Saturday Matinee

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.

From the beginning of the evening, there was a strong sense of community in the room at a performance of the Diablo Ballet this past weekend on Saturday evening. Diablo Ballet’s series called “Inside the Dancer’s Studio” is an intimate look at both an art form and a local ballet company. Located in the small auditorium at the Shadelands Arts Center Auditorium in Walnut Creek, the devoted audience swelled with pride, clapping enthusiastically after each piece. And for good reason too – the “Inside the Dancer’s Studio” series is a testament to the vitality of a local ballet company in giving back to its community, in more ways than one.

With a large proportion of the audience consisting of newcomers to ballet and to the Diablo Company, the program was a reaffirmation of the fact that good art is powerful, moving, and needs no translation. In a program that had its ups and downs, Tina Kay Bohnstedt’s The Mirror was a perfect example. Bohnstedt’s choreography captures the dreamy reverie and the angles in Erik Satie’s music, faintly referring to vague ideas of introspection and dreams with the use of a large mirror centered around a woman (Mayo Sugano) and a man (guest artist Rory Hohenstein) who may or may not have been a dream. If he was a dream, he was a powerful one – an awkward entrance brought the audience to uncomfortable giggles, but the audience quickly quieted down as soon as he moved. Hohenstein navigated the small stage with explosive energy and biting irony to the syncopated accents in Satie’s music, commanding everyone’s attention and moving with power and grace in spellbinding ways. In the SF Chronicle review, Hohenstein is described as “easily one of the country’s finest male dancers”, and it’s difficult to disagree. Sugano dived into her contemplative fantasy with a lovely stretch and and a quiet but simmering fire.

In this intimate setting, the pieces that were the most successful were the strongly atmospheric ones, such as Tina Kay Bohnstedt’s Tango Tchak, swathed in the mystery and seduction of Hugues Le Bars’ music. Christopher Stowell’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream pas de deux contained pleasing touches of fantasy, but from such a close distance from the stage, it was too easy to see the work that went into precarious high lifts and ballet poses.

Another notable highlight was the addition of live music in this performance, with all four jazz musicians Frank Martin, Terry Miller, Mike Olmos (a really amazing and nuanced trumpet player), and Diablo Ballet’s new musical director Greg Sudmeier all worthy of mention. Providing the music for Kelly Teo’s Dancing Miles, a tribute to Miles Davis, the music shared the limelight equally with the dancers onstage and basically rocked the house, bringing the experience to another level. The music too was another reminder of the vitality and the power of the fine arts, not being mere entertainment just to keep the audience occupied, but a force to be reckoned with, an atmosphere to get lost in, and a challenge to the eyes, ears, and mind.

The evening ended with a personal Q&A with the dancers and musicians, and a short demonstration of what the Diablo Ballet is doing to support arts education within the community with elementary school children in an amusing demonstration of choreographing to a piece of music a la Whose Line Is It Anyway? with audience participation. (Our world-premiere piece involved a nun and Humphrey Bogart in a short piece called “Jungle Prayer”.) With this program, Diablo Ballet seems to prioritize the important things – live music, fostering a sense of community, arts education, and great dancing – and to prove itself to be an indispensable component of the community.

The next “Inside the Dancer’s Studio” at the Diablo Ballet will be in May with a program including Val Caniparoli’s duet from Gustav’s Rooster, Balanchine’s pas de deux from Apollo, Sally Streets’ Encores, and Tina Kay Bohnstedt’s My Way. Guest artist Rory Hohenstein will continue to perform in the May program as well. Click here for more information.

Featuring former San Francisco soloist Ballet Rory Hohenstein

Tina Kay Bohnstedt and David Fonnegra in Tango Tchak. Photo Credit: Ashraf

This weekend, Diablo Ballet presents the Bay Area premiere of Christopher Stowell’s Pas de Deux from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and former San Francisco Ballet soloist Rory Hohenstein in a special Miles Davis ballet with live music under the direction of new Music Director, Greg Sudmeier in Kelly Teo’s Dancing Miles. Also included in the performance is ODC’s KT Nelson’s Making Love with Your Socks On, and Tina Kay Bohnstedt’s Tango Tchak (set to the music of Hugues Le Bars) and The Mirror.

This event is being staged as part of Diablo Ballet’s popular “Inside the Dancer’s Studio” series, for which the audience is seated mere yards from the stage and invited to participate in a post-performance Q&A with the dancers, as well meet their favorite performers at a wine-and-appetizers reception directly afterwards. The March 4th program will be hosted by KTVU Sports Anchor, Joe Fonzi and March 5th’s by Walnut Creek Mayor, Cindy Silva.

