*SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ANNOUNCES DANCER PROMOTION *
*AND NEW COMPANY MEMBERS FOR 2009 REPERTORY SEASON*
*SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Tuesday, July 8, 2008*
San Francisco Ballet has
announced the promotion of five Company members and the addition of seven
new dancers for the 2009 Repertory Season.
*Jaime Garcia Castilla *has been promoted from soloist to principal dancer, and *Dana Genshaft, Pauli
Magierek, Garen Price Scribner, *and *Anthony Spaulding *have been promoted from corps de ballet members to soloists. *Sean Orza *and *Jeremy Rucker*, both apprentices during the 2008 Repertory Season, join the ranks of the
corps de ballet. In addition, *Taras Domitro* and *Ivan Popov* join the
Company as principal dancers, and new corps de ballet members include *Isaac Hernández *and *Suzy Spaulding*. Also, *Sofiane Sylve*, who performed with the Company as a guest artist last season, will join San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer for the 2009 Repertory Season. The Company roster now stands at 73 dancers.
*All changes effective July 1, 2008. *
Promotions
*Jaime Garcia Castilla* was born in Madrid, Spain, and studied at the Royal
Conservatory of Professional Dance. He was named an apprentice at San
Francisco Ballet in 2001, joined the Company as a corps de ballet member the following year, and was promoted to soloist in 2006. During the
75thAnniversary Season Garcia Castilla was featured in a number of
ballets,
including George Balanchine's* Divertimento No. 15*, Wayne McGregor's *
Eden/Eden*, Helgi Tomasson's *On a Theme of Paganini*, and Christopher
Wheeldon's *Carousel (A Dance).* For the New Works Festival, he performed in
Jorma Elo's *Double Evil*, Mark Morris' *Joyride*, Yuri Possokhov's *Fusion*,
and Wheeldon's *Within the Golden Hour*.
*Dana Genshaft *was born in Moscow and trained at the Kirov Academy of
Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Paris Opéra Ballet School. She was
named an apprentice at San Francisco Ballet in 2000 and joined the Company
as a corps de ballet member in 2001. Highlights from last season include
leading roles in Val Caniparoli's *Ibsen's* *House*, McGregor's *Eden/Eden*,
Morris' *Joyride*, and Wheeldon's *Carousel (A Dance)*, in addition to a
singing role as Rosalia in Robbins' *West Side Story Suite*.
*Pauli Magierek was appointed apprentice in 1997 and joined San Francisco Ballet as a corps de ballet member in 1998. Born in Chicago, Magierek studied at the Ruth Page
Foundation School of Dance, Chicago Academy for the Arts, Royal Ballet
School, and Houston Ballet Academy. Last season she performed leading roles
in Wade Robson's *The Energy Between Us *on the Gala program and in Margaret
Jenkins' *Thread*. Magierek was also featured in Lew Christensen's *Filling
Station*, Elo's *Double Evil*, Paul Taylor's *Changes*, and Julia Adam's *A
rose by any other name.
*Born in Arlington, Virginia, Garen Price Scribner trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Maryland Youth Ballet,
San Francisco Ballet School, and Boston Ballet School. He was named an
apprentice at San Francisco Ballet in 2003 and joined the Company as a
member of the corps de ballet a year later. Scribner danced a number of
prominent roles during the 75th Anniversary Season in works such as Adam's *A
rose by any other name*, Caniparoli's *Ibsen's House*, Christensen's *Filling
Station*, Robbins' *West Side Story Suite*, and Wheeldon's *Within the
Golden Hour*.
*Anthony Spaulding* was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He trained
at Arizona Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School prior to becoming
an apprentice in 2004. He joined the Company as a member of the corps de
ballet in 2006, and this past year performed lead roles in Hans van Manen's
*Two Pieces for Het* on the Gala program, Caniparoli's *Ibsen's House*, and
Taylor's *Changes.* In addition, he was featured in McGregor's
*Eden/Eden*and as the Snow King in Tomasson's
*Nutcracker*.
New Company Members
Born in Havana, Cuba, *Taras Domitro *trained at Alejo Carpentier School and
performed as a principal dancer with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba prior to
joining San Francisco Ballet. He has performed lead roles in a variety of
works, including *Don Quixote*, *Swan Lake*, and *Le Corsaire*.
Ivan
Popov was born in Russia, and trained at the Moscow State Ballet
Academy and the
Vaganova Ballet Academy before joining the Kirov Ballet. Most recently he
has danced with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, performing ballets such
as *Sleeping
Beauty, Paquita,* and *Manon*. *Sofiane Sylve *was born in Nice, France,
where she studied at the Académie de Dance. She danced with Germany's
Stadttheater, the Dutch National Ballet, and New York City Ballet prior to
performing with San Francisco Ballet as a guest artist during the 2008
Repertory Season. Sylve has danced a variety of ballets including works by
George Balanchine, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Alexei
Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, and Christopher Wheeldon.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, *Isaac Hernández *trained with his father,
Hector Hernández, and also at Philadelphia's Rock School for Dance Education
prior to joining ABT II in 2007. Hernandez attended the USA International
Ballet Competition 2006 where he was awarded the gold medal and the Ballet
International award.* *
A Bay Area native, Sean Orza *was born in trained
at the San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet prior
to being named as an apprentice in 2007.
Jeremy Rucker was born in
Morganton, North Carolina, and trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet
prior to participating in the San Francisco Ballet School's Trainee Program
in 2006 and being named an apprentice in 2007.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Suzy
Spaulding participated in the San Francisco Ballet School's Trainee Program
last year, and recently performed a lead role in Tomasson's *Simple Symphony at the 2008 Student Showcase.
New Apprentices
Helgi Tomasson has named two new apprentices for the 2009 season: Dylan Gutierrez and Rebecca Rhodes. As apprentices, these dancers will take
Company class and perform corps de ballet roles in the Company's diverse
repertory. Born in Van Nuys, California, Dylan Gutierrez trained at the
Royal Ballet School in London. In addition, he won third place in the 2004
Youth America Grand Prix. Rebecca Rhodes was born in Highland Park,
Illinois, and trained at Dance Academy of Libertyville, Milwaukee Ballet
School and the San Francisco Ballet School, most recently participating in
the School's Trainee Program.
The Company is currently preparing for its upcoming American Tour in fall
2008, as well as the 2009 Repertory Season. Subscriptions are currently on
sale for the 2009 Repertory Season, January 27 through May 9, at the War
Memorial Opera House. For information, call the Ticket Services Office at
415.865.2000, or visit
www.sfballet.org.
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