten new ballets by ten major choreographers.

Program A

New York City Center, October 2008

Divertimento No. 15

George Balanchine's choreography to W.A. Mozart's music, staged by Elyse Borne with costumes after Karinska and Mark Stanley's lighting

Friday, October 10

Wednesday, October 15

Saturday, October 18, evening

Program B

New York City Center, October 2008

The Fifth Season

Helgi Tomasson's choreography to Karl Jenkins' music with Sandra Woodall's scenery and costumes and Michael Mazzola's lighting

Concerto Grosso

Helgi Tomasson's choreography to Francesco Geminiani's music with Sandra Woodall's costumes and David Finn's lighting

Joyride

Mark Morris' choreography to John Adams' music with Isaac Mizrahi's costumes and James F. Ingalls' lighting

The Four Temperaments

George Balanchine's choreography to Paul Hindemith's music, staged by Elyse Borne

Program C

New York City Center, October 2008

References

Ballet General information History of ballet · Ballet timeline · Glossary of ballet · List of ballets · Ballet music · Ballet company · Ballet Portal Ballet by genre Classical ballet · Contemporary ballet · Neoclassical ballet · Character dance Ballet by region British ballet · French ballet · Italian ballet · Russian ballet Ballet technique Balanchine method · Cecchetti method · Vaganova method · En pointe · Royal Academy of Dance Ballet apparel Ballet shoes · Pointe shoes · Tutu

Further reading

• LeBlond, Jr., Richard E.; Madden, Meg (1988). From Chaos to Fragility: My Years at the San Francisco Ballet Association. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. ISBN 0840350139. 
• Sowell, Debra Hickenlooper (1998). The Christensen Brothers: An American Dance Epic. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 9057550288. 

Articles

External links

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• San Francisco Ballet website

Ballet General information History of ballet · Ballet timeline · Glossary of ballet · List of ballets · Ballet music · Ballet company · Ballet Portal Ballet by genre Classical ballet · Contemporary ballet · Neoclassical ballet · Character dance Ballet by region British ballet · French ballet · Italian ballet · Russian ballet Ballet technique Balanchine method · Cecchetti method · Vaganova method · En pointe · Royal Academy of Dance Ballet apparel Ballet shoes · Pointe shoes · Tutu