San Francisco Ballet School
Novellus Theater
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
May 26, 2010
by Rita Felciano
Copyright © Rita Felciano 2010
Scheduling school performances at the end of a ballet season serves as a reminder of what it takes to produce the first-rate work we expect from professional dancers. Perhaps that's why the class parades at San Francisco Ballet's annual showcase--mercifully kept short--have a special place in my heart. Watching the frozen smiles, the careful tendus and stiff port de bras speaks of the effort and knowledge that the body has not yet fully absorbed. The youngsters know what they are striving for though much of their dancing still happens inside the head. So this is a time when A for effort is appropriate.
The latest showcase also demonstrated the difficulty of programming such events. Two world premieres, Parrish Maynard's "Lusions" and Shaun Amyot's "5.26.10," stretched the advanced students beyond the danse d'école. Both served their purpose well enough though it would have been good to see choreographies with a life of their own. They were joined by a Bournonville style "Tarantella", prepared by faculty member Yoira Esquivel Brito and guest instructor Olivier Wecxsteen, and excerpts from "The Sleeping Beauty."
Of the two new works Maynard's "Lusions" is the more promising. It showed conceptual integrity though the reason for its protracted length eluded me. Set on three couples -- including a same sex one - eight girls and seven boys, Maynard built the piece around a stripped down vocabulary that included few if any ballet steps yet demanded the focus and exactitude in which the students have been trained. More than anything, "Lusions" recalled the impersonality of drill teams in which the individual is subsumed into a larger purpose. Manipulating long batons, the men looked like young soldiers in training. The work abounded in strict canons and controlled spatial deployments. Lifts were elaborate and athletic, including upside downs ones, and the dancers probably did more floor-embracing work than they have in seven years of training. Touches of humors and quirky, sometimes tender hand gestures -- rolling wrists and articulated fingers -- softened what might have become regimentation. The women could sharply break arm gestures but when they descended into wide grand plies and lowered their arms into something akin to first position, it looked like an act of meditation. Geraud Wielick's was the more confident in the mirroring style buddy duet with Henry Sidford. Audacious Nicole Ciapponi fearlessly threw herself against partner Francisco Mungamba.
For "5.26.10" Amyot worked with six couples on improvisations based on William Forsythe's choreographic procedures. The stepping into the ring format was curiously appropriate for these newcomers to fractured lines, oddly tilted balances and idiosyncratic phrasing. Some of what came out looked too much like an exercise -- walk around each other, communicate with arms only -- yet the dancers comported themselves well. Lovely to see was the elastic synchronicity in Cecily Khuner and Travis Guerin's yanking duet; while the fluidity of Mungamba's torso impressed, he will, undoubtedly, learn to use it more richly.
The best part about "Tarantella" was that the Level 6 Women and the Intermediate Men - a total of twenty dancers - got to learn something of "Napoli". Audrey Borst, Katerina Eng and Devon Fairorth did nicely in their respective solos. But this was very much a group effort with charm, sparkling footwork and nicely moderated extensions. In the couple dancing, these Neapolitans even looked like they enjoyed each other's company and on the sidelines, they tried to stay invested. One can only hope that this is not the only opportunity these dancers get to test themselves in Bournonville.
I am not convinced that programming excerpts from "The Sleeping Beauty" was such a good idea. Compromises in terms of tempi have to be made; what we see is choreography taken out of context and, for the most part, well trained as they are, the dancers lack the maturity for the parts. Still these were reasonably enjoyable performances. Elizabeth Powell brought a soft rubato to the Fairy of Tenderness; Nicole Voris a kind of tic-toc quality to the Fairy of Serenity's backward hops, and Lacey Escabar spitfire speed to the Fairy of Courage's staccato point work. The others' variations were danced ably enough by Jessica Cohen (Playfulness) and Ellen Rose Hummel (Generosity).
Petite, pretty and strong, Koto Ishihara is potentially a lovely Aurora. But notwithstanding the calm assurance she brought to her balances, she does not yet have the stamina to sustain the Rose Adagio. It seemed almost unfair to put her this early into this demanding role. In the Vision scene Ciapponi's Aurora sparkled but I wanted to see more of Raymond Tilton who has excellent ballon, a feathery descent and proved to be an elegant and confident partner. In him I could see a future prince.
Like any professional company that is only as good as its corps, a ballet school can fairly be judged by what its unheralded dancers can do. And here the quality of the SFB School shone. The Vision scene's ballet blanc was simply beautiful. These young women breathed a billowing quality into their ensemble work which of made you almost forget that they were student performers.
Sixteen of the current crop of dancers have been hired in either apprentice or corps positions:
Bryn Gilbert, Jordan Hammond, Koto Ishihara, Patricia Keleher, Evan Hewer, Raymond Tilton (SFB)
Django Allegretti (Ballet Theatre of Maryland)
Thomas Baker, Scott Bebell, Eva Burton (Oregon Ballet Theatre)
Travis Guerin (Cincinnati Ballet)
Rebekah Hostetter (Boston Ballet)
Ellen Rose Hummel, Ryan Piper (Ballet Austin)
Ronald Tilton (Ballet West)
Geraud Wielick (Ballet Memphis)