Saturday Matinee

Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz in Cranko's Onegin. © Erik Tomasson

Rarely has a ballet treated its title character with such little sympathy. But equally rare is a full-length ballet assembled with intricate detail that ultimately sweeps the audience up on a breathtaking journey and challenges the audience with such rich choreography. John Cranko’s full-length production of Onegin is a gem. Loosely based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem “Eugene Onegin”, rather than a simplistic love story we’ve come to expect from full-length ballets, this is a refreshing moral tale told in the most interesting way.

Stunning costume and scenic design (by Santo Loquasto) would be empty without solid choreography to sustain such a dramatic journey. John Cranko’s choreography intimately captures the emotions of his characters so well. In addition, his choreography is rife with literature metaphor, an homage to the origin of the story perhaps. In the final pas de deux, Onegin pulls Tatiana’s arms back as she tries to walk forward, symbolizing the burden he had become in keeping her from progressing forward in her life. Add a layer of ingenuity to taking classical ballet steps and adding twists in the partnering, or a sprinkling of modern angles – a lean of the hip here, an innovative lift there. The peasant dances were the most interesting that I’d seen onstage, as  usually they are seen as “fillers” for the more interesting sections. Not so here.

Maria Kochetkova in Cranko's Onegin. © Erik Tomasson

Overall, the choreography captured the emotions of the characters, but also gave the audience lots of things to think about as well. I love choreography that assumes an intelligent viewer. It’s a ballet to capture the heart and brains of its audience.

For the Sunday matinee performance, lead principals Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba lit up the stage in a breathless performance. Van Patten’s heart-wrenching performance led many to tears in the final pas de deux with Pierre Francois Vilanoba, complexly layered with nostalgia, bitter regret, revenge, and heart. They appeared to be dancing a performance of a lifetime, and it was amazing to watch. Isaac Hernandez as Lensky displayed lovely transitions and phrasing, particularly in the curvature of his back and arms, but perhaps didn’t quite have the gravity of presence to master the fiery role. Courtney Elizabeth lit up the house with a lovely natural smile as the fun-loving Olga.

Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz in Cranko's Onegin. © Erik Tomasson

In short, this production is one not to be missed. In my twitter account, I tweeted a three word review of this production, which was “pretty frickin’ amazing”. And that about sums it up. All of the parts of this production lined up to become more than the addition of its parts, with spectacular dancing throughout.

Did you see this production? Who did you see in the leads? I would have loved to have seen Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz dance the title roles as well, I’m sure they were amazing too.

Onegin continues until February 3. Click here for more information. Program 2 starts on February 14.

The season has officially begun! Who’s excited for the upcoming year?? I am!

Some gorgeous photos from the gala; as always, click on them to enlarge. Enjoy!

Sofiane Sylve and Vito Mazzeo in Wheldon's Continuum. © Erik Tomasson

Frances Chung and Taras Domitro in Vainonen's Flames Of Paris. © Erik Tomasson

Maria Kotchetkova and Joan Boada in Ashton's Voices Of Spring. © Erik Tomasson

Yuan Yuan Tan and Alexander Riabko in Neumeier's Lady Of The Camellias. © Erik Tomasson

Dana Genshaft and Ruben Martin Cintas in Wheeldon's Number Nine. © Erik Tomasson

The season opens with Onegin by John Cranko on Jan 27. Click here for more information.

Val Caniparoli in Tomasson's Nutcracker. © Erik Tomasson

Nutcracker season has begun! And what would the holidays be without it? Seriously, for me this year was one of the first years in a long time where I really thought I wouldn’t be able to make it – chalk it up to the hardest rotation in my third year of medical school so far in addition to planning my own wedding next week! – but during the one free night that I had, I squeezed in an evening with friends mere hours after my final exam. And it was totally worth it!! It was a magical evening, and I believe I was smiling the entire time. The magic of this production never fades, year after year, and I’m still convinced it’s one of the finest productions of the Nutcracker in the world.

I had a different viewpoint this time, watching from above in the second balcony, and the view is amazing even from up there as well. In the snow scene, the awe-inspiring falling snow literally piles up in seconds before your eyes, and the additional geometric formations of the dancers’ feet making pretty trails in the snow is an added effect to the formation of bodies onstage. It’s an effect I never noticed from the ground floor before. The only down side is that the grandiose scope of the sets are lost on the audience up there.

