Tamara Rojo at San Francisco Ballet

[Lizbie1]

27 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

Five main-stage commissions for female choreographers in 20 years, with a 14-year gap. In the same period no less than 33 main-stage commissions for male choreographers.

 

I'm not sure the RB's record was much better.

[Sophoife]

35 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I'm not sure the RB's record was much better.

...and three of AusBallet's five were from the same woman. Whose work I love and I will forever call Aurum one of the best pieces I have ever seen. It affects me as deeply as do After the Rain and Symphonic Variations.

[Benjamin]

8 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

@Benjamin, without wishing to trample on your comment, I feel a little further information on The Australian Ballet under David McAllister's artistic direction is warranted.

 

McAllister scheduled everything from mid-2001 onwards, and 2004 was most definitely a McAllister schedule. See his memoir Soar for details:

 

"...because he [Ross Stretton] wanted to keep his tenure until the end of 2001, while starting with The Royal Ballet in September of the same year and effectively running two companies at once. The board eventually kyboshed this, and set the changeover date at midyear.

 

"...Shortly afterwards, Ross came to me about the schedule he had prepared for the 2001 season; he wanted to include La Fille mal gardée. I pushed back: it felt as though he was trying to pigeonhole my first months in charge by scheduling a ballet that I had been closely aligned with, and I knew he would never have programmed that ballet during his tenure. We reached agreement by replacing it with a mixed program that I felt more comfortable with."

 

McAllister seasons for information purposes:

 

2012: triple bill of 3 world premieres, Cranko's Onegin (first time since 1996), triple bill of 3 old ballets (The Display Helpmann 1964, Beyond Twelve Graeme Murphy 1980, Gemini Tetley 1973), new Swan Lake. Fifth season replaced by "showcase of Australian dance" while company in New York.

2011: Madame Butterfly Stanton Welch, triple bill (de Valois' Checkmate, Macmillan's Concerto, Wheeldon's After the Rain), double bill of Stephen Baynes (Requiem, Beyond Bach), Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow, Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet.

2010: The Silver Rose (Graeme Murphy), Coppélia, gala bill to celebrate founding AD Dame Peggy van Praagh (Giselle peasant pdd, Garland Dance from Sleeping Beauty, pdd Act III Ashton Cinderella, Gala Performance, other stuff I can't remember), triple bill (At the Edge of Night (Baynes), Halcyon (Tim Harbour), and Baynes' Molto Vivace), and Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.

2009: Welch Sleeping Beauty (2005, 2009), Murphy Nutcracker: Story of Clara, triple bill (Petrouchka, Les Sylphides (2006, 2009), Graeme Murphy's Firebird), triple bill (Ratmansky Scuola di Ballo, Por vos muero (Duato), and the McGregor Dyad 1929), double bill (Suite en Blanc (2006, 2009), Welch's Divergence - last seen 2001).

2008: Visit to Paris with Murphy Swan Lake and another Bangarra collaboration, Rites. Plus Manon, Murphy Swan Lake, triple bill (new pieces inspired by the Ballets Russes: Mrozewski Semele, Fonte, Baynes), Robbins tribute (Australian premieres of The Cage and A Suite of Dances, plus Afternoon of a Faun and The Concert), mixed bill (Ballet Imperial, pdd from La Bayadère, pdd from Act 3 of Sleeping Beauty, Grand Pas Classique, Esmerelda pdd and Paquita pdt), plus visit to Brisbane with Giselle and Adelaide with a mixed bill (Afternoon of a Faun, Symphonie Fantastique, Ballet Imperial).

2007: Nureyev Don Quixote, Peter Wright Nutcracker, mixed bill featuring Paquita pdt etc etc, mixed bill (After the Rain, Constant Variants (Baynes), Apollo), mixed bill (Les Présages (Massine), Symphonie Fantastique (Pastor), and something else I can't remember), Japan tour.

2006: Baynes Raymonda, Fokine tribute (Les Sylphides, Spectre de la rose, Schéhérazade), Bangarra collaboration (Rites, Amalgamate), Giselle, RNZB triple bill (while TAB buggered off to the UK with, guess what, Murphy's Swan Lake).

2005: Bournonville 200th birthday tribute (La Sylphide, Le Conservatoire, Flower Festival in Genzano PdD, and Walter Bourke's Grand Tarantelle), Welch Sleeping Beauty (premiere), WA Ballet La Bohème, mixed bill (Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Suite en Blanc, new Adrian Burnett), mixed Kylian bill (Forgotten Land, Stepping Stones, Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze).

