1 Day and Counting!

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Timothy and Athena Blackburn opened their sumptuous new Nob Hill pied-a-terre on Friday night to honor Benefactors of San Francisco Ballet’s Opening Night Gala.  The whole evening was delightful and Benefactor Party Chair Elaine Mellis worked with Athena, McCall’s, William Hill, and La Marca to create a sumptuous menu that complemented their lovely home.  Guests feasted on Crepe purses with Ricotta and Preserved Lemon, Lobster Bisque, Sturgeon Caviar Potato Chips with Crème fraîche, Opera Torte Squares and the most delectable French Macaroons outside of Paris. Our dining experience was not complete without a visit to the incredible dining room with its lacquered walls and candle chandelier.

A glittering assemblage of San Francisco personalities speculated about the Opening Night performance and comparing notes on holiday travel and New Year’s resolutions.  As you may know (but I didn’t until a couple of years ago!), SF Ballet is rare among arts organizations because its Opening Night Gala Performance is ONLY performed that night and the following week, the Company opens its first program of the season, John Cranko’s Onegin.

We are also excited about the Post Performance Party where guests will dance the night away with the lively and exquisite dancers from SF Ballet, to live Music by Notorious and special guest DJ – SF Ballet Dancer Sebastian Vinet!

It is hard to believe that the Gala is only tomorrow – we are still working furiously behind the scenes to make sure every detail is attended to for this special evening.  It has been an honor and a pleasure to be the “CEO” of this little venture.  The Auxiliary and SF Ballet have been outstanding – I am lucky to work with such wonderful people.  The event is already a huge success and the Auxiliary is thrilled to be contributing so significantly to this beloved and important cultural institution.

See you at the Palazzo!

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Cooking with Joanne Weir!

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Photo by Erik Tomasson

 

Photo by Erik Tomasson

 

Photo by Erik Tomasson

Cooking is a lot like dancing, both are creative, passionate pursuits in which there is always something new to learn.  However, as a dancer, confidence on the stage does not necessarily translate to confidence in the kitchen. With Joanne’s help, I’m now excited to prepare my new specialty – Spicy Spanish Lamb Stew!  In fact, over the holidays, I made it for my beautiful wife and a few close friends, and there were no leftovers. While our puppy was disappointed … for me, there is no greater compliment!

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“Letter to My First Love”: It’s Your Turn!

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If you could write a letter to your first love, what would it say?

Please note: This feature is now closed to submissions.

San Francisco Ballet’s Onegin (Jan. 27-Feb. 3, 2012) is the story of a young woman who pours out her heart in a letter to her first love—with powerful consequences. We’ve all had a first love, so now SF Ballet wants to hear from you!

Tell us: if you wrote a letter to your ‘first love’ now, what would you write? It could be your childhood sweetheart, or the ‘one that got away.’ It might be a beloved family pet, a movie star—or even a personal passion, like ballet itself. Funny or sad, light-hearted or heartfelt; send us your letters via the anonymous comment form below, and we’ll feature them in a special “Letter to My First Love” Tumblr gallery as they come in (closing date Feb 3, 2012 at 5pm PST). We’ll also print our favorite letter in our Backstage subscribers magazine.

A few guidelines:

  • Length: your letter could be just a few words, or much longer, but we want to read them all  so please keep your submissions to 250 words maximum.
  • Names: all submissions can be submitted anonymously via the comment form below—you don’t need to complete the ‘name’, ‘email’ or ‘website’ fields (and even if you do this info won’t accompany your letter on our Tumblr gallery). You might decide you want to include your name within your letter – it’s up to you! – but whatever you choose, remember not to include anyone else’s real name(s), or we won’t be able to feature your letter.
  • Content: bear in mind that our social media audience includes many younger fans, and we won’t be able to feature any letters containing profanity or offensive language. By submitting your letter you’re giving SF Ballet the right to edit content for reasons of length or style!

Need some inspiration? Read Tatiana’s letter to Onegin, as written by Pushkin…

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“It Perfectly Tells the Story of Onegin…”

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Now that Nutcracker is behind us, my thoughts are turning already to the Repertory Season and to the works new to us this season. First up will be Cranko’s Onegin, a ballet that I have wanted to conduct ever since I first saw it in England at The Royal Ballet. It’s a piece full of wonderful music and challenges. Full-length ballets always have the added extra ingredient of the music telling a story over the whole evening, so I’ll be working hard to pace the drama as well as having to be attentive to all the dancers needs. It’s the sort of ballet where the principals have a lot of freedom in their interpretations and every show will need to be different, I’m sure.  The music is a  compilation/arrangement of music by Tchaikovsky.

It perfectly tells the story of Onegin, which is quite remarkable given that he wrote an opera of the same name–yet none of that music is used! Tchaikovsky wrote so much heartfelt and emotional music that Kurt Heinz Stolze had plenty of music to choose from when he arranged the score for this piece. It’ll definitely be one of my highlights of the season and  I’ll be joined by my great friend David LaMarche from American Ballet Theatre who will help me out by conducting a few of the shows.

 

Yuan Yuan Tan and Ruben Martin Cintas rehearse Cranko's Onegin (Photo © Erik Tomasson)

 

Posted in All Posts by Martin West | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment
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