And how great is it to experience your friends’ experiencing ballet and the Nutcracker for the first time, and loving it?? They laughed through the hilarious and flamboyant Mouse King (danced with delicious flourish by Daniel Deivison) and admired the impeccably trained children of the San Francisco Ballet school, dancing with that certain joy and that charm that only children have.

Mariellen Olson in Tomasson's Nutcracker. © Erik Tomasson

The highlights of the show for me were Dana Genshaft and Vitor Luiz as Snow Queen and King, dancing with a crystal clarity that translated all the way up to the second balcony. There was a soaring delicacy to their dancing which was perfect for the snow scene. WanTing Zhao made a knockout of an Arabian Coffee, my first time seeing her onstage, which left me scrambling for my program to identify the dancer. Her extensions are gorgeous, and there was an uncanny way of following through every movement with her hands and her feet that was so gorgeous. She took all the time in the world, unfolding herself in oozing sensuality and teasing the audience behind hidden hands. The Russian are always popular, and Daniel Baker with Diego Cruz and Geraud Wielick gave their all in a rousing performance. Frances Chung danced with all the joy in the world and a magnanimous warmth in her expansive movements. Vanessa Zahorian and Joan Boada were the reigning king and queen in the Grand Pas de Deux in a sparkling finale. Joan Boada has never looked better, dancing with a fluidity and an ease in his jumps and lovely deep landings. Vanessa Zahorian sailed through the Grand Pas de Deux with an easy flair and a regal elegance – has that girl ever fallen out of a turn? – which was thrilling to watch. Alyssa Peter also gave a lively performance as the lovely Clara. Also, a shoutout to the conductor for the evening, Ming Luke, who kept a good pace throughout the program which made the first and second acts clip by in a whirlwind of whimsy and fantasy. The orchestra also sounded cohesive, and I can’t stress how much I love having live music.

Maria Kochetkova and Gennadi Nedvigin in Tomasson's Nutcracker. © Erik Tomasson

Basically, go see it!! Performances end on December 27. Click here for more information. Also check out the SF Ballet’s Facebook page; they’ve been having quite a few giveaways and discounts lately.

Did anybody see the PBS showing of the SF Ballet’s Little Mermaid? Just curious about what people thought, I would have seen it if I wasn’t at the Nutcracker.

I was just notified by a friend of mine that NY Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay will be speaking at Stanford University TONIGHT, co-sponsored by their Humanities Center and the Stanford Institute for Creativity for the Arts. The lecture is *free* and open to the public. I would love to go if I didn’t have a night shift at the hospital tonight! Whether you love him or hate him, Alastair Macaulay has shaped the world of dance criticism today, with his sharp biting wit and controversial comments. He’s like the passionate ballet fan that you would love to sit next to in the theater during a show, pointing out fun and interesting (and possibly not necessarily nice) things about what was going on stage. I would love to ask him a question if he feels the pressure to say nice, or not nice, things in his reviews. I could see how controversial things could sell more papers (that Jeni Ringer controversy brought a lot of attention and PR, didn’t it?), and did he behave himself after that incident? It’s an interesting thing, being so public and opinionated.

Click here for more information.

Sacramento Ballet's Serenade by Balanchine. Image by David Alvarez

Last night, I was thrilled to venture out from my usual exhaustion of third year medical school to catch the last performance Sacramento Ballet’s fall program program. This is my first time seeing the Sacramento Ballet, except maybe for about 20 years ago when my cousin was a little dancer in their program of Cinderella. But once I heard that their program included Trey McIntyre and Balanchine’s Serenade, I couldn’t stay away.

I realize that I’m most likely not Sacramento Ballet’s target audience. For this program, Sacramento Ballet heavily promoted its version of Dracula, choreographed by their own artistic director Ron Cunningham, timely for Halloween. They also encouraged audience members to dress up for Halloween, and many audience members actually did, including a convincing Beetlejuice wandering the lobby during intermission. I was impressed with the audience turnout as well, particularly on the closing night of a program run, including running into a college classmate I hadn’t seen in over a decade, a random friend who’d never gone to the ballet before, and a doctor who works at the same hospital I do. Sacramento Ballet really does an excellent job catering to their audience of the residents of Sacramento, making it fun and accessible to go to the ballet. And in addition, I could sense their goal of trying to expose Sacramento audiences to high quality ballet as well, including throwing in a Balanchine classic and a very of-the-moment choreographer, Trey McIntyre. The company’s goals are lofty and admirable.

