A roundup of San Francisco Ballet’s Jewels 2009 Reviews May 6, 2009
Sofiane Sylve and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba in Balanchine's Jewels. © Erik Tomasson
Here is a list of reviews for San Francisco Ballet’s productions of Jewels this year, which is a heavily googled topic right now. It’s also been heavily reviewed, even in the NY Times. It’s also an excuse to post another beautiful photo from the production.
It’s interesting to note that each review was written from a different point of comparison. Alastair Macaulay from the NY Times writes from the perspective of the original production, in comparing the leads in “Diamonds” to the original dancer cast in the role, Suzanne Farrell. Rachel Howard of the San Francisco Chronicle compares this production to SFB’s past productions in 2002-03. I often wonder what biases I carry into seeing a production even before the curtain even goes up – I could feel myself comparing it to the DVD of Jewels that the Paris Opera Ballet did that I love. I realize that this is incredibly unfair… or is it? Can anyone come into a new production with completely fresh new eyes to give it a fair chance to form opinions?
But who doesn’t come in with baggage and biases? I’ve been thinking about dance criticism thanks to the lively discussion on dance critic Claudia LaRocco’s blog (click here to see it), where she asked everyone to answer “What is dance criticism?”. Is it even possible to watch something with an unbiased attitude to give a production the “generosity of consideration” that every show should receive? I’m not sure that it is, or at least not to the extent that we would like.
Despite bias, there’s no doubt that San Francisco Ballet’s Jewels is a gift to the city and a piece that’s worth seeing again and again.
Reviews:
Hey, what about me? I’d never seen “Jewels” complete live or on disc, so I can say that my account was fairly unbiased. Jeesh.
A thousand apologies!
I knew I would forget someone – I quickly wrote up this entry during a break in an experiment at work b/c I wanted it up before the season was over.
Will I see you at the ballet this weekend?
Nah, I’m going to be rehearsing as a supernumerary in “Tosca” this weekend. Went to program 8 tonight, and quite enjoyed myself, even during the endless “Russian Seasons.”