It’s been a busy few days for all of us in Shanghai. When last I wrote, we had just returned from our wonderful welcome reception hosted by the U.S. Consul General. Since then, all four of our ocean freight cargo containers with our scenery, costumes, equipment (including our very own SF Ballet dance floor) were unloaded at the Shanghai Grand Theatre in preparation for our opening performance. Lefty Lefcourt, our Production Manager and our indefatigable SFB Stage Crew, worked long hours into the morning to make sure that everything was set up and ready for the dancers to hit the stage for spacing and technical rehearsals. Working side-by-side with our SFB stage crew was a huge team of local Chinese technicians who helped to install the floor, the lights, and the scenery—and unpack over 166 costumes—all in what seemed like a blink of an eye.
I stopped by the theater at 1am on Sunday morning to take a look at how things were progressing with the set-up, and I was very impressed with what I saw. It was an awesome sight to stand on the empty stage knowing that in a few short hours everything would be set up and installed for our Mixed Repertory program and Swan Lake! Kudos to Lefty and our amazing crew!
Lefty Lefcourt and I preparing for the tour back in my office in San Francisco
Tuesday afternoon we had our dress rehearsal for our Mixed Repertory program and at 7:15pm last night, San Francisco Ballet had its debut performance in the People’s Republic of China. The enthusiastic audience included U.S. Consul General Beatrice Camp (who attended with her son), and lots of friendly faces from San Francisco who made the trek across the globe to cheer our fabulous dancers on! Yay Team SF Ballet!
Next up: Are you wondering what we’ve been eating in China and what we’ve been up to when not in the theatre? Stay tuned for the next report from the Tour.
Ciao, Robert
Miriam Rowan, Rebecca Rhodes, and Alexandra McCullagh backstage before a performance of On a Theme of Pagnini.
Report from the Tour: Shanghai
September 23, 2009
It’s been a busy few days for all of us in Shanghai. When last I wrote, we had just returned from our wonderful welcome reception hosted by the U.S. Consul General. Since then, all four of our ocean freight cargo containers with our scenery, costumes, equipment (including our very own SF Ballet dance floor) were unloaded at the Shanghai Grand Theatre in preparation for our opening performance. Lefty Lefcourt, our Production Manager and our indefatigable SFB Stage Crew, worked long hours into the morning to make sure that everything was set up and ready for the dancers to hit the stage for spacing and technical rehearsals. Working side-by-side with our SFB stage crew was a huge team of local Chinese technicians who helped to install the floor, the lights, and the scenery—and unpack over 166 costumes—all in what seemed like a blink of an eye.
I stopped by the theater at 1am on Sunday morning to take a look at how things were progressing with the set-up, and I was very impressed with what I saw. It was an awesome sight to stand on the empty stage knowing that in a few short hours everything would be set up and installed for our Mixed Repertory program and Swan Lake! Kudos to Lefty and our amazing crew!
Lefty Lefcourt and I preparing for the tour back in my office in San Francisco
Tuesday afternoon we had our dress rehearsal for our Mixed Repertory program and at 7:15pm last night, San Francisco Ballet had its debut performance in the People’s Republic of China. The enthusiastic audience included U.S. Consul General Beatrice Camp (who attended with her son), and lots of friendly faces from San Francisco who made the trek across the globe to cheer our fabulous dancers on! Yay Team SF Ballet!
Next up: Are you wondering what we’ve been eating in China and what we’ve been up to when not in the theatre? Stay tuned for the next report from the Tour.
Ciao, Robert
Miriam Rowan, Rebecca Rhodes, and Alexandra McCullagh backstage before a performance of On a Theme of Pagnini.