The program opened with Trey McIntyre’s Second Before the Ground. Who knows what the title means, but this piece showed us why McIntyre is so popular amongst ballet companies today. With music performed by the Kronos Quartet, the quirky strains of nostalgia and joy in the music reflects the high speed fluidity of the movements heavily based in classical ballet vocabulary. Innovation places this piece firmly in the 21st century, with experimentation outside classical ballet poses around every twist and turn. He also utilizes two opposing groups of dancers in different ways, often divided along gender lines. These groups never directly mirror each other but remain as contrasts or reactions to each other, often paralleling different aspects of the music.

McIntyre shows us that even in this plotless ballet, moments are couched in the familiar. The awkwardness of a junior high school dance pervades a sweet and charming duet. The raucous fun of a group square dance reigns in another movement. The men are in khakis, shirtless but with charming suspenders. Girls are in simple light dresses reminiscent of summer dresses. He firmly shows us his very American midwest upbringing with these familiar feelings that are never directly alluded to, but felt.

The program continues with Balanchine’s Serenade. It was thrilling to have my very first full viewing of this piece in its entirety, having seen excerpts all over the internet as well as a school performance of it in college. This piece is easily one of Balanchine’s masterpieces, and I love that it was choreographed for a group of adult beginning ballet students. The opening sequence of women in white romantic tutus to the strains of the richness of Tschaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, with their feet in parallel, open up to the dancing body with their feet turned suddenly into first position. Basic class exercises are turned into something more than the sum of the movements strung together, flowing together from one to the next. History says that a woman in his adult ballet class saunters into class late, and he choreographs this part into the ballet.

With the stage filled with women in white, the choreography whispers of something ideal, of something heavenly. His formations of women in geometric shapes remain fresh and new despite this piece being choreographed in 1934 (wow), from small groups of 2-3 to the full ensemble. You see how Balanchine is the father of modern ballet, with countless choreographers today copying aspects of his choreography. But Balanchine does what he does with such subtlety and complexity, with movements woven deeply into the music. And is there any other piece that showcases the arabesque in all its grandeur and vulnerability?

The program wrapped up with Ron Cunningham’s Dracula. In all, the audience loved it and was obviously waiting for this piece the entire night. One man in our row ending up leaving in a huff, complaining loudly and bitterly that the two pieces before Dracula were even in the program, saying he refused to wait two hours to see the main attraction. This piece was a draw for many, but admittedly not for myself. The company pulled out all the stops with their sets and effects, including a hard-working fog machine, grandiose sets, and high pitched screams and “dracula” roars. Melodrama dripped off the stage, mainly remaining on that one frenzied high-pitched note the entire performance. Again, I’m not their target audience; my fiancee had to explain to me the different aspects of vampire culture, including their hatred for garlic and their need to continue to kill to stay alive. But it was an excellent vehicle for the company to shine, showcasing their physicality and dramatic skills. Who also knew that vampires were so sexy?? The audience loved it and ate up every moment.

In all, my first experience with the Sacramento Ballet was an excellent one. The company clearly knows how to cater to their audience, and also aims to show varied, historic and modern works as well as entertain. The performers are superb, all of them dancing with a modern snap and fluid clarity with a healthy dose of theatricality to sell every piece. Apologies for not naming individual dancers; I found the program a little confusing, but the soloists and ensemble were both lovely.

Sacramento Ballet. Their next performance is the Nutcracker, with performances starting on December 9, 2011.

San Francisco Ballet in Balanchine's Symphony In C. © Erik Tomasson. Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust

Hi all – I’m back! It’s been way too long – I’ve been in the throes of 3:30 AM wake up calls, 14 hour days in the operating room, and working 13 days in a row in the abyss known as third year of medical school. Sorry for not blogging, and I especially miss my life in the theater. I barely made it back last month for an entertaining evening of the musical Billy Elliot last month, but aside from that, the closest to a theater I’ve gotten is a lecture hall. Did anybody make it to Stern Grove this year for San Francisco Ballet’s annual performance in that gorgeous park? I was sorely tempted to skip out to go, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be this year.