2004: La Fille mal gardée (first time since 1993 plus we got Angel Corella as Colas!), Murphy Swan Lake, Balanchine tribute (Serenade, Symphony in C, Agon)...you get the idea.

Thank you, I feel it was very rude of Ross to say that but I assume David Gave in and did it anyway to please him (even though he had left RB by then) David’s Programming had swan Lale every year, either touring Australia or the world. Like I know it was a hit but I wished the calmed down. Very Glad he brought A Calaaoval version of The Nutcracker. But I question some of his programming (Stephen Baynes Raymonda?)

[Sophoife]

4 hours ago, Benjamin said:

Thank you, I feel it was very rude of Ross to say that but I assume David Gave in and did it anyway to please him (even though he had left RB by then) David’s Programming had swan Lale every year, either touring Australia or the world. Like I know it was a hit but I wished the calmed down. Very Glad he brought A Calaaoval version of The Nutcracker. But I question some of his programming (Stephen Baynes Raymonda?)

I'm sorry @Benjamin I really don't understand what you're saying here.

 

David McAllister did not programme Fille until two and a half years after Ross Stretton's departure from Australia for the Royal Ballet - and over a year after Stretton departed, in turn, from the Royal Ballet. From personal conversation I know he programmed it because he had enjoyed dancing it and felt it was time such a classic came back to Australian Ballet dancers. 

 

Swan Lake (the Murphy version) premiered in 2002, and it's very clear in the book that McAllister commissioned it after Stretton had departed, and that it cost a bomb. Given AusBallet's funding model, such a cost had to be recouped, the production was popular with Australian audiences, and elements of it were spectacular or pleasing enough that it sold elsewhere as well. It was performed in 2002/3/4 all over Australia except in Tasmania, and then in 2006 in England, 2008 in Paris, and 2012 in New York. It was then shown in Australia in 2013 and 2015. Some of those years it was only on in Brisbane, or Perth, or Adelaide, so hardly saturating the core markets of Melbourne and Sydney.

 

I don't understand your comment about Nutcracker at all.

 

The Baynes Raymonda was, in parts, gorgeous. But men dancing ballet in full-on suits always looks odd, and some of the roles were so specific to the dancers who created them, and the production was similar enough to Cinderella that it just...went away to a quiet corner where it's still waiting to be picked up and dusted off. I think it'll be packing a walking frame before that happens.

 

The less said about the mish mash world tour that was the Murphy Romeo and Juliet the better 🤣

 

Plenty of new works are shown with great fanfare and sink without trace, worldwide. I don't envy artistic directors at all.

[Josette]

On 24/02/2023 at 01:58, Jan McNulty said:

 

Oh what a shame.  Do you know what Tiit will be doing?

 

I have very fond memories of Tiit's performances when he was at Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Tiit portrayed Cinderella’s Father in the first several performances last weekend in Wheeldon’s Cinderella.  He had performed it during the pre-Covid  performances as well. He also staged/coached Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird in March for Oregon Ballet Theatre. Tiit is still listed as Principal Dancer of the San Francisco Ballet in programmes and online. 

[Benjamin]

4 hours ago, Sophoife said:

I'm sorry @Benjamin I really don't understand what you're saying here.

 

David McAllister did not programme Fille until two and a half years after Ross Stretton's departure from Australia for the Royal Ballet - and over a year after Stretton departed, in turn, from the Royal Ballet. From personal conversation I know he programmed it because he had enjoyed dancing it and felt it was time such a classic came back to Australian Ballet dancers. 

 

Swan Lake (the Murphy version) premiered in 2002, and it's very clear in the book that McAllister commissioned it after Stretton had departed, and that it cost a bomb. Given AusBallet's funding model, such a cost had to be recouped, the production was popular with Australian audiences, and elements of it were spectacular or pleasing enough that it sold elsewhere as well. It was performed in 2002/3/4 all over Australia except in Tasmania, and then in 2006 in England, 2008 in Paris, and 2012 in New York. It was then shown in Australia in 2013 and 2015. Some of those years it was only on in Brisbane, or Perth, or Adelaide, so hardly saturating the core markets of Melbourne and Sydney.

 

I don't understand your comment about Nutcracker at all.