This program will be held at the Shadelands Arts Center Auditorium in Walnut Creek on March 4 and 5. Click here for tickets.

Lorena Feijoo and Pascal Molat in Forsythe's Artifact Suite. © Erik Tomasson

Following the premiere of choreographer-in-resident Yuri Possohkov’s RAkU a few weeks of ago (did I get the capitalization right?), it was an interesting study to see the contrasting Possohkov’s Classical Symphony in San Francisco Ballet’s program 3 last Thursday evening. In contrast to the drama created in RAkU through a violent and passionate storyline (and equally enchanting music), Classical Symphony creates drama and excitement through high-flying movements at breakneck speeds. Classical Symphony made its premiere with the company in April 2010, an abstract ballet deeply rooted in classical ballet vocabulary with modern touches – shoulder shimmies, tossed limbs, and leans, giving the classical vocabulary a fresh and flirty sex appeal. Balanchine comes to mind, with the speed and precision of the steps and the musicality of the choreography following Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1. Vanessa Zahorian and Gennadi Nedvigin spun and jumped to the music with ease and style, with long poetic phrases in a duet later in the piece. Last year, upon the first viewing of the piece, a middle section of an ensemble of men leaping in time to the Gavotte stood out as a low point of the piece, and even on second viewing, this section appears musically simplistic and predictable. But Isaac Hernandez stood out in his solos with crystalline clarity in his footwork and a noble bearing. The ensemble in Classical Symphony also looked top notch, with the women dancing with elegance and clear articulation and the men dancing with bravura. In all, Classical Symphony a fresh and exciting abstract ballet that sparkles.

San Francisco Ballet in Possokhov's Classical Symphony. © Erik Tomasson

The drama took a different turn with the next piece, Tomasson’s dark Nanna’s Lied. Created in 1993 with then principal Elizabeth Loscavio in mind as the lead role, Tomasson creates a dramatic storyline of a woman’s journey from girl to womanhood in prewar Germany, backed fittingly by the cynical and taunting melodies of Kurt Weill and Friedrich Hollaender (sung live by soprano Melody Moore). The central figure is Nanna, danced with complete abandon by Sarah Van Patten, filling every moment with tension and despair after betrayal and violence. The choreography for the men was especially commanding, particularly for Garen Scribner and James Sofranko as pursuers crackling with fire and hot temper in their pursuit of Nanna. Anthony Spaulding was a handsome Johnny, embodying the cruelty and charisma of his character with cool elegance. The audience seemed a bit subdued in response, and my guess is because since it’s not an uplifting piece. The story is a familiar one told in an intriguing way, a particular departure from Tomasson’s recent offerings.

Sarah Van Patten and Anthony Spaulding in Tomasson's Nanna's Lied. © Erik Tomasson

The evening ended with William Forsythe’s fascinatingly weird Artifact Suite. It’s a difficult piece to describe – it’s pure physicality pushed to the limits, bare industrial sets propelled by the music of J.S. bach and Eva Crossman-Hecht, with a mix of innovation and a dash of Andy Kaufman-esque dark humor. Soloists Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith stretches and pulls with sharp, alien beauty and Pascal Molat and Lorena Feijoo dance with athleticism and animal grace. There are more than a few surprises which I won’t reveal here, but if you stay with the weirdness and disjointed nature of it, you’ll be rewarded by the power of a full ensemble being stretched, powerfully and magnificently.

San Francisco Ballet’s Program 3 runs through March 9. Program 4 is also currently running, and continues through March 8. Click here for more info.

Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith in Possokhov's RAkU. © Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet’s Program 2 was a varied program of modern ballet repertory pieces, including a world premiere by choreographer-in-residence, Yuri Possohkov. Having the very-modern-Program 2 open in the middle of the Giselle run was an interesting study of contrasts, professing to the versatility of the company as well. I attended the Sunday matinee performance on a particularly warm 70+ degree sunny day.

San Francisco Ballet presented a world premiere by their choreographer-in-residence Yuri Possohkov with their Program 2, which began last week. Possohkov’s RAkU is a Japanese-inflected narrative inspired by the burning of Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion in 1950, and is a theatrical spectacle that showcases the dancers at their finest.

The atmosphere is set right away with a gorgeously layered commissioned score by SF Ballet Orchestra bassist Shinji Eshima and sets including video projections by Alexander V. Nichols (with lighting by Christopher Dennis). The score contained motifs with open fourth and fifths reminiscent of traditional Japanese music, with an intelligent use of harmonics in the flute and unique percussion instruments to haunting effect.  Hands down, Eshima’s score was my favorite of commissioned scores we’ve heard at the SF Ballet in recent years due to its complexity and accomplishing more than just setting the tone of the ballet. The sets using video projections blended into the ballet and added to the atmosphere rather than setting itself apart from it.

