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If ballet.co readers wants to read official biographies for San Francisco's 54 dancers, let me recommend they go to the company's website. The roster listed as of October 7 is still that of 1999, but the staggering, factual information remains the same. It simply does not list the promotions, nor the departure of the raven-tressed principal dancers Evelyn Cisneros and Sabina Allemann who opted for retirement in May, 1999.
Helgi Tomasson's choice of dancers is neither parochial, nor particularly biased in size or ethnic persuasion. A board member told me Tomasson once was congratulated for having a roster which reflected San Francisco's ethnic diversity, and he replied, "I never looked at it that way. I simply looked for and chose the best dancers I could find."
Certainly, from principal through corps de ballet this is reflected.
New to the company and with principal status is Laura Feijoo, a young Cuban dancer who has performed in Europe. I've not see her dance, but understand she's quite dazzling.
Promoted to principal July 1 were Kristin Long; Pierre Francois Vilanoba; Parrish Maynard. Long and Maynard danced a matinee of "Giselle" reported earlier.
Maynard also has distinguished himself with his portrayal of Iago in Lar Lubovitch's "Othello,." a role he created while still with American Ballet Theater. Maynard's background also includes The Joffrey Ballet.
Pierre Francois Vilanoba looks like he could have been the model for Michelangelo's David and certainly his profile does justice to a Roman coin. He danced an interesting Albrecht opposite Joanna Berman and was Katita Waldo's Othello. At Evelyn Cisneros' Retirement Gala he was an attentive Desire; suitably to the manner born with finish and dimension to the finger tips.
Kristin Long possesses speed and ballon galore. She seems to pick up emotion as she dances, it's all there in the movement. Her size makes for the demi-charactere, but there is a sweet directness which belies the soubrette element used associated with that title.
Julia Adam came to S.F. Ballet from the National Ballet of Canada, and has danced from strength to strength. She gave a distinguished reading of the feminine role in Dietmar Seyffert's "Back Home" and her role as the Young Dancer in Flemming Flindt's "The Lesson" is a strong study of the transition from flirt to pert to piteous. A fledgling choreographer of some distinction, she dances with a particular awareness of herself in space and in relation to others.
Joanna Berman is San Francisco Bay Area's own. She trained initially under Maria Vegh at Marin Ballet and went to a Moscow Competition at age 15 as its youngest competitor. Seeded in the second round, she came home to much hoopla and settled into an apprentice status with San Francisco Ballet, right at the end of Michael Smuin's artistic hegemony at the company's Franklin Street headquarters. When Helgi Tomasson instituted the ranking system, Berman became one of the early principals. Her range, which embraces warmth, drama and sincereity, veers from the Cowgirl in Agnes de Mille's "Rodeo" to her recent debut as Giselle; she has worked for the Yankee dollar in Paul Taylor's "Company B"; slept for a century as Princess Aurora; been enchanted as Odette and killer herself as Juliet. She created the original wife in Seyffert's "Back Home" and courtseyed to Evelyn Cisneros in the company's final hommage to that amazing veteran. There is little La Berman is unable to do, and do very well.
Joan Boada is coming to the company a year later than intended. I have seen him dazzle the Jackson Competition audience so that I know we have a virtuoso in our midst. What he does dramatically, I have yet to witness.
Lucia Lacarra and David Palmer in The Cage
Photographer Lloyd Englert
Lucia Lacarra is the original wispy creature of grace who came to San Francisco Ballet in 1997 and wowed us all in the Gvosky "Grand Pas Classique." She topped that impression of tensile steel with The Novice in Jerome Robbins' "The Cage," before suffering a stress fracture preventing her from dancing "Swan Lake" in the spring. Her reading of Lynn Seymour's role in "The Invitation" made you know she was in for trouble. One could even endure the predictable score of "Silver Ladders" for the chance to see how she manages to invest her slender hyperextended legs with exact musical phrasing, and when she acknowledges applause one feels a spirit has materialized to bless us for our discernment.
If Tina LeBlanc were not so intelligent, well placed and diligent, she could qualify as the minute-sized minx. Watching her gives me some inkling of the impact Olga Preobrajenska must have made on her audience, for both of them excelled as Lise in "La Fille Mal Gardee." She conveys the sense of conversing with her movement phrasing, developing a dialogue not only with music and her partner, but an outline of a particular ballet itself. Paul Parish, the San Francisco Magazine critic and correspondent for Ballet Review, can write you a verbal book in her honor.
Stephen Legate is another one of the National Ballet of Canada's imports who has flourished and developed in the foggy city, marrying Evelyn Cisneros along the way. A blond, handsome man who excels in partnering, he has shown surprising range over the last two years or so, in Val Caniparoli's "Lambarena"; "Sergeant Early's Dream;" "Agon" opposite Lucia La Carra; a totally different but effective read in the Villella role in "Rubies;" a striking presence in Lila York's "El Grito."
Muriel Maffre is another totally articulate dancer who came to San Francisco via the Ballet de Monte Carlo with training at the Paris Opera. She is tall and positively reeks of intelligence, and when she appears on stage, you can relax and say "Aaah" to yourself. She is one of the best Queen of The Amazons I've ever seen in Lew Christensen's "Con Amore", and I saw the original production at what is now Herbst Theatre in the Veterans' Building on Van Ness Avenue. Her portrayal in "La Sylphide" is perfectly tuned to the style and the era, and she wilts in a totally fetching manner. As The Italian Ballerina in Anthony Tudor's "Gala Performance," I could see the choreographer even cracking a smile. Her work in William Forstyhe's "In the middle, somewhat elevated" is totally apt, and as Myrthe in "Giselle" Maffre is enough to put all philanderer's on their metal.
