The San Francisco Ballet 2022 Season honors Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson’s 37th season as well as his farewell.
The season titled “Celebrating Helgi Tomasson” includes many of his popular works such as Don Quixote and Swan Lake, as well as Trio, The Fifth Season, Caprice, and Prism, as well as the world premiere of his new work Harmony.
There will also be world premieres by Cathy Marston, Christopher Wheeldon, and Dwight Rhoden, and the SF Ballet premiere of William Forsythe’s Blake Works I.
Select offerings from this live season at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House which runs from February 1 through May 8 will also be available virtually as part of the SF Ballet @ Home program initiated during the pandemic.
The San Francisco Ballet 2022 Season Opening Night Gala will be presented on January 27.
“Helgi has planned a seven-program season to ensure we have the ability to adjust our performances should additional protocols be necessary. The repertory has been chosen to assure the maximum ability to rehearse, produce, and perform as we re-open,” says Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale. “We have a lot to celebrate in 2022: the commitment of our entire community to get us this far, the ability to keep our artists in the creative mode during the darkest of times, the almost four decades–long tenure of Helgi Tomasson in his final celebratory season with San Francisco Ballet, and being reunited with our audiences, without whom we could not exist.”
San Francisco Ballet 2022 Season Schedule
Program 1 | February 1–12, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- Symphony in C by George Balanchine
- Trio by Helgi Tomasson
- Mrs. Robinson by Cathy Marston
Program 1 opens with George Balanchine’s Symphony in C, performed to the score by George Bizet. Symphony in C received its SF Ballet premiere in 1961 and has remained a regular component of the Company’s repertory alongside 30 other ballets by the choreographer, at least one of which has appeared each season of Tomasson’s appointment.
The New York Times hailed SF Ballet as “one of the world’s foremost exponents of the Balanchine repertory,” and Symphony in C’s four movements offer a unique opportunity to showcase each rank of the Company.
As a former principal dancer of New York City Ballet (NYCB), Tomasson has also contributed to The George Balanchine Foundation’s Interpreter’s Archive tapes, passing on his knowledge to future generations of dancers. Symphony in C, with costumes after Karinska, was last seen at SF Ballet in the 2011 Repertory Season.
Helgi Tomasson’s Trio, an abstract dance set to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, includes jewel-toned costumes by Mark Zappone, with scenic design by Alexander V. Nichols and lighting by Christopher Dennis. “In thirty-three minutes Tomasson brings out the best in his company,” wrote British Theatre Guide about Trio in 2012. Trio premiered in 2011 in San Francisco before touring to New York, London, and Washington, D.C, and was the last seen in San Francisco during the 2017 Repertory Season.
Cathy Marston’s Mrs. Robinson receives its world premiere on Program 01, re-positioning the story of The Graduate, the 1960s American novella and film, from the perspective of the notorious seductress Mrs. Robinson. With an original score by Terry Davies, scenic and costume designs by Patrick Kinmonth, and a scenario developed by the choreographer and Edward Kemp, Mrs. Robinson is Marston’s second commission and narrative ballet created for SF Ballet. Her first, Snowblind, toured to The Kennedy Center in 2018 and Sadler’s Wells in 2019.
Program 2 | February 3–13, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- Caprice by Helgi Tomasson
- In The Night by Jerome Robbins
- Blake Works I William Forsythe
Helgi Tomasson’s Caprice, a “clean limbed, articulate ballet” (The Guardian), opens Program 02. Caprice premiered in the 2014 Repertory Season and exemplifies Tomasson’s musical curiosity, set to Camille Saint-Saën’s Symphony No. 2 with an added adagio from Symphony No. 3. The ballet builds upon a string of pas de deux for two principal couples dressed in white by Holly Hynes, with scenic designs by Alexander V. Nichols. Caprice toured to Paris for the 10th anniversary of Les Étés de la Danse in 2014, and to Beijing and Shanghai in 2015.
