Sitting through both a matinée and an evening performance of the 14th Annual San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest on November 18th is the perfect antidote to the memorial service I attended the day before. Both celebrate life...
Tag - San Francisco
Not to be a scrooge-ish Grinch (or is it a grinchy Scrooge?), but I don’t really like all the sentimental and consumeristic trimmings and trappings that surround the holidays.
...I’m not certain in which direction the company is headed. There is so much potential to be realised that it would be disappointing to see it ebb away.
Sean Kelly enjoyed a nearly two decades-long career as a principal dancer with Houston Ballet, and then decided to try his hand at Musical Theater. He joined the casts and/or became Dance Captain in such shows as Carousel, Swing, Moving On and Billy Elliot. He was recently in the San Francisco Bay Area to set a new holiday swing-themed premiere on Diablo Ballet...
Someone who has embodied King's choreographic essence thoroughly in a few short years is Michael Montgomery. Everything he does feels completely natural, utterly effortless, like a child running freely, exploring his surroundings and his body without self-consciousness.
That said, the company is still on top form. The corps de ballet is flawlessly unified technically, stylistically and musically down to their eyelashes.
I believe that the current dancers have greater technical proficiency and more years of stage experience than previous members , and with those elements, Ballet Master Amy London's avid quest toward perfection can finally be realised.
There is something deeply satisfying in watching a dance company grow from its first season through its current fifth year, especially when the production values remain consistently high.
The evening certainly demonstrated the admirable qualities of the SFB dancers: their hard-working, good-humoured, go-for-it approach and the range of different talents in the company. The goodwill they generate in the audience is remarkable. Here’s hoping they come back for a return visit soon.
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
Dave Morgan spends a day with San Francisco Ballet, armed only with his camera...
San Francisco’s second programme was better balanced than the first, with contrasting works created for the company within the past two years.
I loved the way the SFB dancers were so confident with the choreography (of Divertimento No 15), at ease after an understandably tense start.
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
36 pictures by Dave Morgan...
Q: Any regrets?
Ans: "No regrets — I would do it all again the same way."
Who are your favorite choreographers? 1. "Christopher Wheeldon. He picked me for the first ballet I had created on me .. and I have worked with him on every single work he has done since I joined SFB."
It’s not about the technique anymore, it’s about that extra special something that makes you stand apart from everyone else...
Muriel [Maffre] was an inspiration for me because she got so many great roles even though she was tall. After she retired I started to get some of her old parts.
The best thing about being at SFB is that I got to work with so many choreographers. It inspired me so much.