The elusive Sylphide lands in San Francisco

San Francisco Ballet’s Program 4, opening on Tuesday March 15, brings something elusive and wonderful to the stage in the form of two ballets, La Sylphide and Alexei Ratmansky’s The Seasons. Both hold an element of “Oh, finally!” and both help celebrate and commemorate this, artistic director Helgi Tomasson’s 37th and final season at the helm … Read more

The Classical Girl’s very casual “Top 10 classical ballets” list

Google “Top 10 classical ballets” or something similar, and you’ll find a whole slew of lists that, in truth, really don’t vary a whole lot. Some feature more contemporary ballets and include the works of Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, George Balanchine. Others opt for the whimsical and light, like Coppélia and La Fille Mal Gardée. … Read more

2020 World Ballet Day is Oct 29th!

Is there a World Ballet Day happening in 2022? Happy to report, yes! It’s November 2nd and details are HERE.   Looking for archived material from World Ballet Day, now that it’s past? Scroll down and click on each company’s link to be led to their Facebook page where, if you’re lucky, the complete footage … Read more

La Sylphide: the most important classical ballet you’ve probably never seen

   All right, a show of hands: who’s seen the 1832 ballet, La Sylphide?  {{Looks around}} Yup. I’m not surprised. And for the record, I didn’t raise my hand either. But its importance came to mind last week, as I was researching for a Top 10 Classical Ballets list and found myself indecisive about the … Read more