Latest news with #SanFranciscoBallet
Calgary Herald
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Top ballet dancers in Vancouver to celebrate dance company's 20th anniversary
Article content Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY presents 20th Anniversary Gala Article content Article content Article content Some of North America's best ballet dancers are congregating in Vancouver to celebrate the work of Joshua Beamish and MOVETHECOMPANY, the company that the B.C. dancer and choreographer created 20 years ago. Article content Article content The five pieces in the program include one remount and four Vancouver premieres and feature dancers from San Francisco Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Edmonton and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, as well as local dancers and former artists from Ballet B.C. Article content Article content A: If you had asked me that a few days ago, I would have said no. But today, now that we're in the thick of it, one could say 'possibly.' Except that the cast is absolutely phenomenal and the dancers have been working so hard. And we're incredibly fortunate as a community to have them here and to be able to see them perform. Article content Article content A: As a company, our identity is always kind of shifted between more balletic programming with work on point, and then contemporary and theatre work. And our ballet @giselle that we did in 2019 was a big success. We don't often see a lot of classical ballet here, outside of The Nutcracker. And because our last two productions, Source Amnesia and Salt, were more contemporary dance, it felt like the right time for a ballet-focused program. Article content Article content Article content A: I think her experience, as she related it to me, was that she had so many memories of being back in the studio when we were making it. Her movements came back quite readily, and then it was all about approaching the movement with her body as it is now, 18 years later. We're in completely different places in our dancing, in our relationship to dance, and how our bodies approach movement. In my opinion, she looks better now than she did when we made it in our 20s. It's quite extraordinary how the knowledge we gain through a sustained career can allow us to approach virtuosity with a greater efficiency and therefore more freedom. And I've loved being able to reconnect with her, especially in the Dance Center building, where I held the first rehearsals of my career.
Vancouver Sun
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Top ballet dancers in Vancouver to celebrate dance company's 20th anniversary
When: May 29 & 30, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Where: Vancouver Playhouse , 600 Hamilton St., Vancouver Tickets: From $44-$99 at Some of North America's best ballet dancers are congregating in Vancouver to celebrate the work of Joshua Beamish and MOVETHECOMPANY, the company that the B.C. dancer and choreographer created 20 years ago. The five pieces in the program include one remount and four Vancouver premieres and feature dancers from San Francisco Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Edmonton and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, as well as local dancers and former artists from Ballet B.C. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. We talked to Beamish about the retrospective: A: If you had asked me that a few days ago, I would have said no. But today, now that we're in the thick of it, one could say 'possibly.' Except that the cast is absolutely phenomenal and the dancers have been working so hard. And we're incredibly fortunate as a community to have them here and to be able to see them perform. A: As a company, our identity is always kind of shifted between more balletic programming with work on point, and then contemporary and theatre work. And our ballet @giselle that we did in 2019 was a big success. We don't often see a lot of classical ballet here, outside of The Nutcracker. And because our last two productions, Source Amnesia and Salt, were more contemporary dance, it felt like the right time for a ballet-focused program. A: I think her experience, as she related it to me, was that she had so many memories of being back in the studio when we were making it. Her movements came back quite readily, and then it was all about approaching the movement with her body as it is now, 18 years later. We're in completely different places in our dancing, in our relationship to dance, and how our bodies approach movement. In my opinion, she looks better now than she did when we made it in our 20s. It's quite extraordinary how the knowledge we gain through a sustained career can allow us to approach virtuosity with a greater efficiency and therefore more freedom. And I've loved being able to reconnect with her, especially in the Dance Center building, where I held the first rehearsals of my career. A: I always wanted to make a ballet to pop, because I'm really interested in the rhythm of vocalization. And the Beach Boys are incredibly rhythmic in their approach to the way that they use their voices. Something I love about a lot of their songs is that they sound easy breezy on the surface, but the lyrics are kind of melancholy, there's a lot of hidden depth. That references the era and how it felt like things were free and groovy but at the same time while there was a lot of turmoil politically. The ballet is really about what's under the surface or the untold stories of that era, and also a celebration of being together. A: No. But you'll get Good Vibrations.
