It's a long, long time from May to December – from the end of the San Francisco Ballet season, that is, till the dancers return for Nutcracker. But come August, the troupe steps out and dances (as they have for almost 70 years) in the free concerts al fresco in Sigmund Stern Grove. The weather was changeable, the dragonflies nearly outshone the dancers, the spectacular natural amphitheatre created a sumptuous backdrop, the constant movement of picnickers and the occasional droplet of rain tended to diffuse the aesthetics down into that pleasant, nostalgic blur that goes with the end of the summer holidays.
The SFB looked fabulous, and the superb SFB orchestra (conducted by Martin West) sounded better than it does in the Opera House. Piano, violins, and especially the low woodwinds and brasses gained levels of tone, articulacy, and distinction you rarely hear. The company did a mixed bill of three works, including the whole second act of Swan Lake and the Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
First up was the brilliant display-piece On a Theme of Paganini, which is set to the famous Piano Rhapsody by Rachmaninoff. Helgi Tomasson's choreography does the music the remarkable service of clarifying its structure – it remains rhapsodic, but you see how it builds up its effects. The whole thing was made to showcase the company's brilliant young Bolshoi-trained ballerina Maria Kochetkova, and exploit the contrast between her diminutive size and the huge scale on which she dances. Kochetkova is the jewel in this crown, and it's fair to say she blazes in it. Ballet, like opera, is inherently a popular art, and she has the potential to pull in a huge crowd of young people who had no idea ballet was not for snobs.
Swan Lake looks surprisingly magical without all the tricks you can play with stage fog and spotlights. Vanessa Zahorian stepped up to her biggest role yet and danced the awesome white swan adagio with wonderful purity of feeling. She's not a naturally dramatic dancer, and her initial characterization of the enchanted princess-turned-into-a-swan was way too coy, but by the middle of the adagio she had us all absolutely with her. The corps danced with equal conviction. Elana Altman was glorious among them, as were the four little swans, Liz Miner, Clara Blanco, Bryn Gilbert, and Margaret Karl. The company will take this production on tour to China, with Yuan-Yuan Tan headlining. Tan is already a superstar in China, and they'll doubtless cause a sensation over there.
They may also take the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, which this company dances to perfection. It's one of Balanchine's most fun things, using folk-steps from the deep Russian South that feel rather like the cowboy dances we do at the Sundance Saloon. The steps are catchy, the style is one where the more you throw it away the more style you're showing, and the dancers are having so much fun you don't know where to look, since the kids in the background are just as delightful as the guys in the front.
With so much going on , this ballet actually needs the lights and the "shining-blue-sky" cyclorama of the Opera House stage to help you focus on it. It doesn't show up very well out en plein air. Still, that posed no problems for the audience last Sunday, who cheered as the stars stepped forward: Katita Waldo and Sarah van Patten, Pierre-Francois Vilanoba and Ruben Martin Cintas, who certainly deserved their ovations, as did Franklyn d'Antonio, the violinist who'd put the floor under their feet and given them wonderful reasons to dance.