David Palmer dances all over the place, literally, and does so with a directness, intensity and sincerity which speaks the best of his Australian heritage. The only downer in performance I ever saw of Palmer's was due to coaching. He was cast as Mac, Lew Christensen's role in "Filling Station," and no one clued him in on the ballet's vernacular style. He has been Romeo to Tina LeBlanc's Juliet; a demented Iago; his role in Seyffert's "Back Home" had all the inflation of someone in love with an illusion of mastery; his take in Val Caniparolli's "Slow" captured the fragmentary and isolated nature of this study in relationships; his interpretation of the Paul Taylor works in the company capture the essence of Taylor's explicit, yet elusive comment. His third of the trio in Christopher Bruce's "Sergant Early's Dream" was the essence of inebriation, yet another of Palmer's protean capacities.
Cyril Pierre came to San Francisco Ballet from the Roland Petit company in Marseilles as a principal dancer, and in his first season danced "Swan Lake" opposite Joanne Berman and Othello opposite Katita Waldo. I think he also danced James in "La Sylphide." His is an excellent technique, dancing some of his dramatic roles with the aura of "This can't possibly be happening to me!" In his manner there is something of the distinctly French exclamatory quality. One can almost hear him saying, "Comment!"; "Affreuse!" "Mes amis, quel tragique!" Pierre suffered a stress fracture and was sidelined after the 1999 Gala.
Benjamin Pierce came to San Francisco Ballet on loan as a guest principal dancer for two seasons from American Ballet Theater and decided to stay. Dark-haired, tall and slender, he sets off the taller principal dancers and soloists in classical roles and adapts himself well to new works. He has yet, in my opinion, to make a striking personal statement artistically. Hopefully, the capacity is just waiting for the right moment.
Yuri Possokhov is the Bolshoi's gift to San Francisco via the Royal Danish Ballet. If Helgi Tomasson gave San Francisco nothing else, Yuri's presence would have justified the current artistic policy. Possokohov has interpreted two memorable cads in the repertoire: The Professor in Flemming Flindt's "The Lesson: and the volatile husband in "The Invitation," the role originally created by Desmond Doyle with The Royal Ballet. He created Othello in the San Francisco production of Lar Lubovitch, and acquitted himself with style in "Sergeant Early's Dream" and Lambarena. While I don't remember having seen him in any of the classics, Possokhov understands the complexity in Tomasson's "Criss Cross" in Caniparolli's solo "Aria" with as much ease as a master weaver of Kashmiri shawls. He is that rare artist whose feeling seems to course through his body, the articulation defined from and centered in the heart.
Roman Rykin is another gift from Russia, and, as I remember, a bronze winner in the 1994 Jackson Competition. A fairly short dancer, his technique is polished, fantastically well phrased and always there. I suspect he is shy, because most of his partners have to play to a center, a pool of concentration. One, however, always is certain that at the final phrase and finish one has seen good dancing and a fine exposition of the choreography. Some one of these days, he will burst out of the tradition and begin to interpret.
Vadim Solomakha was trained in Kiev, and exudes the aura of the young Russian romantic principal. His reading of the role created by Christopher Gable in "The Invitation" was right on key. There is a rush of emotion in his portrayal which helps enormously, and his sheer physical size and stage presentation adds greatly to the drama of a moment. Often paired with Yuan Yuan Tan, the match is a nice one.
Christopher Stowell was one of the company's first small-sized technicians with allegro and bravura assurance up the gazoo. His Bugle Boy in "Company B" is something else; and his drunken admiration of the girl in "Sergeant Early's Dream" reminds me of young men in my home town with a genuine pang. The son of the artistic directors of Pacific Northwest Ballet, give him something, anything, and he tosses it off with the ease Americans pop bubblegum. He probably will be seen in a William Forsythe marathon-style ballet in London which Stowell dances supremely well.
Yuan Yuan Tan in La Esmeralda pas de deux
Photographer Lloyd Englert
Yuan Yuan Tan comes from a sparkling series of wins in international competitions: a silver in Helsinki; a gold in Paris and some medals in Japan along the way. Helgi Tomasson invited her for study at San Francisco Ballet's School and she made a guest appearance or two, stunning the audience with her aplomb and her wraithlike silhouette. This was perhaps 1994 or 1995 because she was engaged in soloist status the following July. Two years down the line, she was named a principal dancer, the first such Asian-born soloist to enjoy that distinction. It was a special treat to watch her dance with Muriel Maffre in "Concerto Barocco" for they are both tall, understated, but complete in their presentation. Nothing is glossed over, nothing is trivial and the movement enjoys a special liquidity. Tan dances opposite Vadim Solomankha and their performance in "Giselle" possessed its share of passion. What was elusive and eerie about Tan's mad scene was its possession of Chinese ghost stories, an intriguing dimension which seemed wholly suitable.
I'm not certain whether Katita Waldo will be with the company in London or Belfast. She has danced an extremely convincing Desdemonda in the Lubovich "Othello". As the ballerina in Lander's "Etude", she demonstrates her range, and I recall she also has accomplished an atmospheric "La Sylphide." I would love to see essay a dramatic ballet which would be the American equivalent of some of Sir Fred's stellar accomplishments. We could use a good rendition of Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence", for example, or perhaps a balleticized version of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" where Waldo's womanly subtleties would have a field day. Until that day, however, enjoy her in whatever is assigned her.
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