Ballet
San Francisco Ballet, the first professional ballet company in America, has emerged as a world-class arts organization since it was founded as the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1933. Initially, its primary purpose was to train dancers to appear in lavish, full-length opera productions.
Willam Christensen arrived in 1938, choreographing the Company's first full-length production, Coppélia , the following year. In 1940, he staged the first American full-length production of Swan Lake . On Christmas Eve 1944, Christensen launched a national holiday tradition with the premiere of Nutcracker , the first complete version of the ballet ever staged in the United States.
In 1942, the Company became a totally separate entity from the opera and was renamed San Francisco Ballet. Willam Christensen was artistic director, and his brother Harold was appointed director of San Francisco Ballet School , a position he retained for 33 years. Lew Christensen , America's first premier danseur , joined Willam as co-director in 1951, and took over the Company the following year.
Under Lew's direction, the Company made its East Coast debut at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 1956, and toured 11 Asian nations the following year, marking the first performances of an American ballet company in the Far East.
In 1972, after performing in various San Francisco theaters, the Company settled permanently in the War Memorial Opera House for its annual residency. The following year Michael Smuin was appointed associate artistic director, and celebrated his new partnership with Lew Christensen by collaborating on a full-length production of Cinderella . In 1976, Smuin's Romeo and Juliet was the first full-length ballet shown on the PBS television series, Dance in America , winning an Emmy award. His Tempest , broadcast across the nation live from the Opera House, also received an Emmy.
In 1974 San Francisco Ballet faced bankruptcy, but its supporters and the community responded with an extraordinary grass-roots effort called "Save Our Ballet," which successfully brought the Company back from the brink. That same year, Dr. Richard E. LeBlond, Jr. was appointed president and general manager of the San Francisco Ballet Association. He developed the first long-range plan for an American dance company, and in 18 months San Francisco Ballet was in the black financially.
Helgi Tomasson's arrival as artistic director in July 1985 marked the beginning of a new era for San Francisco Ballet. Like Lew Christensen, Tomasson was, for many years, a leading dancer for the most important ballet choreographer of the 20th century, George Balanchine. Less than two years after Tomasson's arrival, San Francisco Ballet unveiled its fourth and most spectacular production of Nutcracker during the Company's 54th repertory season. Tomasson has since staged acclaimed full-length productions of many classics, including Swan Lake (1988), Giselle (1999) and Don Quixote (staged with Principal Dancer Yuri Possokhov in 2003).
In 1991, San Francisco Ballet performed in New York City for the first time in 26 years, returning in 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2002. All five engagements received great critical acclaim. Following the first tour, Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Tomasson has accomplished the unprecedented: He has pulled a so-called regional company into the national ranks, and he has done so by honing the dancers into a classical style of astonishing verve and purity. San Francisco Ballet under Helgi Tomasson's leadership is one of the spectacular success stories of the arts in America."
In May 1995, San Francisco Ballet played host to 12 ballet companies from around the world for UNited We Dance: An International Festival , commemorating the 50th anniversary of signing the United Nations Charter, which took place in the Performing Arts Center in San Francisco. Never before had a dance event brought together over 150 international artists for two weeks of creative exchange and inspiration.
San Francisco Ballet continues to enrich and expand its repertory, and presents approximately 100 performances annually. The Company's vast repertory includes works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Christopher Bruce, Lew Christensen, Val Caniparoli, Nacho Duato, Roland Petit, Flemming Flindt, Jirí Kylián, Lar Lubovitch, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Peter Martins, Rudolf Nureyev, Marius Petipa, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Christopher Wheeldon, Mark Morris, and Antony Tudor.
Tours in recent years have included engagements at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival, the famed Opéra de Paris-Palais Garnier in Paris, London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, and in Reykjavik, Iceland, marking a triumphant homecoming for Tomasson. In 2002, the Company continued its ambitious touring program with an engagement in Athens and a four-city United States tour, which heralded the Company's return to New York's City Center after a four-year absence. In September 2004, San Francisco Ballet returns to Athens as part of the Athens Festival, and to Sadler's Wells Theatre in London.
The San Francisco Ballet School , run by Tomasson and associate director Gloria Govrin , attracts would-be dancers from all over the world and trains approximately 325 students annually. In addition to filling the ranks of San Francisco Ballet, graduates have gone on to join distinguished ballet companies throughout the world.
For the Company's 2004 Repertory Season, San Francisco Ballet was the first American ballet company to present the full-length Sylvia , with all new choreography by Mark Morris. The Company also performed a two-week Centennial Celebration to honor the 100th Anniversary of the birth of master choreographer George Balanchine. In December 2004, San Francisco Ballet presented an all-new production of Nutcracker with choreography by Tomasson. In celebration of Tomasson's 20th anniversary as artistic director with San Francisco Ballet, the Company's 2005 Repertory Season included some of his most popular works, such as the full-length productions of Romeo & Juliet and Giselle . In 2005, the Company also won its first Laurence Olivier Award, England's highest stage honor, for its fall 2004 season at London's Sadler's Wells.
On the eve of its 70th Anniversary Season in 2002, San Francisco Ballet's world-class status was reinforced by preeminent dance critic Clive Barnes, who wrote: "[San Francisco Ballet] now stands in that major league once consisting only of New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, not only in the size of its personnel and budget but also the extent of its international reputation, and most of all, the sheer stature of the company."
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