Its a great piece and I wish I could actually watch it more than I can when I’m dancing.  The parts that I do get to watch are amazing–the dancers in my cast have really stretched themselves (literally) outside their normal comfort zones.  You can see everyone pushing hard and that inspires you to do do the same.  The piece finishes with a big climax in the music and Antoine tells us that we have to kick it into an even higher gear to achieve the right feeling for the ending. 

Needless to say I think its going to be exciting!  Antoine is gone for now, but he will return with Wayne, closer to the performances, to put on the finishing touches and remind us of whatever we’ve forgotten over the winter.  We won’t touch Chroma again until probably after Nutcracker, so we’ve really got to be good about remembering every little detail and correction.  Ricardo Bustamante, the ballet master for this ballet, is in charge of helping us answer any questions we might have when we put it together again in the spring.  He took copious amount of notes during the learning process and has videos of every cast to refer to.  But just like the dancers, he now is looking to the next ballet on the schedule, Artifact Suite, by William Forsythe.  And on goes the rehearsal season…at least I feel in shape for Artifact, which is another gut-buster!

The choreography allows for a lot of freedom, and I’m really enjoying putting my own individuality into this piece. I think every cast is going to dance it a bit differently, and I think for an audience it’s going to be worth seeing this ballet more than once, and with different casts.  It’s amazing that we can have three full casts able to perform this ballet; it demonstrates the depth of talent here at SFB.  It catches me off guard sometimes, but from day one here I’ve been blown away by the amount of talented dancers, from the corps all the way to the principals.  I’m honored and proud to work alongside each and every one of them.

I’ll keep you posted on how we’re all holding up as the rehearsals for Chroma come to a close. Go Giants!

All the choreography is learned and there are no more holes.  The final 30 seconds of the ballet were the hardest to put together–the piece builds to a climax and ends with a section that is called “Throwing.”  That is not a figurative title, as the men are literally throwing the women every which way across the stage!  It can actually be quite dangerous so we spent pretty much the whole last rehearsal just learning the mechanics of every lift and the “traffic patterns” so no one got hurt when we did it up to tempo.  When we finally put it together at full speed, we were kind of like, “that’s it?”  It looks more crazy on the video than it feels, thank goodness, because when we watched it for the first time, my jaw just dropped.  I couldn’t even focus on the part I was supposed to be learning, there was so much happening with women being thrown here, there, and everywhere…I have to say its one of the most exciting ends of a ballet that I’ve ever seen!

  That’s not to say our work is anywhere near done though; we have one more week left, and Antoine actually told us that now is when the real work begins.  And I thought just the basic execution of the steps was hard!  What he means is that now we can start to investigate the work more deeply and give every step the right intention.  It’s true that when you first learn a ballet, even a classical one, your brain power is dedicated to the sequence of steps, and not necessarily to giving it a full allowance of…..you could say, artistry, musicality, quality, etc.; all those things that make a performance special.  Its in certain moments when a good dancer knows a ballet so well, and knows the music inside and out, that they play with the choreography, and create something that is more than just steps set to music.  In works like Chroma, we can also start to experiment with the extremeness of the movement, and push our bodies to the max.  The kind of work that’s done in this last week of rehearsals will make this ballet a success.

 And now the weekend is over and I hope everyone had a good one.  It looks like our SF summer is officially over. The rain spoiled my Sunday plans, but my wife and I enjoyed an impromptu cozy afternoon curled up on the couch watching movies and baseball.  It doesn’t get much better than that  (except maybe if the Giants had won).  See you soon…

 Because it was the first time doing the whole thing full-out without stopping, I really didn’t know if it was going to be hard or not.  Well, I got my answer, that’s for sure.  But, like many other stamina-challenging ballets that I’ve done in the past: Double Evil, Artifact Suite, Company B, Elemental Brubeck…they usually get easier the more you rehearse and perform them.  Now that I have a feeling for how much the trio takes out of me, I can learn where to pace myself, take it easy here or push more there…etc. And of course, once I master the stamina for the trio, then I have to be able to do it in the context of the rest of the ballet, and I  have a feeling there is still a lot to learn. 

I see rehearsals on the schedule for the full cast–the finale perhaps?  I’ll let you know…hope you had a good weekend.  Go Giants!  I spent Sunday painting my fence and listening to the game on the radio.  It was a great game to distract me while I labored away.

 By the way, did anyone notice that West Side Story is coming to town?  After having watched the movie countless times and even dancing West Side Story Suite here at SFB, I can’t believe I’ve never seen a stage production.  I bought my tickets today, in person at the Orpheum box office, so I don’t have to pay convenience charges.  

Another must-see show coming to the Bay Area-Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley.  If you remember Pablo Piantino from a couple years ago at SFB, he is now dancing with this company.  They do mostly contemporary work which is kind of a blend between ballet vocabulary and modern movement.  I’m super psyched about 27’52”, a work from Jiri Kylian.  He’s one of my favorite choreographers of today; he was director of Netherlands Dans Theatre for many years and I still remember the tour they did to Zellerbach a couple years ago.  It was so original and exciting and made me want to see it again the minute it ended.  I love going to a show and thinking ‘wow, thats something I’ve never seen before’.  In this day and age of globalization, yes, even in the dance world, thats no small accomplishment!  That why I’m so excited to be a part of Chroma, I’ve definitely never seen anything like it!