Jerome Robbins’ In The Night received its SF Ballet premiere in 1985, the first year of Tomasson’s appointment, and is one of 18 ballets by the choreographer in the Company’s repertory. “When I was newly appointed artistic director here at SF Ballet, I let [Robbins] know that I’d be asking for some of his ballets,” said Tomasson, reflecting on his longtime mentor and colleague. “He didn’t hesitate, he just said, ‘You can have all of them.’”
Beginning with the Ravinia Festival in 1985, SF Ballet has toured In The Night throughout the world, notably in Barcelona, Athens, New York City, Paris, Beijing, and Napa, California, in 2018, the same year the company received the Jerome Robbins Award for excellence in dance. In The Night involves three principal couples who dance to four nocturnes by Frédéric Chopin, with original costumes by Anthony Dowell and lighting by Jennifer Tipton.
SF Ballet presents the Company premiere of William Forsythe’s Blake Works I in Program 02. Called “a brilliant expression of purity and modernity” by Vogue, Blake Works I is Forsythe’s 2016 creation for Paris Opera Ballet and sets seven movements of dance to songs from James Blake’s 2016 album The Colour in Anything.
The ballet includes “complexity, speed and changing directions of the choreography” (Financial Times) as a hallmark of its modernity. The choreographer also contributed to the ballet’s stage, costume, and lighting design, in collaboration with costume designer Dorothée Merg and lighting designer Tanja Ruhl. “[San Francisco Ballet] dances Forsythe better than any other American company,” wrote the Los Angeles Times in 2016.
Don Quixote | February 26 – March 6, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- Don Quixote by Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa, staging and additional choreography by Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov
Program 03 opens on February 26 with the return of Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote (with original choreography by Alexander Gorsky after Marius Petipa), last performed during the 2019 Repertory Season. Called “charming and exhilarating” by HuffPost, Don Quixote features scenic and costume design by Martin Pakledinaz and lighting design by James F. Ingalls, with music by Ludwig Minkus.
Don Quixote is based on the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes and was first performed by SF Ballet during the 2003 Repertory Season, with new production designs introduced in 2012.
Program 4 | March 15-20, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- La Sylphide by August Bournonville
- The Seasons by Alexei Ratmansky
August Bournonville’s La Sylphide, noted as the original “ballet blanc” of Romantic-era ballet, returns to SF Ballet after a 25-year absence. “This is San Francisco Ballet at its best,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle after the ballet’s last performances at SF Ballet in 1997. “Tomasson’s obvious affection for the ballet, his affinity for the Bournonville style and his dancers’ commitment to this tradition add up to a ‘Sylphide’ for the ages.”
Tomasson, who began his professional career at Copenhagen’s Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli Gardens in his youth, stood out for his “finish and authority in [Bournonville’s] style” (The Washington Post) as a principal dancer at NYCB. In this production of La Sylphide, directed by Tomasson and with scenic and costume designs by Jose Varona, SF Ballet celebrates the lineage of the Danish style of dance, codified by Bournonville, and embodying lightness, clarity, and elegance in movement.
SF Ballet presents the west coast premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Seasons, a co-commission with American Ballet Theatre, where Ratmansky is artist-in-residence.
With music by Alexander Glazunov, The Seasons is a divertissement for characters of the elements, including Winter, Frost, The Rose, The Spirit of The Corn, Bacchus, and Bacchantes, and SF Ballet School students as flowers. The Seasons includes costume designs by Robert Perdziola and lighting design by Mark Stanley. The Seasons is the ninth of Ratmansky’s ballets in SF Ballet’s repertory and is one of the choreographer’s many re-imaginings of Marius Petipa’s ballets from Imperial Russia.
Program 5 | April 2-16, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- The Fifth Season by Helgi Tomasson
- Harmony by Helgi Tomasson
- Magrittomania by Yuri Possokhov
Last performed by the Company in 2019, Tomasson’s The Fifth Season premiered at SF Ballet during the 2006 Repertory Season. Set to Sir Karl Jenkins’ String Quartet No. 2, The Fifth Season includes scenic and costume design by Sandra Woodall, with lighting design by Michael Mazzola. The Orange County Register called The Fifth Season, “often mesmerizing and breathtakingly beautiful.”
