» All Posts by Robert Russo

Opening Night and National Day in Beijing

Robert Russo — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:26:30 +0000

Last night as our technical rehearsals of Swan Lake ended, the dancers, crew, and staff headed back to the hotel since we were advised not to travel in the city; much of which had been locked down in preparations for today’s big military parade.

Today is October 1st, National Day in China and the Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, as well as the opening night of San Francisco Ballet’s historic tour to Beijing.

This morning, bright and early, sun shining, all eyes and ears were glued to CCTV (the state television station) where live coverage of the parade was being shown throughout China. More than a million volunteers wearing yellow shirts lined the streets. After breakfast, I headed across the street from the hotel to the Poly Theatre for Company class. Helgi Tomasson was teaching Company class this morning, and I noticed that there was a low rumbling sound coming from the streets. Just as I was walking toward the stage door to go outside to have a look, Debra Bernard, our General Manager, called me on my cell phone to say that she was stuck across the street with several of our dancers, all of whom were unable to get to the theatre, as large blue and white and green camouflage military tanks were parading up the street. The security guards of the Poly Theatre also took time to stop working to go outside and watch the historic events happening outside. An awesome sight indeed!

A shot of the parade in Beijing (photo by Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

Back inside at the Poly Theatre, Company class continued. Our dress rehearsal for the mixed-repertory program went well, and everyone managed to be where they needed to be, despite Beijing being closed down.

Before the performance tonight, there was a dinner in the Swissotel for our China Tour Sponsors, Trustees, VIP’s from San Francisco, and special friends. The dinner was a lovely Chinese banquet, complete with a large-scale Chinese dragon carved out of ice on display for our guests. Italian-born Food and Beverage Director of the Swissotel, Mr. Gianmaria Azzoni outdid himself and created a truly memorable evening of food and drink.

The opening night performance of the mixed-repertory program went beautifully. Our fantastic dancers, once again wowed the audience with their brilliant artistry! As an added bonus, I got to go onstage at the end of Distant Cries and hand a bouquet of flowers to Principal Dancer and Shanghai-native Yuan Yuan Tan. A real treat for me!

While the audience inside the Poly Theatre reveled in the delight of our amazing dancers, the city outside enjoyed a thunderous spectacle of fireworks shot off from historic Tian’anmen Square that illuminated the Beijing night sky.

Fireworks over Tian'anmen Square in Beijing (photo by Xinhua/Liu Yu)

Look out Beijing! San Francisco Ballet is in the house!!

Ciao, Robert

Report from the Tour: Beijing

Robert Russo — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:57:13 +0000

Greetings from the Tour! It’s been a very busy week for all of us. Since last I wrote, San Francisco Ballet danced 4 triumphant shows at the Shanghai Grand Theatre: one mixed-repertory program and three performances of Swan Lake. Our dancers kept up the fast pace with technical and dress rehearsals and different casts of Swan Lake – everything moving at lightning speed. However, our dancers were not the only ones moving at lightning speed. In Shanghai, the theater was across the street from the hotel, and crossing the street to get to work was an adventure each day. The traffic in Shanghai is something that is hard to imagine – cars and bicycles whizzing by fast and furiously – coming at us from multiple directions!

An aerial view of traffic in Shanghai.

On Sunday the Company and Crew boarded two separate Air China flights from Shanghai for the two and a half hour flight up north to Beijing. From the moment we arrived in the capital city and drove to the hotel, we could tell we were in the middle of an extraordinary moment in time: the preparations for the 60th Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of the People’s Republic of China were in full-swing. Red and yellow banners were posted all along the highway flanked by red and yellow flowers lining the roads. On the television news this morning it was announced that for the anniversary celebrations there are a million volunteers in the streets helping to keep things flowing smoothly, and there are more military personnel here in the city now than there were for the Olympics.

Last night we were all treated to a lovely Welcome Reception at the St. Regis Hotel hosted by our tour sponsors. The party was fantastic, with delicious food and drinks and live music, and there was a large ice sculpture of the Golden Gate Bridge! Awesome!

Much of the city is closed now as roads and subways are blocked off for the big day tomorrow – the October 1st anniversary celebrations. Luckily for us, our hotel is across the street from the Poly Theater so we don’t have to worry about not getting to tomorrow’s dress rehearsal of our mixed repertory program.

Tomorrow is the big day: The 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic of China–and the Opening Night of San Francisco Ballet in Beijing!

Ciao, Robert

Report from the Tour: Shanghai

Robert Russo — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:54:26 +0000

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

Robert Russo — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:41:15 +0000

After the 13-hour flight from San Francisco, the dancers and company arrived safe and sound in Shanghai. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful travel day, but then again, moving 100 people half-way around the world is an event in and of itself.

By the time we arrived at the hotel in Shanghai and got everyone settled into their rooms, it was close to 10pm local time on Friday evening (7am Friday morning in SF). By then, I think the dancers were super-excited to have some food and a good night’s sleep!

Our first full day in Shanghai was Saturday. The weather was sunny and warm and after a wonderful breakfast, the dancers piled into buses and headed to Company Class. It was a very special Company Class, as it was hosted by the Shanghai Dance School—the same school that our principal dancer and Shanghai-native Yuan Yuan Tan studied at when she was a young ballerina. As it was Saturday, the school was filled with many young dancers training in studios on several floors. When it was time for our SF Ballet class to begin, our studio was packed with young dancers from the Shanghai Dance School, all eager to watch and to learn from our company.

While the dancers were taking class, I spent several hours double-checking our daily logistical plan and going over final preparations for the big activity that night. At 5:15pm Saturday evening, the Company gathered in front of the hotel and boarded buses bound for the United States Consulate in Shanghai.

Here I am with dancer Daniel Deivison-Oliveira and Andrew D. Lebkuecher, the vice consul general at the US Consulate in Shanghai (© Erik Tomasson)

U.S. Consul General Beatrice Camp hosted a reception in honor of San Francisco Ballet on the Consulate lawn. The beautiful weather that we enjoyed in the morning stayed with us for the Consulate reception and, under a large tent on the Consulate lawn, dozens of representatives of Shanghai’s cultural community gathered together with our dancers and staff to celebrate SFB’s arrival in the People’s Republic of China, and the beginning of our tour. In his address to the Consul General and invited guests, Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson said “The arts have always served as an important vehicle for cultural exchange. They provide a unique perspective on the thoughts, values, and aspirations of a society. San Francisco Ballet hopes that our tour will help foster better understanding among the People’s Republic of China, the United States of America, and the many countries represented by the dancers of San Francisco Ballet.”

Our first 24 hours in Shanghai could not have been better!

I hope you’ll stay tuned for the next report from the Tour.

Ciao, Robert