Just curious, how early do people to go get a decent seat there these days? Any reports? I heard that it was pretty amazing. And the trainees performed this year! Very cool. Even though I can’t post a review of it, enjoy the photos -

Maria Kochetkova and Rubén Martín Cintas in Tomasson's 7 For Eight. © Erik Tomasson

Vanessa Zahorian and Gennadi Nedvigin in Tomasson's 7 For Eight. © Erik Tomasson

Shion Yuasa and Henry Sidford in Thatcher's Timepiece. © Erik Tomasson

Anything good coming up? I just received an email about Philip Glass creating an annual summer arts festival in Carmel Valley and Big Sur, called the Days and Nights Festival. This festival features Philip Glass himself, in addition to artists all across different genres, including music and dance and poetry. Seems interesting, no? The closing concert with Glass himself at the piano sounds terribly intriguing. Go forth and report back! Would love to join you but for now, I’ll only hope to join civilization one day very soon. Click here for more info. The Days and Nights Festival runs from August 19-September 4.

Has anyone seen anything fun in a theater this summer?

Yuan Yuan Tan and Tiit Helimets in Neumeier's The Little Mermaid © Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet’s production of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid closed out this season with plenty of spectacle and drama. This production is a production with cinematic scope and ambition. The staging elements of the scenic, costume, and lighting design, also by John Neumeier, is full of clean lines and a modern sensibility sure to be pleasing on the TV screen as well (as it will be filmed live this week for public TV and DVD release).

The plot takes creative license from the original Andersen tale, reflecting an additional character, The Poet, inspired by Andersen himself and the story of unrequited romance in his life with the Edvard/The Prince character. This element of the story is both ingenious yet easily confusing for audience members – at the bar, I was stopped by two women who asked me what I knew about the Poet character and who he was.

Neumeier’s choreography creates a world for the audience to get lost in, both the paradise underwater world of the little mermaid’s home, as well as the alien world of the humans on land. All the elements of this production meets in the middle to create these wonderfully weird worlds, including the haunting score by Lera Auerbach. The choreography incorporates movements inflected by East Asian influences (Japanese and Balinese) that look particularly alien to the humans on land, further emphasizing the “fish out of water” state of the little mermaid amongst humans. The created worlds are gorgeous but a bit empty. The visually overwhelming nature of the choreography appears to delve in such detail in describing the worlds that it’s difficult to tell which elements are relevant. It’s the dance equivalent of a novel describing a scene in such detail, you wonder if the three page description of the rocks and stones on the ground are an important part of the plot. For example, a group dances in the back, and I often wondered why. The choreography also lags a bit, particularly in the first act. The absurdist comedic element of the human world is random and puzzling; aside from highlighting how alien the world on land must appear to the mermaid, this element repeats over and over again to a confusing end.

Still there is no doubt that this production is visually stunning and awe-inspiring, and it’s easy to get sucked in. The cast today was incredibly dynamic, with Sarah Van Patten in the lead role as The Little Mermaid. Her portrayal is one of wonder, and the audience experiences with her the silent horror and disappointment of loving someone who didn’t love her back. Her portrayal of innocence is heart breaking. The Poet was danced with lyricism and heart by Pascal Molat, in a piercing portrayal of a man ignored and unseen. Pierre-Francois Vilanoba was a handsome Edvard, a blissfully happy and playful Prince and a supportive partner for both Henriette/The Princess (Vanessa Zahorian) and Van Patten. Jaime Garcia Castilla debuted as the Sea Witch today with expressive lines and high voltage intensity. His scene with Van Patten as he’s turning her fins into legs was particularly electrifying.

Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid continues this week through May 8. Click here for more information. I would also like to reiterate that this production contain mature themes and is not for children. I saw quite a number of children there, and if you expect to see Ariel, you will be highly disappointed.

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.

Maria Kochetkova in Balanchine's Coppélia. © Erik Tomasson

I’m leaving on a road trip, long enough to miss the entire run of Program 5 at San Francisco Ballet, the full-length production of Balanchine’s Coppelia! Please report back and tell me what you thought in the comments below – it should be a fantastic production. I will be seeing the SF Giants’ spring training games instead – so excited!

Other things on my radar: it’s a slightly random list, but somehow these events found their way into my consciousness:

• San Francisco Symphony will be performing Dvorak’s New World Symphony and Mozart’s Violin Concerto #4 with Arabella Steinbacher from March 24-26. Click here for more info.
• For the new music fans: Symphony Parnassus will be performing a world premiere with young composer Stefan Cwik, a “Piano Concerto” with San Francisco Conservatory of Music professor Scott Foglesong as soloist. Their concert also includes Astor Piazzolla’s “Suite Punta del Este” for Bandoneon and Orchestra and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Cool program, no? This orchestra is conducted by principal bassoon player for the SF Symphony, Stephen Paulson. This concert will take place on Sunday, March 27th, 2011 at 3pm at the Concert Hall at the San Francisco Conservatory. Click here for more information.
• Sacramento Ballet presents a program titled “Icons and Innovators” including Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Lila York’s Celts, and Ron Cunningham’s Bolero. The program runs from March 24-27. Click here for more information.

