FINALLY… July 9, 2008
Newly promoted Sofiane Sylve and Anthony Spaulding in van Manen’s Two Pieces For Het (for Rachel) at the gala last year. © Chris Hardy
San Francisco Ballet announces dancer promotions
San Francisco Ballet has announced the promotion of five Company members and the addition of seven new dancers for the 2009 Repertory Season. Jaime Garcia Castilla has been promoted from soloist to principal dancer, and Dana Genshaft, Pauli Magierek, Garen Price Scribner, and Anthony Spaulding have been promoted from corps de ballet members to soloists. Sean Orza and Jeremy Rucker, both apprentices during the 2008 Repertory Season, join the ranks of the corps de ballet. In addition, Taras Domitro and Ivan Popov join the Company as principal dancers, and new corps de ballet members include Isaac Hernández and Suzy Spaulding. Also, Sofiane Sylve, who performed with the Company as a guest artist last season, will join San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer for the 2009 Repertory Season. The Company roster now stands at 73 dancers.
Definitely some surprises (good ones!), and some well deserved promotions! I’m really happy about Garcia Castilla’s lightning fast promotion to principal; it’ll be thrilling to see him in more lead roles with his wonderful mellifluous musicality that seeps through every role he takes. The four corps promotions to soloist are all well deserved, but I’m particularly excited about Scribner and Genshaft, two dancers that really stood out for me this year. And Sofiane Sylve, previously with NYCB, is returning! I hardly saw her dance this year, so it’ll be great to see her dance again. I see lots of dancers with really impressive backgrounds – do I sense the standard is getting higher?? Domitro is joining from the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and Popov is joining from the Kirov. Hernandez is the gold medal winner for the USA International Ballet Competition 2006, coming from ABT II.
I’m really looking forward to some great dancing this year. Enough with the break already! I’m itching for the season to begin again.
For the entire press release, click here.
That’s a wonderful photo. Lucky SFB to have Sofiane!
Hi Philip! I’m really glad we have her as well, but I’m hoping to see her in more roles this year. I think I saw her on the casting schedule in two roles this past year – as Myrta in Giselle, and as one of the couples in Robbins’ In the Night. SF Ballet will be doing Jewels though, so I’m hoping to see her in that.