2011 Programs 6 and 7 at the San Francisco Ballet April 21, 2011
Maria Kochetkova and Jaime Garcia Castilla in McGregor's Chroma. © Erik Tomasson
While Programs 6 and 7 were playing at the San Francisco Ballet, I was away traipsing through Italy, eating as much gelato as I can. It’s unfortunate that my travels this year have coincided with so many SFB programs, but I hope y’all have been enjoying what I’ve been missing out on. Apparently I have – word on the street is that I missed two great programs, especially at the moment that I really felt like SFB was starting to come into its own for the season with the last program I saw. Feel free to post your comments here, and if I get a chance, I’ll post a few words on the one ballet program that I saw in Italy with the school at the Balletto di Teatro dell’ Opera di Roma in Rome.
San Francisco Ballet’s last program this season is John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid. Click here for more info; performances start on April 30. During this run, two live performances will be filmed for international broadcast on PBS’ Great Performances as well as distribution for DVD and Blu-Ray. Click here for more info.
Program 6 was WONDERFUL. Wednesday, April 20 (the last night of the program) was one of my best times at a dance performance. Ever.
Ghosts, 7 For Eight, and Chroma each gets a straight A from me. I’m not sure which I liked best. The last four movements of 7 for Eight were the best. Chroma was the best, except for a few minutes where dancers looked like they had a serious neurological disease limiting motor control. And Ghosts, which I loved last season, had no downsides, but had lost (for me) the excitement of newness the other two dances had.
Briefly – the choreography was wonderful, the music was compelling, and the dancing was just fantastic. It probably helped that this was the last performance, and the company was well-practiced, but it also helped that of the 25 or so dancers on the evening, 13 of them were from the company’s 20 principals. I’d single out (at the risk of omitting someone great) Lorena Feijoo, Maria Korchetkova, and Vitor Luiz (GREAT partner) from Ghosts; Tiit Helimets, Sarah Van Patten, Joan Boada, Gennadi Nedvigin, Vanessa Zahorian, and Jaime Garcia Castilla from 7 For Eight; and Yuan Yuan Tan, Frances Chung, and (especially!) Anthony Spaulding from Chroma.
What Spaulding did in that piece has to be illegal – it MUST be against the laws of physics for someone that big to move so powerfully, quickly, and precisely. He was amazing – but so was the whole company.
It was a WONDERFUL evening of dance (and our last program for the very very good season – we are NOT going to The Little Mermaid, unless and until they cut it ot about 40 minutes total). I’m only sorry that I can’t see it again this season, and that I couldn’t tell you all to go see it at a time when you could have taken my advice.
PS We usually have Sunday matinee tickets. We had to exchange and immediately noticed several things about the Wednesday night crowd, at least in the orchestra. 1) The median age must have been 20 years younger – from about 68 to about 45, 2) the mean age didn’t fall so much because about 10% of the Sunday audience is kids, and 3) the younger crowd was much more energetic and enthusiastic. Chroma got about a half engaged standing ovation. I stood – not from Chroma per se (I’m still not sure which of the three I liked best), but for an evening of dance with three spectacularly danced, interetingly choreographed, and truly wonderful pieces. Brave, SF Ballet!
Hi Hank, thanks for your wonderful comments. I know the feeling of when an evening was so wonderful, how do you put it into words? I can’t imagine what a rush it was, and it sounds like it was absolutely amazing. It’s awesome that for a closing night cast, you got a wonderful roster of principals and Spaulding, who must have been phenomenal.
I’m glad you had a great year with the ballet! Here’s hoping to an equally great year next year -