Programs 6 and 7 are alternating for the next week.
Dance review: San Francisco Ballet's 'Haffner'Allan Ulrich,
Chronicle Dance Correspondent
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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Seven principals and a mixed corps of eight animate Zanella's style, marked by twisting torsos and florid arm gestures. In her opening solo, Sofiane Sylve, magnificent in her own way, looks like a sister of the Novice in Jerome Robbins' "The Cage." She yields to three duets. These are fervid, shifting balance-of-power affairs, rendered by Lorena Feijoo and Pascal Molat, followed by Frances Chung and Gennadi Nedvigin. Only the final pairing, matching Vitor Luiz with Katita Waldo (in her last creation before her retirement this month and as charismatic as ever), stands out.
More...S.F. Ballet transfigures SchoenbergBy: Janos Gereben
Special to
The ExaminerApril 12, 2010
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Yet Zanella shows shadowy figures upstage, an ominous Black Swan-like figure dancing in front (Elana Altman was brilliant at the Saturday matinee), followed by pas de deux by three different couples.
These elements don’t seem to relate to the story, which ends with Anne Marie Legenstein's mysterious, affecting scenic design of falling leaves and diminishing light in the finale.
It is possible to forget the original and simply embrace the music and great performances, including a true star turn by Yuan Yuan Tan.
More...'Classical Symphony' delights S.F. Ballet crowdRachel Howard, Special to
The ChronicleMonday, April 12, 2010
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A resident choreographer earns his keep when he feeds the audience what it wants and needs, brings out qualities in the dancers only someone intimately familiar with them can, and stretches his own talents in the bargain. Yuri Possokhov's new "Classical Symphony" at San Francisco Ballet does all this and more: It makes you smile, nonstop. This caper of stretched-to-the-extreme classical technique forms the zippy centerpiece of a short and spirited seventh repertory program likely to delight ballet diehards and newcomers in equal measure.
More...Rush down to see S.F. Ballet Program 7By: Janos Gereben
Special to
The ExaminerApril 12, 2010
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In “Classical Symphony,” Maria Kochetkova and Hansuke Yamamoto led 12 dancers in bringing Prokofiev’s familiar score to life, movement by movement, phrase by phrase.
It's unusual for Possokhov to be so literal – his other works are more imaginative and surprising – but the piece works fine. Yamamoto's sleek, dashing performance is a personal best, and Chung and Long were especially impressive.
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