San Francisco Ballet Digital Streaming Season

[Karl-G]

The San Francisco Ballet is offering their full 2021 season as digital streaming, the first major ballet company to do so, I believe. So you can watch all seven programs, plus many additional supporting videos, from your home. No live performances are planned for the year. Some of the dances are performed on stage and others are specially created as filmed dances, which offers many new opportunities. You can purchase an annual subscription or tickets for individual performances.

 

The two performances so far have been splendid. One short film, with choreography by Cathy Marston, is entitled "Mrs. Robinson," in reference to "The Graduate." It is both very well done and witty. A delightful ballet set to the music of Leroy Anderson is on the second program. Another filmed ballet uses the SFMOMA as partial setting and Golden Gate Park as another setting. The interaction of art and dance is explored. Dancers are in top form. Angelo Greco, Esteban Hernandez, Sasha de Sola and Frances Chung are superb. Esteban is from Mexico; his brother Isaac is principal at English National Ballet. They are the first Mexican ballet dancers to achieve international recognition. Two new excellent principal dancers have just arrived: Ms Nikisha Fogo, Swedish/Jamaican ballerina from the Vienna State Opera Ballet, and Julian Mackay of Montana and the Bolshoi Ballet School. Their gala pas de deux is excellent. Nikisha's performance in "Sylvia" for the Vienna, which was streamed, was amazing.

 

It's a wonderful new world for ballet and audiences. I hope other major companies follow suit.

[+ honcho]

For folks not familiar with the SF Ballet, it might be mentioned that their regular season usually ends in may or sometimes early june, to allow the SF Opera to use the same venue through the summer though november. The SF Ballet has performed the Nutcracker as many as 42 times (two a day for 21 days) in December. The Ballet website mentions nothing about the upcoming Nutcracker. As a side *note*, the Ballet is attempting to do what it can for its Orchestra. For the new pieces, it paid as much of its regular orchestra to record in the SF Conservatory's new building, where each wind player went to a different faculty members office, but were able to hear each other through headphones, and watch the conductor on a monitor. (I take zoom lessons from a Conservatory instructor, who is the first-call sub for the oboe section).