Possohkov clearly knows what the dancers are capable of, and he puts them on a pedestal. The central figure in the narrative is principal Yuan Yuan Tan; nobody throws around her superhuman extensions to such angst as she does, and Possohkov gives her plenty of opportunity to do so. Possohkov gives his dancers a center of gravity that pulls downward, giving them a grounded nobility, particularly in the choreography for the men (the soloists and the corps of four warriors). Damian Smith is Tan’s prince to her princess, personifying strength and grandeur. Pascal Molat is the jealous monk who lusts after Tan and pursues her relentlessly, to tragic results. Every muscle in Molat’s body expresses his desire, and the momentum he creates in his phrasing is mesmerizing.

In all, the narrative is nothing really new but the ballet weaves a spell, both with its choreography and its production as a whole. It’s a risk using putting so many elements his production, from the choreography to the video projections to the use of shadows projected onto screens, but rather than detracting, all the elements work together to spectacular effect.

Isaac Hernandez in Ashton's Symphonic Variations. © Erik Tomasson

The program rounded out with Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations and Balanchine’s Symphony in C. Both neoclassical pieces are of similar flavors, but then again, on the opposites sides of the spectrum too. Ashton’s Symphonic Variations personified minimalism, using only six dancers and abstract sets with a hint of Grecian influence in the sets and costumes. Like a modern art painting, pure and abstract, precision and purity reign in clean lines flavored by restraint. Principal dancers Maria Kochetkova and Gennad Nedvigin bring a lovely softness to the clean shapes and lines in the choreography.

In comparison, Balanchine’s Symphony in C was an exuberant celebration, with larger group formations and flashy technique. In this particular cast, a number of unannounced cast changes were made, with Courtney Elizabeth and Diego Cruz being onstage despite not being named in the program. In the first movement, Lorena Feijoo and Vitor Luiz danced with a pleasant soft attack and graciousness, and soloists Courtney Elizabeth and Jennifer Stahl dancing with spirited lines. The lyrical second movement followed, with Maria Kochetkova and Joan Boada dancing with serene control, aside from a brief wobble. Newcomer corps member Nicole Ciapponi dazzled with Taras Domitro in the third movement, Ciapponi dancing with the stage presence of a seasoned veteran. Sparkling and dancing with sass, she wowed onstage and will definitely be one to watch. The fourth movement featured Clara Blanco and corps member Lonnie Weeks, with delicate and fast footwork.

San Francisco Ballet in Balanchine's Symphony In C. © Erik Tomasson

For me, the Ashton and the Balanchine piece are like Mozart piano pieces, so much harder than it looks and to make it worse, oh so transparent. Every mistake was visible, from tiny variations in spacing to wobbles, of which there were a few. But overall, Program 2 is packed with neoclassical brilliance, an arena that the SF Ballet excels, and Program 2 is a celebration of both the ballet genre and the treasures within the company.

Program 2 ends on February 11. Click here for more info. What did you think? Please go see Sofiane Sylve in Symphony in C on Friday and report back!

Yuan Yuan Tan and Artem Yachmenikov in Tomasson's Giselle. © Erik Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet’s 2011 season started with a look to the past with Helgi Tomasson’s production of Giselle. From this Romantic classical ballet first performed in 1841, it’s easy to see why this ballet is such a classic. The ballet strongly stresses technical virtuosity and artistry to almost impossible levels, wrapped in a moving story of love and forgiveness.  Set to the music by Adolphe Adam, San Francisco Ballet’s production is a handsome one, with scenic, costume, and lighting design by Mikael Melbye that carry a touch of fantasy that encourages the imagination. Classics such as Giselle reminds us of why such virtuosity and artistry is a gold standard for ballet today.

Apparently, advanced plot lines evolved later on in ballet history. The plot line is a simple one – boy two-times girl, the girl goes mad and (sorry, spoiler alert) dies. The girl rises from the grave to join the Wilis, a group of ghost-like jilted women who prowl the forest for men to kill by conveniently making them dance until they die.  The two-timing boy comes to the forest, is caught by the Wilis. The girl defends the boy and forgives him, saving him from a certain death by the man-killing Wilis, in an ultimate act of forgiveness. I had forgotten how silly the plot line sounds to modern ears, and was only reminded of it when I took two people who had never seen Giselle to the ballet (made only funnier by my attempts at describing the plot to them).