 

The Baynes Raymonda was, in parts, gorgeous. But men dancing ballet in full-on suits always looks odd, and some of the roles were so specific to the dancers who created them, and the production was similar enough to Cinderella that it just...went away to a quiet corner where it's still waiting to be picked up and dusted off. I think it'll be packing a walking frame before that happens.

 

The less said about the mish mash world tour that was the Murphy Romeo and Juliet the better 🤣

 

Plenty of new works are shown with great fanfare and sink without trace, worldwide. I don't envy artistic directors at all.

Ha excuse me What I say makes no sense. Oh I thought Ross told him to program La Fille Mal Gardée because he wanted it done and was pressuring him. I thought David Always hated La Fille Mal Gardée because he Programmed it once (presumably pressured by Ross) But I’m pretty sure I’m incorrect.

 

Obviously they were going to milk everything they can get out of Graeme Murphys Swan Lake, Just like Tchaikovsky but it still is pretty uninspired programming.

 

Yeah Raymonda was very stylised and Is quite Forgettable, I don’t see them programming it ever again and maybe Reviving Rudolf Nureyev’ 1966? Raymonda.

 

I 100% agree with your last statement, I just hope they don’t do that With Stanton Welch’s Sylvia and The Happy Prince (which not Melbourne or Sydney, not even Adelaide has seen yet)

[Sophoife]

Stanton Welch's Sylvia was a co-production between Houston Ballet and AusBallet. It premiered in Houston in early 2019 and in Australia later the same year. Houston put it on again in 2022.

 

A number of Welch's works have travelled beyond Houston and Australia: Madame Butterfly (1995) is in the repertoires of AusBallet, Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Atlanta Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, and Alberta Ballet that I know of, and probably more.

 

There is no reason to think that Sylvia will suffer the same fate as Raymonda, @Benjamin.

[miliosr]

After the big news about Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn dropped earlier in the week, the San Francisco Ballet School just posted this news on Instagram:

 

"After 12 years with the organization, Patrick Armand will conclude his tenure as Director of the SF Ballet School and Trainee Program at the end of the 2023 summer program."

 

This is a big development because it was Armand who got the school to the point that the company wasn't quite so dependent on imported talent. (He developed Cauthorn and Benjamin Freemantle.)

[Jan McNulty]

Gosh that's a name from my early ballet-watching days.  Patrick was a wonderful dancer.

[Sim]

5 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

Gosh that's a name from my early ballet-watching days.  Patrick was a wonderful dancer.

Agree.  I remember really enjoying his performances.

[alison]

4 hours ago, miliosr said:

After the big news about Dores Andre and Max Cauthorn dropped earlier in the week, the San Francisco Ballet School just posted this news on Instagram:

 

"After 12 years with the organization, Patrick Armand will conclude his tenure as Director of the SF Ballet School and Trainee Program at the end of the 2023 summer program."

 

This is a big development because it was Armand who got the school to the point that the company wasn't quite so dependent on imported talent. (He developed Cauthorn and Benjamin Freemantle.)

 

I'm very sorry to hear that.

[Benjamin]

6 hours ago, Sophoife said:

Stanton Welch's Sylvia was a co-production between Houston Ballet and AusBallet. It premiered in Houston in early 2019 and in Australia later the same year. Houston put it on again in 2022.

 

A number of Welch's works have travelled beyond Houston and Australia: Madame Butterfly (1995) is in the repertoires of AusBallet, Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Atlanta Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet West, and Alberta Ballet that I know of, and probably more.

 

There is no reason to think that Sylvia will suffer the same fate as Raymonda, @Benjamin.

I don’t think it will because it is a co production and it makes it way harder to stop performing it. I’m so glad they did a March season in Houston and did a Melbourne in August-September and A Sydney in November all in the same year, that’s one good shipping crate. I wonder if Butterfly will be dived for it’s 30th Anniversary in Australia and or Houston.

[stucha]

To keep this thread back on topic, I can only hope that Tamara Rojo has the good sense not to programme Stanton Welch's Sylvia in San Francisco.  It is simply the worst ballet I have ever seen.

Edited April 8, 2023 by stucha

[Sophoife]

53 minutes ago, stucha said:

To keep this thread back on topic, I can only hope that Tamara Rojo has the good sense not to programme Stanton Welch's Sylvia in San Francisco.  It is simply the worst ballet I have ever seen.

 

Parts of it are simply lovely, and the music is, also in parts, simply wonderful.

 

Did you see Sylvia in Houston or in Australia, @stucha? Because definitely in Sydney it suffered from the too-small stage, as do so many productions.