Tomasson’s Harmony will premiere on Program 05. An excerpt from Harmony was seen on the 2021 Digital Season’s Virtual Benefit program on January 14, 2021, a selection of “most buoyant classicism, a celebration of [the dancers’] unique strengths” (San Francisco Chronicle). Harmony will include new costumes by Emma Kingsbury and music by Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau.
SF Ballet Choreographer in Residence Yuri Possokhov’s Magrittomania premiered in 2000, while Possokhov was a principal dancer at SF Ballet, and was last seen at SF Ballet during the 2016 Repertory Season.
The first of Possokhov’s eventual 16 ballets created on the Company, Magrittomania is a celebration of and nod to the work of surrealist artist Réné Magritte. Created in tandem with scenic and costume designer Thyra Harshorn, lighting designer Kevin Connaughton, and music by Yuri Krasavin after Ludwig van Beethoven, Magrittomania is a “critical and audience hit” (DanceTabs).
Program 6 | April 6-15, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- Prism by Helgi Tomasson
- World Premiere by Christopher Wheeldon
- World Premiere by Dwight Rhoden
Helgi Tomasson’s Prism premiered at the New York City Ballet on May 3, 2000 and had its SF Ballet premiere on January 30, 2001. Prism “set off a thunderous applause” (The New York Times) at its world premiere and was hailed as “Tomasson’s finest work” (San Francisco Chronicle) at its San Francisco premiere.
With costume design by Martin Pakledinaz and lighting design by Mark Stanley, Prism is a neoclassical ballet in three parts set to Beethoven’s Piano Concert #1. It begins with a selection of trios, followed by duos in the second movement, and ends with dazzling solos for the finale.
At its SF Ballet premiere, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “The jazziness of [former SF Ballet Principal Dancer Gonzalo] Garcia’s solos, especially after all the on-the-beat beauty of much of ‘Prism,’ acted as nice reminders of the Jerome Robbins legacy that is Tomasson’s artistic birthright. The sense of community ‘Prism’ achieves, the feeling of togetherness and warmth, is a major achievement not unlike that at the close of the ‘Goldberg Variations’ Robbins created for Tomasson a generation ago.”
The program also includes two new works by Christopher Wheeldon and Dwight Rhoden. This will be Wheeldon’s 11th work for SF Ballet; his first commission was Sea Pictures in 2000, and most recently he choreographed a selection for SF Ballet’s Dance of Dreams during the summer of 2020.
Dwight Rhoden’s first work for SF Ballet, LET’S BEGIN AT THE END, was created during the 2018 Unbound: A Festival of New Works. The upcoming commission will be his third with the Company, following his contributions to Dance of Dreams last summer.
Swan Lake | April 29 – May 8, 2022
War Memorial Opera House
- Swan Lake by Helgi Tomasson
Called “a runaway box office hit” (San Francisco Chronicle) at its premiere in 2009, Helgi Tomasson’s Swan Lake opens Program 07 on April 29, with performances through May 8.
The story of the white swan Odette and Prince Siegfried, and their foils, the black swan Odile and Von Rothbart, is brought to life with set and costume designs by Tony Award–winner Jonathan Fensom; lighting by Jennifer Tipton; projection design by Sven Ortel; hair, wig, and makeup design by Michael Ward; and the timeless score by Tchaikovsky, playing out over a prologue and three acts.
Swan Lake offers standout roles for the corps of 30 swans and Odette/Odile.
San Francisco Ballet presented America’s first full-length production of Swan Lake in 1940, and this production of Swan Lake is Tomasson’s second; the ballet is not only a classic of the repertory, but an integral part of San Francisco Ballet’s history. It was last seen on stage in the 2017 Repertory Season and is on the current 2021 Digital Season, opening May 20.
Featured Photo for the San Francisco Ballet 2022 Season of Company in Helgo Tomasson’s Trio © San Francisco Ballet
