Under new leadership, the 55-year-old San Francisco Ballet (SFB) may have found the right formula to get the national recognition it deserves as America's oldest ballet troupe. Helgi Tomasson, a premier danseur with the New York City Ballet for 15 years, assumed the directorship of SFB two years ago. He began reshaping the repertory along more classical lines than his immediate predecessor, Michael Smuin, whose flashy, Broadway-like ballets, though popular with audiences, did little to enhance the company's artistic reputation. Tomasson first staged some of his own works as well as some Balanchine standards to shore up the repertory. This season, although he made two new ballets of his own for the company, Tomasson also commissioned works from two of the most sought-after and controversial choreographers around: Canadian James Kudelka and American William Forsythe. This creative bustle has attracted dancers of international caliber--Jean-Charles Gil and Pascale Leroy from the Ballet National de Marseille; Karin Averty from the Paris Opera; Lydia Lopukhova from Russia's Kirov Ballet and Christopher Boatwright, an American star of the Stuttgart Ballet, among them. But Tomasson has also encouraged native talent, like SFB "homegrown" ballerinas Evelyn Cisneros and Wendy Van Dyck.
And so it was a renewed San Francisco Ballet that danced for three nights at Wolf Trap this summer (August 20-22). The repertory included works by Balanchine, Tomasson, Forsythe, and founder-choreographer Lew Christensen. Although the opening-night performance was a bit disappointing-the dancers seemed nervous and some of the ballets worked better with different casts later on--the season as a whole showed that there are not only fine dancers on the West Coast, but ballets worthy of their attention.
Balanchine Disciple
Tomasson was represented by four works: Bizet Pas de Deux, a viruoso duet: Confidencias, an expressive solo for Cisneros to piano waltzes of Ernesto Nazareth; Menuetto, a lyrical, though formal, work to Mozart; and Concerto in d: Poulenc, a light, frolicky curtain-raiser. Tomasson choreographs much as he danced: with classical elegance, soft precision, and total respect for the music. Fifteen years of working with Balanchine show, Tomasson's ballets are strictly within the Balanchine aesthetic. The dances take their text from the musical score; in the Poulenc, each movement has its own principal couple--a favorite Balanchine device--and though each work has its own atmosphere and its own emotional flavor, there is no story. Tomasson has learned the formula well, but as yet has added nothing of his own to it. His strength lies in an ability to combine classical steps in a pleasing manner; he's more of a craftsman than a choreographer. But being able to turn out tasteful musical ballets that are interesting enough to watch more than once is no small gift, and these four works prove that Tomasson is capable of fashioning a varied repertory.
The two Balanchine ballets shown at Wolf Trap--Rubies (usually danced as the second "act" of the full-evening Jewels) and Theme and Variations, originally created for American Ballet Theatre--are new to the dancers and they're still finding their own way in these complicated works. They've got the speed for Rubies, but not the sizzle, at least the way Joanna Berman and David McNaughton danced it. Berman, a talented young soloist, has a strong technique and a pleasant stage personality, but she's not sophisticated enough for Rubies. The past de deux, which should be
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