Tragedy has attracted artists since time immemorial, and Yuri Possokhov’s “Francesca da Rimini” is no exception.
The brief but tumultuous piece is the second part of San Francisco Ballet’s Program 7 mixed bill, and its ultimate highlight.
Based on the tale of Paolo and Francesca – lovers immortalized in Dante Alighieri’s 14th century poem “The Divine Comedy – “Francesca” is, essentially, a condensed “Romeo and Juliet.”
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With a steady string of world premieres and regular accolades in the national media, the San Francisco Ballet has been on a roll the past few years, and 2014 might be even better.
America’s oldest professional ballet company announced its 81st season today. It begins Jan. 22 and ends eight programs and 61 shows later on May 11, 2014.
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The San Francisco Ballet got its 80th season off to a start with a gala performance Thursday at the War Memorial Opera House that pleasantly included popular selections and substantial pieces in equal measure.
Among the old favorites were the third-act grand pas de deux from “Don Quixote” in which Frances Chung and Taras Domitro danced with brilliance and affecting musicality.
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San Francisco Ballet got its 80th season off to a start with gala performance on Thursday at the War Memorial Opera House that pleasantly included popular selections and substantial pieces in equal measure.
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San Francisco Ballet’s current "Nutcracker" uses 173 costumes, 42 pairs of pointe shoes, more than 59 pairs of tights and 18 wigs per show. It’s a contrast to 1944, when it made do with rhinestones from Goodwill and rationed fabric in what was the first production of the ballet in America.
Today, the show garners about 40 percent of the company’s ticket revenue each year, for good reason: "Nutcracker" is a crowd-pleasing romp, albeit with some room for improvement.
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A live horse onstage usually steals the show. So does a donkey. But San Francisco Ballet's “Don Quixote” is so entertaining from start to finish, concertgoers Saturday almost overlooked a joint appearance by the animals.
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San Francisco Ballet's 2013 season, announced today, offers world premieres by Wayne McGregor, Yuri Possokhov and Alexei Ratmansky, a U.S. premiere by Christopher Wheeldon and the visiting Hamburg Ballet in the Northen California premiere of “Nijinsky.”
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While diverse, the three works in San Francisco Ballet's Program 5, which opened Wednesday at the War Memorial Opera House, share a characteristic: They are blends of neoclassical and modern dances solidly based on ballet conventions.They have a more contemporary feel than George Balanchine's neoclassical works (on Program 7, April 12-18), but each is balletic, featuring en-pointe dancing.
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San Francisco Ballet's new revival of Helgi Tomasson's classical and restrained 1994 "Romeo and Juliet" is fresh and vivid, even to fans who are familiar with the often-presented piece. Through the years, performances of the full-length dance have picked up speed, cohesion and passion. On Tuesday’s opening night at the War Memorial Opera House, dancers in the title roles set the pace, complemented by a wonderful group of soloists and the outstanding corps de ballet.
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The characters all go to hell, the work lives on.
That is the case in the fifth canto of "Inferno" in Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini," as well as in Yuri Possokhov's new "Francesca da Rimini,” which the San Francisco Ballet premiered on Thursday’s Program No. 3.
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