What’s on your radar? Did you see any of the events listed above, and what did you think?

Have a great week, everyone!

Frances Chung and Taras Domitro in Balanchine's Theme and Variations. © Erik Tomasson

I don’t know what it was this past Tuesday, but whatever it was, San Francisco Ballet’s Program 4 was ravishing. Perhaps it’s because the company’s season is now well under way with four programs under its belt or because it was towards the end of the Program 4 run with the previous few weeks to perfect it and get it down, but whatever it was, the dancing came together and it really took off. An all-Tchaikovsky program was a great showcase for the company’s showy style, with every passionate underpinning in Tchaikovsky’s music matched with elegance and vibrant musicality.

Balanchine’s Theme and Variations was an effervescent display of technique and bravura, led by Frances Chung and  Taras Domitro. Chung flew through the quick and notoriously difficult footwork with a smile, looking as best as I’d ever seen her. The pristine sets speak of royalty or heavenly perfection, but Chung’s charm stems from a style that speaks of of a very human quality, not of an airy ethereal quality that some ballerinas have, but a liveliness that breathes. She possesses a wholehearted enthusiasm in the transfer of weight either in a lunging splits (as shown in the photo above) or in a trusting backbend in her partner’s arms, with energy flowing through her limbs past her fingertips. I’m not sure if I’m alone in this, but I never would have pinned her to be a quintessential Balanchine ballerina, but in this performance (and a previous performance of Balanchine’s Tarantella stands out in my mind as well), she sparkled and was an absolute joy to watch. Domitro was a lovely partner, with elegance in his perfectly proportioned limbs but never quite looking at ease onstage especially when he’s not in the air or turning an astounding number of turns. He shows remarkable potential, and I’m looking forward to watching him grow as an artist. The corps was also a highlight, dancing with breezy confidence and tackling the difficult choreography with a spirited energy. For an abstract ballet such as this one, this performance really brought the piece to life in a celebration of both the company and Balanchine’s choreography.

San Francisco Ballet in Balanchine's Theme and Variations. © Erik Tomasson

The same virtuosity was cloathed in drama during the second piece, MacMillan’s Winter Dreams. Inspired by Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, every step served the storyline, culminating in a complex interpretation of this dark but richly layered piece. Under a normal appearing surface, jealousy, rejection, isolation, and anger simmers (and explodes in one chilling stroke) in the relationships between a family and their lovers. It’s uncanny how a step – an arabesque, a turn – can communicate both duty and a concealed desire, and the company excels in these complex details, particularly in the three sisters, Yuan Yuan Tan, Frances Chung, and Vanessa Zahorian. A background of normal every day life marches on despite the internal turmoil of each character, and the play ends as it began, with the three sisters, front and center.

Maria Kochetkova and Vitor Luiz in MacMillan's Winter Dreams. © Erik Tomasson

The evening ended with Tomasson’s world premiere of Trio, a pretty showpiece couched in warm and aristocratic colors in gilded impressionistic sets (with scenic design by Alexander V. Nichols and lighting by Christopher Dennis). This piece appears to be made up of three smaller pieces, with each movement possessing a different flavor. Tomasson can’t resist his usual habit of incorporating pseudo-storylines into his abstract ballets particularly in the 2nd movement with Sarah Van Patten, Tiit Helimets, and Vito Mazzeo. Mazzeo is the tall, dark and handsome stranger who takes Van Patten away from Helimets who doesn’t seem upset at this rude turn of events, and the piece ends with Mazzeo leading Van Patten away with his hands over her eyes. Perhaps he represents Death, or a lover, but I can never tell with these sorts of things.

But it doesn’t take away from the fact that the dancing is gorgeous, with Tomasson featuring the men particularly well with broad strokes of unbashed bravura that’s joyful and confident. Soloists Courtney Elizabeth and Joan Boada in the 1st movement and Maria Kochetkova and Gennadi Nedvigin in the 3rd and 4th movements were stellar, embodying a lively energy and beauty that matched Tchaikovsky’s music, and the corps were equally lovely.

San Francisco Ballet in Tomasson's Trio. © Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet in Tomasson's Trio. © Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet’s Program 5 begins on March 19 with Coppelia.