Ballet’s Newest Composer, Kip Winger

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | All Posts by Kip Winger, Behind the Scenes | 1 Comment

Just got back from a European tour with Winger; we did 16 shows from Spain to Greece and everything in-between. And now I am really looking forward to experiencing the world premiere of Ghosts with San Francisco Ballet!

On the road with Winger

Most people don’t know that writing music for ballet has been a life-long passion of mine, but not just to write a rock/pop piece for dance, to write a legitimate classical piece of music.

When I was 16, a girlfriend of mine pressured me to take a ballet class!  She hated it, but I was instantly hooked, especially by the music from the Ballet Russe era.

Over the years I studied music as much as possible.  My schedule as a rock musician, which doesn’t leave much time for anything, led me to an auto-didactic approach out of necessity, but I managed to stay with it, fueled by the passion and inspiration of someday seeing world-class ballet dancers performing to my music.

Years later I met Zippora Karz who at the time was a soloist with NYC Ballet. It was incredible for me to go backstage and meet the dancers and see performances. In the rock world you don’t meet too many people who know the name Helgi Tomasson or Peter Martins. It was fantastic to have that experience.

After studying a few years with a new composition teacher, Michael Kurek, and being heavily impacted by the works of various composers, for example Honegger, Ravel, Adams, and Vaughan Williams, I began writing.

The 1st movement grew out of the first five measures of the cadenza.  When I was finished, I sent it to Zippora and asked her to contact Christopher Wheeldon. In my mind, this piece was always for Chris. Not only from seeing his amazing work, but I had an instinct about it.

I emailed an mp3 to him and held my breath.  Now,  everyone in the creative world knows that there are many ups and downs. One hundred no’s to one yes.  For me this was one of those magical times when the universe is watching over you. A few weeks went by and I woke up to an email from Chris Wheeldon… subject : “I love it !” Wow!! I have to admit I let out a major rock and roll YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

He then said, “Now, can you make it 20 minutes?” So I set out to write two more movements; all in all the piece took about a year and a half to finish, given my schedule.

In the studio in New York.

When I was finished, I scheduled a recording session in New York to record the piece. My orchestral contractor pulled together an amazing group of NY players and we got a great performance of the piece recorded.  After editing and mixing, I mailed the CD to Chris and held my breath again. The next email from Chris said (drum roll…)

“I love Ghosts and hope to (with your permission) use it for San Francisco Ballet next year”.

After several months the phone rang, it was Chris telling me he will be in San Francisco to set the ballet in a month or so, oh and by the way, is there anyway you can make the piece four minutes longer!?  I was panicked for a few minutes and then the amazing flow of inspiration came over me and I wrote what is now the second movement in two weeks.

In June 2009 I was on the West Coast and came to see one day of the rehearsals for Ghosts. It was incredible to see it come to life! As expected, the dancing was world-class, and the choreography, awesome! As luck would have it, I happened to stop in on the day Chris was working on the new movement.

Next stop San Francisco! My job is easy now, I get to sit back and enjoy the show!

Tags: Christopher Wheeldon, Ghosts, Kip Winger

Behind the Curtain

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | All Posts by Jane Green, Behind the Scenes | No Comments

It’s been a busy transition for all of us backstage as we begin the season, going from the gala performance on Wednesday night into Swan Lake, which opened on Saturday.

The cues for calling a full-length ballet like Swan Lake aren’t necessarily complicated, but they do require a lot of concentration to match-up the stage projections with a live orchestra, dancers, and the stage hands moving scenery. Machines don’t take into account the adjustments that are sometimes necessary in live theater!  My job is really to follow the musical score and give cues (with the help of the assistant stage manager), to the electricians, carpenters, prop crew, projectionists, and the folks manning the spot lights. I think it helps in this job to really know music, even if you can’t read it, in order to anticipate the cues.

Here I am backstage while the Company was on tour in China, Fall 2009.

During the shows, I stand down stage right, which to the audience, is to their left, down behind the curtain. From there, I have video screens of the lighting computer, the conductor, a low-light camera of the stage (so I can see in the dark), and a full stage view. That way I can see what’s happening from several angles and follow the conductor throughout the performance. I communicate via a headset, but for rail and deck cues, I also use cue lights. By flipping a switch, a large number of crew can quickly (and silently) know what action to take.

I work as part of a team—there many people backstage making sure that each and every show goes smoothly; everyone’s job is integral to the success of what the audiences see on stage. You’ll probably never see me (I’m truly behind-the-scenes), but if you come to the Opera House, you’ll hear me: I’m the voice at the start of the performance, asking you to please put away your cellular device!

It helps to like the people you work with! Here I am with Tiffani Snow, assistant stage manager, on the Great Wall in China.

Tags: Behind the Scenes

Guess which roles I didn’t dance this year?

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 | All Posts by Luke Willis, Behind the Scenes | No Comments

This year I danced seven roles in Nutcracker. Talk about keeping a show fresh and new! I was daily remembering which steps I was supposed to do depending on which day of the week it was. Come to think of it, I had one role for every day of the week. It’s probably easier to guess which ones I didn’t dance.

As Dr. Stahlbahm and Mr. Blum from the party scene.

The Jack-in-the-Box

The Rat King sneaking around the Opera House…

As Arabian… keeping watch at Security.

Spanish!

And finally… a Cossack in the Russian Trepak. Good night, everyone!

Tags: Luke Willis, Nutcracker

Report from the Tour: Shanghai

Monday, September 21st, 2009 | All Posts by Robert Russo, Behind the Scenes, Perpetual Motion: SFB on Tour | 1 Comment

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.”

Me with Jessie Qian of Star Group Entertainment Co., Ltd. (© Erik Tomasson)

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

Tags: China Tour