But who watches this ballet for its plot? The lead role of Giselle is a pivotal one, demanding technically while at the same time, requiring the dancer to mask the technicality in effortless grace, particularly in the second act. As a Wili, Giselle performs an unending series of quick footwork (all with a floating ghostly quality), as if inhuman. Interspersed are stretches of adagio with interminable balances and leg lifts, swathed in sorrow and regret. Add to that a wordless communication of forgiveness, chemistry, and tension between Giselle and her partner, Albrecht, and it really might be one of the hardest roles in ballet to perform. On Sunday afternoon, principal Sarah Van Patten made an impressive debut as  Giselle. As a peasant girl in the first act, Van Patten’s Giselle was a role centered on the cusp between girl and woman, with a heartbreaking innocence and optimism. In the second act, Van Patten briefly struggled with technical control necessary for a certain stillness required to seem otherworldly. Moments seemed cautious, but these are nitpicky criticisms. Many moments gave me the chills; Van Patten’s Giselle was a Giselle fraught with human emotion. There were many incredibly gorgeous moments especially in her arms showing Giselle’s sorrow and regret. Her supported hops across the floor were breathtaking as she floated across the floor, and Van Patten’s Giselle was an impressive debut, and a portrayal that will only get better with time.

Van Patten was partnered by the gallant Tiit Helimets, who threatened to overtake the stage with his presence every time he was onstage. He exudes prince from head to foot; even the way his hair flops appears princely and refined. And who could ask for a better prince in Helimets? His long legs move through the air slowly with agility and grace as if he had all the time in the world, switching it up with crystal clear footwork that looks so easy. Another standout was Frances Chung as Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. Chung danced the role with a commanding presence and strength, with rock-solid technique and an intimidating air.

In addition to these roles, the Sunday matinee performance seemed to be an opportunity to parade the newcomers to the SF Ballet roster in its smaller roles. Corps member Daniel Baker was an athletic Hilarion, and the solo Wilis with Nicole Ciapponi and Sasha DeSola were impeccably danced. Myles Thatcher brought a humorous moment as the Servant to the Duke and made the audience laugh when he came onstage. The Peasant Pas de Cinq was led by a playful Courtney Elizabeth with Charlene Cohen and Madison Keesler. Isaac Hernandez and Lonnie Weeks completed the pas de cinq with Hernandez dancing with ease, and Weeks dancing with pure joy.

In all, the corps looked to be in fabulous shape, and I was impressed by the smaller roles danced with such precision and nuance. Conducted by Nicolette Fraillon, the orchestra sounded untidy on a number of occasions both with each other and with the action onstage, but nonetheless created energy and beauty amidst the theatrical atmosphere.

It is daring for the San Francisco Ballet to provide such a monumental classical ballet as its first offering for the year, but it couldn’t be a more thrilling choice for dance lovers such as myself. San Francisco Ballet’s production shows us why this ballet is such a classic. It is a great start to the season for the San Francisco Ballet.

San Francisco Ballet’s Giselle runs through February 13. Click here for more information.

The Royal Ballet's production of Giselle that will be live streamed in movie theaters. Emerging Pictures

Is anyone ready for ballet season to start?? It’s definitely starting off with a bang, with a month full of one of my favorite ballets, Giselle. January 2011 should be unofficially called the Giselle month. This is why:

• Live: San Francisco Ballet’s Season 1 opens with their full length production of Giselle. It’s my top anticipated program of the year, and a chance to see SFB’s top ballerinas take on the dramatic role of Giselle in very unique ways.
• In movie theaters: The Royal Ballet will present their production of Giselle live in select movie theaters, starring Marianela Nuñez and Rupert Pennefather. Click here for showtimes.
• Online: The Guggenheim’s Works and Process series, will live stream the sold out performance Pacific Northwest Ballet – Giselle Revisited on Sunday January 9, 2011.  In this program Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from Peter Boal’s new staging of Giselle, prior to the production’s June 2011 premiere at McCaw Hall in Seattle. Artistic Director Peter Boal will discuss the production with dance scholars Doug Fullington and Marian Smith. Excerpts will be performed by PNB dancers Carrie Imler, Carla Körbes, James Moore, and Seth Orza, mediated by Candice Thompson. The performance/chat will also be archived and may be viewed in the future. To see the performance live online, visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/worksandprocess . Note: Finally, those of us NOT in New York get to experience the Works and Process series that I’ve read so much about on NY dance blogs.

Who’s your favorite Giselle that you’re most looking forward to? I’m curious about Marianela Nunez and Carla Korbes as Giselle, and hopefully I’ll get to experience all three events listed above. Doesn’t it seem like technology has really improved in the past 2-3 years, with us being able to view ballet, live, from the best ballet companies around the world?