 Today’s shorter rehearsal was just reviewing what we learned yesterday and trying to put it to the music.  Sometimes in rehearsing a new ballet, we learn the musicality from the beginning, hand-in-hand with each step.  Yesterday, however, for two hours, we learned a whole section without the music.  I think that was a good idea, as there are so many details and unusual positions that we’ve got enough to think about!  Today we had a better handle on the sequence and execution of the steps so we weren’t completely freaked out when we tried it with the music which is by a composer named Joby Talbot. Apparently, some of it is an orchestral arrangement of songs by the rock band The White Stripes.  Now that’s something you don’t get every day in our studio…

 I love the energy in the room for these rehearsals and with Antoine.  Both days have been challenging because of the unique nature of the steps, but also just a lot of fun.  It’s nice to move my body in different ways and to explore how I will “make it my own.” 

We’re watching a video from The Royal Ballet, but Antoine warns us not to copy them exactly and to find our own way to interpret the steps.  I’ve been working with Lorena Feijoo, and we’re like a team trying to come up with a good solution for each moment.  Its sometimes a puzzle: this grip here, then change to this hand, a little more off balance here, hold me stronger there, etc….we slowly figure out what works best while Antoine gives us direction.  Today and yesterday, the time went by so fast, we actually wanted to stay longer.  What job makes anyone ever want to stay longer at work?

 I’m excited for tomorrow. I think we’re starting a new section…

 Click here to see a video of Wayne Macgregor and Joby Talbot talking about the design and music of Chroma.

With Wayne’s choreography, there is no codified language; every detail has to be explained and demonstrated carefully.  I felt a little like those celebrities on Dancing with the Stars tonight, trying to learn the quick step!  Hopefully we’ll get a little better result than some of those contestants (yikes)!  We have to undulate our bodies and especially our torsos much more than we usually do for ballet, I can already feel the soreness setting in.  I was prepared for a bit of that movement because of my experience with Eden/Eden, so I wasn’t really surprised, but I think my body is a little shocked!

 And then, after Chroma, I did a workout at a local facility where you work with a personal trainer who guides you through exercises specific to your needs, and they don’t let you get away with anything!  I’m working on strengthening the muscles around my knee to prevent tendonitis.  And  it’s very active.  Let’s just say I felt the burn. So, my back will be sore from Chroma and my thighs will be sore from the added workout.  I had just enough energy to come home and eat dinner and watch Dancing with the Stars  (I only watch occasionally, seriously.)  And now, early bed time for me. I’ll be writing more on the process of learning Chroma, so stay tuned!

It looks like this is a clip featuring Alina Cojocaru, dancer with The Royal Ballet (where Wayne is resident choreographer) so obviously, that won’t be my part…but at least I can sort of see the style and get a glimpse of the work.  I’m sure there will be a video involved in the rehearsal, but I’m still a little curious, you know?  Its always an exciting thing, starting a new ballet, especially by one of the currently most sought-after choreographers in the world (I heard he’s choreographing for the London Olympics)!

I’d say from watching that clip, I’m gonna be sore this week…looks like we’ll be using muscle groups that we don’t always use in traditional ballet!  I’d better stock up on bananas and get some good sleep.

 I’ll  keep you posted on how the week goes, stay tuned.

James Sofranko rehearses Yuri Possokhov's Diving into the Lilacs with Dana Genshaft. (© Erik Tomasson)

We just finished two weeks of alternating Programs 1 and 2…a nice intro. to the performing season; two new ballets for me, first the world premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Diving Into the Lilacs, and also William Forsythe’s in the middle, somewhat elevated. They were both very different and challenging. Anytime you are doing a world premiere, the expectations are very high and the pressure is on everyone- the choreographer, the costume designer, the dancers, etc. There’s always potential for someone’s fuse to blow. So it’s an exciting time at least; there’s a bit of risk involved, nobody really knows how the audience will react, if the lighting cues will be just right, if the dress will stay where its supposed to, if we will hit our triple pirouette or not, etc… Of course, everyone involved here at San Francisco Ballet is of the highest quality and professionalism, so those risks are definitely minimized, and no one lost their cool (too much). I hope you liked Yuri’s piece, I can’t really comment on it because I haven’t seen it from the front. The set looks amazing from stage though, and I’ve heard its striking from the house too. Yuri seemed pleased and most people I’ve talked to enjoyed it very much.