[Benjamin]

1 hour ago, Sophoife said:

 

Parts of it are simply lovely, and the music is, also in parts, simply wonderful.

 

Did you see Sylvia in Houston or in Australia, @stucha? Because definitely in Sydney it suffered from the too-small stage, as do so many productions.

I don’t know why San Francisco would bring it into their repertoire but it’s a possibility. I thought it was great (much better than Ashton’s dated version) Though Jerome Kaplans designs aren’t for everyone (I love them, especially his signature wigs with the curls at the front) I’ll elaborate later on the problems with the Sydney opera house because that’s it’s own story.

[Ginny]

Does anyone know the date when SF Ballet will announce for 2024 season? 

[miliosr]

11 hours ago, Ginny said:

Does anyone know the date when SF Ballet will announce for 2024 season? 

A specific date hasn't been set although the expectation is that the announcement will come in April.

[miliosr]

3 hours ago, miliosr said:

A specific date hasn't been set although the expectation is that the announcement will come in April.

An addendum to my prior post: San Francisco Ballet still has Romeo & Juliet to go this Winter-Spring season. The performance dates are April 21-30.

 

So, if there are going to be big changes ahead in terms of repertory and roster, the 2023-24 announcement may get pushed into May so as not to detract from the Romeo & Juliet performances at the Opera House.

[Josette]

Rojo had said earlier in the year in an interview that the 2024 season would be announced in March, which came and went without a word.

 

The company is currently rehearsing for ten performances of Helgi Tomasson's Romeo and Juliet and one would think that next season's offerings would be announced before the season ends on April 30, 2023.  I will be there on opening night in eight days and seeing all four casts on April 21-23. 

 

Perhaps of interest to some of you is that Aaron Robison and Isaac Hernandez will both be dancing Romeo. Aaron Robison is dancing two performances with beautiful Nikisha Fogo, former principal dancer with Vienna State Opera Ballet when Manuel Legris was director; and then Aaron will dance the season's last performance with Yuan Yuan Tan as Juliet. Y-Y Tan is the company's prima ballerina, who hasn't danced a full-length role since pre-Covid, when Neumeier's The Little Mermaid was performed (and she danced it with Aaron Robison).  Isaac Hernandez will dance two performances with SFF principal Dores Andre, who (as discussed elsewhere) is leaving SFB with SFB principal Max Cauthorn to join Ballett Zurich under Cathy Marston's direction.

[Benjamin]

29 minutes ago, Josette said:

Rojo had said earlier in the year in an interview that the 2024 season would be announced in March, which came and went without a word.

 

The company is currently rehearsing for ten performances of Helgi Tomasson's Romeo and Juliet and one would think that next season's offerings would be announced before the season ends on April 30, 2023.  I will be there on opening night in eight days and seeing all four casts on April 21-23. 

 

Perhaps of interest to some of you is that Aaron Robison and Isaac Hernandez will both be dancing Romeo. Aaron Robison is dancing two performances with beautiful Nikisha Fogo, former principal dancer with Vienna State Opera Ballet when Manuel Legris was director; and then Aaron will dance the season's last performance with Yuan Yuan Tan as Juliet. Y-Y Tan is the company's prima ballerina, who hasn't danced a full-length role since pre-Covid, when Neumeier's The Little Mermaid was performed (and she danced it with Aaron Robison).  Isaac Hernandez will dance two performances with SFF principal Dores Andre, who (as discussed elsewhere) is leaving SFB with SFB principal Max Cauthorn to join Ballett Zurich under Cathy Marston's direction.

I hope it’s soon, you would think they would want it announced by now to get the audience at Romeo and Juliet to book in? But maybe they want a bit of news when the company’s rehearsing or on break.

[miliosr]

Tamara Rojo has announced the 2023-24 season:

23–24 SEASON - San Francisco Ballet (sfballet.org)

 

My immediate reaction is that Rojo is making a statement: This is my company now and I'm not beholden to times past. Yes, Helgi Tomasson's Nutcracker and Swan Lake will be there as will George Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream. But most everything else bespeaks of an independent dance mind. (We'll have to see what Encore A looks like.)

Edited April 20, 2023 by miliosr

[Lizbie1]

Interesting to see the MacMillan and Ashton - both pieces she herself danced of course. That's one way to announce your arrival!

[Ginny]

Interesting mix, and I think it's exciting!  I hope it will be a success.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the Marguerite & Armand and Song of the Earth.  English style in SF - yay! 