San Francisco Chronicle
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Ballet's new season to spotlight Forsythe and Balanchine, bring back popular classics
San Francisco Ballet's Artistic Director Tamara Rojo expects that some of her decisions for her third year of programming will surprise recent audiences. After a 2025 season without any works by George Balanchine, the company plans to include an all-Balanchine program spotlighting the New York City Ballet founder. This will be followed by a triple bill of works by the groundbreaking American choreographer William Forsythe, who Rojo sees as further innovating Balanchine's choreographic style. 'Last season was more inspired by my legacy of work with British choreographers and also narrative ballets, and this season is a little bit more American in the works and the choreographers and the style of dancing,' Rojo told the Chronicle. 'We are an innovative and very eclectic and versatile group of artists, and I want to give the audience the most amazing experience every year and not ever become predictable.' The coming season will also bring meaningful milestones as 2026 marks the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra's 50th anniversary, and the 20th year of Martin West's leadership as music director. Perhaps Rojo's most striking change, however, comes in the form of a structural shakeup that breaks from the old hierarchy of corps, soloist and principal ranks for the dancers to introduce demi-soloist and first soloist ranks. But first, the programming. The Ballet has a history of dancing Balanchine stretching back to 1952, and with 'Balanchine: Father of American Ballet' (Feb. 10-15), the company continues that tradition. The bill will consist of three of his best-known works: 'Serenade' and the 'Diamonds' section of 'Jewels,' both set to Tchaikovsky; and 'Stars and Stripes,' a patriotic celebration set to orchestrations of John Phillips Sousa's famous marches. To Rojo, it made perfect sense to follow the program with works by all-Forsythe, whose choreography, she said, 'is the closest thing in terms of the structure of Balanchine's musical understanding in so many ways, and in the amazing ability to create a world without narrative.' An American who spent much of his career in Germany, Forsythe shook up the dance world with the sharp, postmodern movement of his breakthrough work titled 'in the middle, somewhat elevated' in 1987. San Francisco Ballet has danced Forsythe's work since commissioning his ballet 'New Sleep' that same year, but this will mark the company's first all-Forsythe bill (Feb. 17-March 8). The program will bring together his recent works inspired by the avant-garde pop music of British singer James Blake, presenting 'Prologue,' 'The Barre Project,' and 'Blake Works I,' which was a local hit when San Francisco Ballet danced it in 2022. The other four programs slated for the 2026 season include a world premiere story ballet, two classics from the 19th century and the return of ' Mere Mortals,' a ballet inspired by the moral challenges of artificial intelligence, which was first unveiled in 2023. Following the company's traditional one-night gala program on Jan. 21, the company's 93rd season will kick off with the previously announced world premiere of resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov's full-length 'Eugene Onegin,' a co-commission with the Joffrey Ballet set to a new score by frequent Possokhov collaborator Ilya Demutsky. 'Dancers love dancing his work, and he has a real talent for narrative,' said Rojo of Possokhov, a former principal dancer who began his choreography career at San Francisco Ballet, who Rojo describes as 'one of the most awarded choreographers of our time, respected worldwide.' Alexander Pushkin's classic Russian novel in verse, about a 19th century dandy who plays with two women's hearts and faces intense remorse, is already well-known in the dance world through John Cranko's famous ballet of the same name. But Possokhov, whose version of 'Anna Karenina' toured to the Bay Area with the Joffrey last year and was an audience hit, was passionate about pursuing his unique version of it. 'Yuri is a very emotional man, an artist through and through,' Rojo said. 'I felt that Yuri's passion for this story, the amount of years he had been thinking about it, clarity of his vision for it, means that really, I needed to trust him.' For the classics, Rojo is bringing back Marius Petipa's ' Don Quixote ' (March 19-29), staged by Possokhov and former artistic director Helgi Tomasson, a lively comic ballet that includes some of the canon's most most challenging dancing. It will be followed by the Romantic-era 'La Sylphide' (April 10-16), in the company's existing staging by Tomasson, which honors August Bournonville's light, bounding choreography and presents iconic ballet imagery in its corps of winged fairies. The season will then close April 23-May 3 with a reprise of 'Mere Mortals,' a popular commission from Rojo's first programmed season in 2023 with surreal choreography by Canadian Aszure Barton. Composer and electronic music innovator Sam Shepherd, also known as Floating Points, will return to join the orchestra in performing the work's startling score from the pit. In dancer news, Thamires Chuvas, Dylan Pierzina, Alexis Francisco Valdes and Adrian Zeisel, currently in the corps, will enter the new rank of demi-soloist. Katherine Barkman and Joshua Jack Price, currently soloists, will enter the new rank of first soloist. Rojo said the changed rank system gives 'the opportunity to recognize progression without putting a huge amount of pressure on the individual before they are ready for it.' She added that she was thrilled that the company could extend corps contracts to all six of last year's apprentices, who came up through the San Francisco Ballet School. At the top of the ranks, she has hired three new principal dancers. Francesco Gabriele Frola joins from English National Ballet, Patricio Reve joins from Queensland Ballet, and Madeline Woo previously danced with the Royal Swedish Ballet. The number of dancers will remain roughly steady with 76 company members and six apprentices. 'I'm genuinely in love with the artists in this company,' Rojo said of the roster. 'This past season has been so thrilling, because they've been able to explore so many different styles, many of them new to them. I think their progress has been outstanding in every rank.' The 2026 season will be preceded by the company's traditional 'Nutcracker' run (Dec. 5-28), and by touring engagements at Orange County's Segerstrom Arts Center and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Axios
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
'Frankenstein' returns to SF Ballet as a cautionary tale for the AI age
Frankenstein has returned to the San Francisco Ballet after nearly eight years since first premiering in the city. Why it matters: The production resurfaces at an important time and even more so as a cautionary tale as society navigates the widespread adoption and use of AI, said Joseph Walsh, a stager and principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet. "Where is technology taking us and how are we going to fit into the next few years as AI really starts to take over? We are in this super precarious place," he added. State of play: The story follows Victor Frankenstein — an ambitious young scientist whose obsession with scientific discovery eventually leads to his downfall. Driven by a desire to unlock the secrets of life, Frankenstein creates a monster who he later comes to regret following a series of tragic and violent events. The big picture: The performance's resurgence is part of a broader effort from Artistic Director Tamara Rojo to introduce and captivate new and younger audiences into the fine arts, Walsh said. The creative shift towards more contemporary performances has also drawn interest from donors and classical ballet enthusiasts, he added. "Through a bit of interesting programming and finding new voices and fresh takes on old stories, we're seeing a much younger audience come into shows," he said. Catch up quick: Choreographer Liam Scarlett's rendition of Mary Shelley's novel as a ballet first premiered in 2016 at the Royal Ballet in London, prior to debuting in San Francisco in 2017. Between the lines: Set in a dark and gothic backdrop, the show features special effects, pyrotechnics and a suspenseful original score meant to amp up the drama. What they're saying: For Walsh, who also performs as the titular mad scientist in the show, the creature's tragic storyline represents how "the othering of somebody can really just lead to the demise of that person and everyone around them." The intrigue: Sci-fi, gothic and steampunk lovers, fans of the film " Poor Things," true crime junkies and anyone who appreciates "where the eerie meets the edgy" will enjoy this performance, according to SF Ballet. If you go: The show, timed at 2 hours and 47 minutes, is running now until Sunday at the War Memorial Opera House.