In the middle, as we abbreviate the title, was a blast to dance. I’m sad that its over—I danced it three times and I have my fingers crossed that we will do it again next year. The atmosphere on stage is so casual, like we’re just tossing off some phrases in the studio for each other, that it actually relaxed me and made me less nervous. There’s a lot of eye contact, and a friendly sort of competition among the cast that gets everyone’s energy up. I danced with Sarah Van Patten, who is great to work with; we actually first danced together years ago at Chautauqua, a summer dance program in upstate New York, in Balanchine’s Tarantella. We’ve come a long way from Tarantella to in the middle. The partnering is unlike most ballet partnering, with the guy posing behind the woman holding her up and making sure she’s on balance. Here it’s more of a physical push and pull of each other’s weight, and the woman definitely takes on a more active role in the partnership. Forsythe’s choreography is also very extreme: you make use of the length of your arms and twist in your upper body just as much as you use your legs. That makes dancing the piece about twice as tiring, but I don’t think anybody minds—it’s fun to work hard, it’s fun to push your body to new limits: to see how far can I actually reach my arms and fingers to the sky, how wide can I make my back, how much can I stretch out this phrase without being off the music? These are all questions that Laura Graham, our coach, sent by Mr. Forsythe, asked us to explore. There was a lot of individual exploration in this piece, we were even asked to improvise certain sections. I had to improv some phrases by watching Katita dance and imitating her movements with just my knees. Not your typical day at the office…;) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did dancing it, and I hope we can continue to do different and exciting things like In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated here at SFB.

I’ll be back, probably to talk about Swan Lake next. Pssst….you don’t want to miss it (the show that is). -J

James Sofranko performs Trepak in Tomasson's Nutcracker. (© Erik Tomasson)

My name is James Sofranko, and I am now going to be maintaining a blog for San Francisco Ballet’s Open Studio 455. I haven’t done much blogging in the past, which is to say I haven’t done any blogging whatsoever! I mean really, I never even knew what the word meant ’till about a year ago! (And, I’m still not crystal clear.) Oh well, at least now if someone talks to me about blogging, I don’t have to nod my head politely and pretend anymore. I can confidently say that I myself am a dancing blogger, or should I be a blogging dancer?

So, my name is James, but people who know me usually call me Jim, much in the same way people call Mikhail Baryshnikov “Misha.” Yes that’s right, I just compared myself to Baryshnikov; you may find that happening a lot here. After all, it is my own blog, and I get to compare myself to whomever I choose, right? Just kidding, but seriously, Baryshnikov, as I’m sure he is to many male dancers, is one of my biggest inspirations. For one thing, he’s short at 5’7”, the same height as me. (I might even say he’s 5’6”; I stood next to him in the cafeteria once.) He’s amazingly explosive when he dances—you can feel his intensity and commitment to the movement. Of course, he does crazy tricks and millions of pirouettes, but that’s not everything that impresses me about him. So many dancers these days can turn more than he ever did and do all the same exciting tricks. I’m intrigued by the intangibles of his dancing as well as his physical achievements. His acting, phrasing, musicality—they all play a part in making him a full packaged artist/athlete. I say athlete because that’s what we, as dancers, are; we train our bodies and put them to use in just the same way a baseball player or football player does. “Game time” for us is the stage and we have pressure to excel just as they do.

Anyway, we’re getting ready for Nutcracker now, and for most of us it’s back to business as usual after the fall tours. The new dancers this year that haven’t been in our production might feel a little overwhelmed with new choreography being thrown at them in a short period of time, but for the returning dancers (this is my 9th Nutcracker at SFB), the steps are pretty much ingrained in our subconscious!

We still have to maintain a level of commitment, though. We have to remember that there are people for whom the Nutcracker is their first time at the ballet. We owe it to the audience to give the best show we can, and that means not just execution of steps, but full realization of character and belief in the story. Helgi has encouraged us to focus on this aspect of the performance, not just the steps. In a dancing dolls rehearsal, he said that we have to make someone believe they are watching an actual toy doll, not just a human impersonating one. So, even though Nutcracker is something we all feel we could do in our sleep, we can’t fall victim to that apathy.

I’m actually at the theater right now waiting for Act II rehearsal to begin. Opening night is tomorrow—I’m dancing the Nutcracker doll that comes out of the magic box in the party scene. For many years in a row, I performed the Russian variation opening night (I also performed it for the PBS filming), but this year I’m content to watch other people get their chance. I am still cast to perform the center Russian guy, and my first show this year is Sunday night. He doesn’t have that much more to do than the side guys, but there are all those split jumps and some extra turns in the finale, enough to make me a little nervous! It’s a great part and always a crowd-pleaser, so it is definitely fulfilling to perform. And, of course, the music for Russian is so well known that I think I’ve counted five holiday commercials so far this year that use it. The same is true of the Sugar Plum Fairy variation music. We hear the Nutcracker music so many times in our lives, but every year I’m reminded how good the score actually is. I love listening to and watching the transformation scene in the first act, when the tree grows. Spectacular! As ballet dancers, we owe a lot to Tchaikovsky. I wonder if he knew what his contributions would really mean to generations of dancers.

Well, gotta run and watch a new cast of Russians jump out of those eggs—always fun to watch someone jump out for the first time!

Talk to you soon.