[Oakland Post, 2/2/03]
Janos Gereben

Two out of three ain't bad.  While waves of red ink are lapping at the
San Francisco Opera's doorstep, the city's two other major cultural
institutions are holding their head above water in a fashion fast becoming
unique in the nation..

Wednesday night, next door to a concert by the San Francisco Symphony -
still without deficit on a $45 million budget - the San Francisco Ballet
opened its 70th season, the oldest ballet company in the US operating
with a $29 million budget, and in the black for the 11th year consecutive
year.

Michael Tilson Thomas was conducting an all-French program (Boulez,
Messiaen, Ravel and Debussy) in Davies Hall; the Ballet's artistic
director, Helgi Tomasson - beginning his 18th year at the helm - put
together a glittering gala of the music of Schubert, Stravinsky, Handel,
Corelli, Auber and Tchaikovsky, choreographed by Tomasson himself
(including his best work seen here so far), SFB founder Lew Christensen,
George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, and Victor Gsovsky.

The evening's highlight: the local premiere of Val Caniparoli's sinuous,
passionate, jazzy and yet gloriously neo-classical "No Other," to a
Richard Rodgers score, danced gloriously by Lorena Feijoo and Damian
Smith.  Diana Vandergriff, Caniparoli's costume designer, should conquer
the world of fashion, at least, in the under-30 sector.

Since the last season, we have come to accept (almost) that Lucia Lacarra
returned to Europe and Joanna Berman, improbably, retired...  just in
time to prepare for the birth of twins.  On the other hand, we picked
up some dazzling newcomers, most notably Clara Blanco from Spain and
Pascal Molat from France.

Blanco is a tiny, squarely-constructed dancer, who exudes polite fire
and unassuming elegance.  Partnered by the amazing Gonzalo Garcia, who
is well on his way to super-stardom, Blanco danced memorably in "Norwegian
Moods," one of Christensen's less successful pieces.  Blanco doesn't
look or dance like Lacarra, but she has the same way of commanding
attention and lining up the audience in her corner.

Molat, seemingly twice Blanco's size, is a big, strong, athletic dancer,
who led Garrett Anderson, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Rory Hohenstein and
Hansuke Yamamoto in Tomasson's "Concerto Grosso" (Geminiani after Corelli).
Instead of his usually bland choreography, the company director this
time presented the world premiere of a work of verve, driving, compulsive
motion, a terrific showcase for the men, one which they filled excellently
well.

After too many years, the Ballet is still without a music director (ever
since the death of Denis de Coteau), but the evening still went well -
until the very end - under the baton of Jean-Louis LeRoux and Andrew
Mogrelia.  (The Stravinsky score for the closing Balanchine "Diamonds"
Finale, led by Mogrelia, lacked precision as did the performance by the
too-large and apparently under-rehearsed corps, not helped by Sarah van
Patten's lackadaisical solo.)

The "Concerto Grosso" gave a special chance to the Ballet Orchestra
principals to shine, and it was a pleasure to hear the work of violinists
Roy Malan and Marianne Wagner, violist Paul Ehrlich and cellist David
Kadarauch.

Roy Bogas, the orchestra's great veteran pianist, was at his best playing
Schubert (with Kadarauch) and Handel in another Tomasson piece, danced
brilliantly by Kristin Long and Yuri Possokhov.

Yuan Yuan Tan dazzled in Gsovsky's "Grand Pas Classique," partnered
selflessly by Vadim Solomakha, the super-thin dancer (now the owner
of a chain of studios in China) showing astonishing strength.  Vanessa
Zahorian impressed in Christensen's "Divertissement d'Auber"; Julie Diane
was an affecting (but remote) Giselle in an excerpt from Act 2; Joan
Boada and Peter Brandenhoff moved as one in Ivonce Satie's bravura
"Shogun," the two men leaving the stage in slow motion, but continuing
to dance for a long time in the viewer's mind.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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