I love a gala for the way it feels like a real event.  Everyone all dressed up, the buzz of a full house, the anticipation of a new season getting underway.  Increasingly, however, I find the performance itself leaves me a bit cold.  That was the case at Spellbound, the gala performance that launched San Francisco Ballet’s 2020 season.  This was not the fault of the dancers, who did well, nor of the programming, which was fairly broad in scope.  Rather, it is the nature of the beast.  In your average two-hour show, you usually get anywhere from one to three ballets:  either it’s a full length or a triple bill, most likely.  With this gala, there were 12 different pieces on the program.  It’s great if you think of the evening as small plates, each ballet meant to satisfy in its own way.  But for me, I find that I’m barely able to get into a piece before it’s over.  This is especially true of excerpts, which sometimes need more context than the section that is plopped into a gala evening.  It also makes for somewhat scattered viewing.  I felt the program flowed better this year than in the past but even so, it can be hard for the viewer to switch gears so quickly and so often between dances that are so different.

All of that being said, let me share a few thoughts.

Men’s Regiment from Stars and Stripes
It really is so refreshing to see a group of men dancing.  And I am pleased to report that the men were quite together, on the whole.  Opening with a lively ensemble number was a good move, as it put the audience in an upbeat mood.

Foreshadow
This pas de trois was a world premiere created by Val Caniparoli for the gala.  Inspired by Anna Karenina, the ballet depicted the fraught dynamics between Anna, Kitty, and Count Vronsky.  I didn’t see the direct reference until the ending made it clear, and would have been perfectly happy to watch it simply as an abstract trio.

Pas de Deux from Swan Lake
Not what you think.  Instead, this was David Dawson’s contemporary take on the White Swan Pas de Deux.  The traditional version played in my mind the entire time I was watching.  It wasn’t different or compelling enough to drive the steps I associate with certain musical cues from my mind.

Jockey Dance
More of this, please.  Choreographed by August Bournonville in 1876, this dance is for two men dressed in jockey silks and wielding riding crops.  Max Cauthorn and Esteban Hernandez appeared to be having a great time, springing around the stage and trying to outdo one another with playful good humor.  They also had the best costumes of the evening.

[Curious?  Here’s a video of the piece from another performance.]

For Pixie
The audience whooped and cheered when For Pixie ended.  Danielle Rowe choreographed the pas de deux for SFDanceworks in 2017, and I’m sure it felt like a win for all involved to see the piece “graduate” to the opera house stage for this gala.

[Here’s a shaky video of Dores André and Joseph Walsh (the gala cast) dancing the piece in Idaho, and here’s a video of the full piece at its premiere.]

Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire
Misa Kuranaga is here to stay.  Last year, she appeared as a guest artist at the gala and was arguably the best thing onstage.  A year later, she’s now a full time principal dancer with SFB, and I’m pretty excited to see more of her.  The pas de deux from Corsaire is all about pyrotechnics and she and Angelo Greco delivered those.

[YouTube is good to us.  Here’s a video of Kuranaga and Greco performing this recently at a gala in Monterrey, Mexico.]

Balcony Pas de Deux from Romeo & Juliet
Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet returns this season.  The pas de deux looked to me like watered-down MacMillan.  But the music is wonderful, always, and goes a long way toward making the balcony scene so swoon-worthy.

05:49
Another gala premiere.  Choreographed by Myles Thatcher for Sasha De Sola and Benjamin Freemantle, this pas de deux is indeed five minutes and 49 seconds long, as evidenced by the enormous digital clock projected onto the backdrop that counted down over the course of the dance.  From where I was sitting in the balcony circle, you could only see the bottom third of the numbers, which meant I spent most of the time trying to guess what they were rather than focusing on the dancing.  My friends sitting higher up in the balcony couldn’t see the clock at all.  This is not the first time I have felt that designers did a disservice to those seated upstairs.

Grand Pas Classique
I’ve never seen Grand Pas Classique before.  It is serious ballet—so hard, especially the female variation.  But Wona Park tackled it like she does everything I’ve seen her do:  calmly, coolly, and without apparent effort.  Wei Wang was her partner.  No complaints there either.

[Curious?  Here are some big-time ballerinas in the variation.]

Pas de Deux from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
I’m ready for a break from this ballet.  I have seen the full thing now twice, and I think gala excerpts twice as well.  This is one that really didn’t work for me in excerpt form.

Pas de Deux from Bells
Vitor Luiz gave his final performance at the gala in this piece, alongside Yuan Yuan Tan, who is celebrating her 25^th season as a principal dancer.  It was atmospheric and wistful and felt appropriate in that regard as a farewell.

[Here’s the pas danced by different people.]

Finale from Diamonds
SFB is presenting Jewels this season.  I’m a big fan of Jewels, and I go back and forth trying to decide which section is my favorite.  The finale from Diamonds is big and grand, but at the gala I found myself thinking that it needed everything that came before to really make a statement.  (There will be a full post on Jewels later this season, rest assured.)

Gala ended, season commenced.  First up:  Cinderella.

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Spellbound:  San Francisco Ballet Opening Night Gala
January 16, 2020, at the War Memorial Opera House