SFB Scene

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 | SFB Scene | No Comments

• This Saturday, from 11am-12:15pm, Company Class will be open to the public as part of Bay Area National Dance Week.  Join us at the Opera House for a behind-the-scenes glimpse at this important daily ritual. Click here for more information, including 350 other free events happening as part of BANDW, from April 24-May 3.
• Programming and casting for Principal Dancer Tina LeBlanc’s farewell performance was announced today! Tina will also be performing in Balanchine’s “Rubies” (Program 7) which opens this Saturday, April 24. Click here to read the San Francisco Chronicle’s feature story about Tina’s retirement.
• Did you know SF Ballet is on Twitter?  Click here to follow us!         
  

  Tina LeBlanc in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust; photo © Erik Tomasson)

Tags: Program 7, Rubies, Tina LeBlanc, Twitter

SFB Scene

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | SFB Scene | No Comments

  
• The Opera House is dark this week and the Company is across the street at 455, preparing for the final two programs of the season.  For a high-definition preview of three of the works on these programs, check out our new YouTube videos of Balanchine’s “Diamonds,” Possokhov’s Fusion and Elo’s Double Evil. If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the Ballet’s YouTube channel to receive updates when new videos are posted.
• The dancers aren’t the only ones preparing for Programs 7 & 8. Wardrobe Manager George Elvin and the wardrobe department are hard at work this week fitting costumes for Balanchine’s Jewels on the Company. Stars and Stripes costumes will be fitted to upper level school boys for the upcoming Student Showcase. Additionally, costumes for Russian Seasons arrived this week (being unpacked in the photo below by Costume Production Coordinator Nancy Endy).
• In case you haven’t heard, we’ve announced our 2010 Repertory Season! Read more about it here, with highlights including the return of Swan Lake and Romeo & Juliet, and the US premiere of John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid. It’s going to be an amazing season!     
  

  Costume Production Coordinator Nancy Endy unpacks the costumes for Ratmansky's Russian Seasons.

Tags: Diamonds, Double Evil, Fusion, Program 7, Program 8, Student Showcases, YouTube

SFB Scene

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | SFB Scene | No Comments

Whether or not the Company is on stage, 455 is buzzing with activity, so we’re starting a weekly post with some highlights of what’s happening! Check back each week for more behind-the-scenes tidbits.

• Even though there are still two performances left of Program 6, the Company is already busy rehearsing the works for Programs 7 and 8. Yan Godovskiy is currently in the studio staging the SF Ballet premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Russian Seasons, and will be joined by Ratmansky on April 11. Also, Elyse Borne from the Balanchine Trust is rehearsing George Balanchine’s Jewels.
• If you’re want to read more about the work Godovskiy and Borne are doing, check out Ballet Master Ricardo Bustamante’s latest SF Gate blog entry about the process of taking a ballet from the studio to the stage. 
• If you haven’t seen Program 6 yet, join San Francisco Ballet’s ENCORE! for their second Pas de Trois event Thursday, April 9. Tickets include a pre-performance reception with sushi and wine, and a ticket to the final performance of Program 6.  
  

  San Francisco Ballet rehearses Balanchine's "Diamonds" (Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust; © Erik Tomasson)

Tags: Balanchine, ENCORE!, Program 6, Program 7