Watching the San Francisco Ballet perform Nutcracker is a big deal for two reasons. First, because the company does a bang-up, never-seen-it-done-better job on the production. Second, it gives SFB patrons a chance to see what the company is shaping up to look like for their upcoming winter/spring repertoire season. Rosters change, dancers come and go, and we haven’t seen our SFB dancers performing since they closed their 2013 season last May. It’s a long time to wait. As the lights dimmed on Nutcracker opening night at the War Memorial Opera House and the jaunty Tchaikovsky overture commenced, I thought, dang. It’s good to be back here.
The December 11th performance was as great as I’d hoped. You can find my review of it here, at Bachtrack. http://us.bachtrack.com/review-dec-2013-sfballet-nutcracker-san-francisco?destination=%2Finstrument%2Fchoreography The performance run will continue through December 29th. If you’re even pondering the possibility of squeezing it in, go for it. It’s a holiday classic, and a classic that started right here for U.S. audiences, on this very stage, on Christmas Eve day, 1944. (Russia gets credit for the 1892 premier.) Yet another third reason it’s thrilling to watch San Francisco Ballet.
Here’s new talent brought in from other companies for the 2014 season:
- Mathilde Froustey, from Paris Opera Ballet, joining as a principal
- Simone Messmer, from American Ballet Theatre, joining as a soloist
- Julia Rowe and Grace Shibley, from Oregon Ballet Theatre (precipitated, perhaps, by the resignation of Christopher Stowell as artistic director in late 2012?), joining the corps de ballet.
Further new additions to the corps de ballet roster include Isabella DeVivo and Esteban Hernandez. Alexandra Meyer-Lorey has returned after a year’s absence; Nicole Ciapponi was off the company roster in July 2013 and back on in August—yay! The following former apprentices have been promoted to the corps de ballet: Lacey Escabar, Lauren Parrott, Alexander Reneff-Olson, Emma Rubinowitz, and Wei Wang. Five new apprentices have joined the company: Liana Carpio, Aaron Renteria, Miranda Silveira, Mingxuan Wang and Max Cauthorn. The latter, Cauthorn, already looks like he’s being put to good use, dancing his way favorably through Nutcracker as one of the Russian dance trio, and as Madame du Cirque’s (AKA Mother Ginger) dancing bear. New corps dancer Esteban Hernandez joined him in the Russian dance, along with soloist Hansuke Yamamoto, for a strong opening night performance with great ensemble work between the three, which I loved watching (did you read my review yet? Because I mention it there. So go read it).
Also on Nutcracker opening night I was pleased to see corps de ballet dancers Kristina Lind and Marie-Claire D’Lyse getting some quality stage time alongside soloist Jennifer Stahl in the French dance trio. Lind and D’Lyse also got later shots at a principal role, cast as the role of Queen of the Snow on Saturday Dec 14th and Wednesday December 18th respectively (matinee performances). New corps de ballet dancer Julia Rowe performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy on Tuesday, Dec 17’s matinee performance. (At Oregon Ballet Theatre, she was a soloist with experience in principal roles as well.) Which all means that Helgi Tomasson has a very strong group of corps dancers this year, and oh, what a fun 2014 season it’s going to be to watch, seeing what he does with all this talent.
Newcomers I can’t wait to watch in action are principal Mathilde Froustey, from Paris Opera Ballet, and soloist Simone Messmer, from American Ballet Theatre. The latter would appear to have a strong fan base, mourning that the ABT’s loss is the SFB’s big gain. Check out some of the buzz about Simone Messmer, along with a few media links, over at Ballet Alert. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37425-simone-messmer-abt-soloist-leaving-to-san-francisco/ (If you’re a dance peep and are not familiar with this site, get yourself right over there. A great source of information and discussion about dancers, companies, ballets, and the ballet world in general, frequented by interested, intelligent people in the know.)
As for Mathilde Froustey, oh wow, check out this rehearsal footage of her. I think she is going to be a very exciting addition to the SFB principal line-up.
In short, get thee ready, San Francisco Ballet patrons. We’re in for an exciting 2014 season, which will commence on Saturday, January 25 with Giselle. And that Nutcracker thing? Still ten days to go. Get thee over there, too.
PS: Looking for more recent and/or specific dance reviews? You can find all those links HERE
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