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In 2008, San Francisco Ballet celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary season, which culminated in a New Works Festival of ten world premieres by ten of the dance world’s most diverse and acclaimed choreographers, including Boston Ballet’s resident choreographer Jorma Elo. 𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘭 was his first commissioned work for San Francisco Ballet. It is a ballet of extremes, with movements both classical and modern. The idea, Elo explains, “is to shake audiences out of complacency. Sometimes you want to break the dynamic of things.” Elo’s ballet possesses high-pitched kinetic energy, which is tempered by gentler movement. The ballet’s bipolarity arises from the contrasts in the score—energetic drums in American composer Philip Glass’ (b. 1937) Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra oppose and complement Russian composer Vladimir Martynov’s (b. 1946) slow, romantic Come In! This ocean blue tutu is layered with jeweled gold panels—a quintessential ballerina costume. Now retired, principal dancer Vanessa Zahorian wore the tutu in San Francisco Ballet’s premiere of 𝘋𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘭. The costumes for the ballet were designed by Holly Hynes, an award-winning designer with over two hundred fifty designs for several major ballet companies, including New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, and over a dozen works for San Francisco Ballet. Special thank you to San Francisco Ballet for making this exhibition possible. See “San Francisco Ballet at 90” on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal and online at: https://bit.ly/SFBalletAt90
This image was posted on August 04, 2023.