 

I wonder how long they will wait to decide on what Encore A will be?  Interesting to take the "wait & see" approach, perhaps? 

 

What does anyone know of Broken Wings (the Frida Kahlo piece)?  I am unfamiliar.  

[Josette]

5 minutes ago, Ginny said:

Interesting mix, and I think it's exciting!  I hope it will be a success.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the Marguerite & Armand and Song of the Earth.  English style in SF - yay! 

 

I wonder how long they will wait to decide on what Encore A will be?  Interesting to take the "wait & see" approach, perhaps? 

 

What does anyone know of Broken Wings (the Frida Kahlo piece)?  I am unfamiliar.  

When I saw the "British Icons" program to be performed in early February with Marguerite and Armand and The Song of the Earth, it made my day!  Surely Yuan Yuan Tan will be Marguerite and it is being programmed for her.   My mother took me to see Marguerite and Armand with Fonteyn and Nureyev when I was a child, and, yes, it made an everlasting impression on me. I remember vividly certain portions of that wonderful experience. 

 

Broken Wings was premiered with Rojo as the lead with ENB in 2016.  Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the full-length ballet, Frida, premiered by the Dutch National Ballet in 2020, evolved from Broken Wings. Interestingly,  Frida will be performed at the Los Angeles Music Center on June 14-16, 2023, by the Dutch National Ballet.  There are three performances, and I am attending all three.  Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is the choreographer. Maia Makhateli danced Frida at the premiere and I am hoping that she will be dancing it in Los Angeles, as I have been watching her online since pre-Covid and am happy to finally see her on stage.  We were told at a donor brunch in fall of 2022 that Olga Smirnova would also be dancing it in L.A. 

 

• Mere Mortals - an evening length work by choreographer Aszure Barton with music by Floating Points
• Helgi Tomasson's Swan Lake - performed in February-March, and encored in April-May to close the season.  Apparently there will be a guest performer, as yet not announced. 
• Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream - costumes and set designs by  Christian Lacroix, as created for the Paris Opera Ballet
• British Icons:  Ashton's Marguerite and Armand; MacMillan's The Song of the Earth
• Dos Mujeres - Arielle Smith's Carmen, plus Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Broken Wings
• next@90 Curtain Call:  Yuri Possokhov's Violin Concerto (Stravinsky), Nicolas Blanc's Gateway to the Sign, and Danielle Rowe's Madcap   (these were premiered at the outset of this 2023 season)
• An Encore program, to be announced
• And of course, before all of the above, Tomasson's The Nutcracker from December 13-30, 2023

More details:  23–24 SEASON - San Francisco Ballet (sfballet.org)

 

[capybara]

40 minutes ago, Ginny said:

 What does anyone know of Broken Wings (the Frida Kahlo piece)?  I am unfamiliar.  

It was made for English National Ballet and is a terrific piece with a wonderful role for the dancers cast as Frida.

 

Felling very envious that you will have Song of the Earth in SF.

[Josette]

Correction to my post above. The Dutch National Ballet is performing  Frida in L.A. on July 14-16, 2023, and not in June. 

[fromthebalcony]

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/dance/sf-ballet-danielle-stgermain-resigns-17910944

[Ondine]

Oh!

 

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[Guest oncnp]

32 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Oh!

 

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Danielle St.Germain resigned as executive director of the San Francisco Ballet after holding the position on a permanent basis for slightly more than a year. No reason was given.  Neither she nor the Board co-chair  replied when asked for comment

 

Arturo Jacobus, the San Francisco Ballet’s executive director from 1993 to 2002, returns as interim executive director

Edited April 22, 2023 by oncnp

[Ondine]

Thank you.

 

Intriguing... 

[FionaM]

From their website

 

(no info on why)

 

https://www.sfballet.org/discover/press-center/press-releases/release/danielle-st-germain-steps-down-as-executive-director-of-san-francisco-ballet/

[FionaM]

Separately is Tamara Rojo planning a return to the stage in Marguerite & Armand?   She is older than Fonteyn was  when it was created.  So perhaps not.  

[LACAD]

1 hour ago, FionaE said:

Separately is Tamara Rojo planning a return to the stage in Marguerite & Armand?   She is older than Fonteyn was  when it was created.  So perhaps not.  

I doubt it, she has been pretty vehement that she won’t return to the stage. I recall at her London Ballet Circle farewell that she had zero intention of returning, even if tempted.