After more than two years, one of the Bay Area’s most-anticipated annual social events of the year returns in person on Thursday, January 27, 2022.
San Francisco Ballet today announced details for La Grande Fête, the opening night gala of its 89th season, including the world premieres of ballets by Alexei Ratmansky, Yuri Possokhov, and Myles Thatcher, plus the stage premiere of a pas de deux from Danielle Rowe’s Wooden Dimes, one of the ballet films created during the pandemic.
The celebratory evening, sponsored in part by Presenting Sponsor Osterweis Capital Management, will support the nonprofit San Francisco Ballet’s renowned artistic, educational, and training programs as it raises the curtain on its new repertory season. The one-night-only program, curated by Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson in his final season leading the company, will celebrate the longstanding relationships the company has held with choreographers and dancers at the pinnacle of their careers.
The Gala is chaired this year by René Rodman Diamond; watch the Opening Night Gala trailer here.
La Grande Fête’s performance includes three world premieres by longtime San Francisco Ballet collaborators Alexei Ratmansky (working with SF Ballet since 2003), Yuri Possokhov (working with SF Ballet since 1992), and Myles Thatcher, also an SF Ballet Soloist, whose premiere is his eighth ballet created on the Company and is sponsored by Isaac Hall. The program also includes the first live performance of the pas de deux from Danielle Rowe’s Wooden Dimes following its virtual premiere earlier this year, the SF Ballet premiere of Justin Peck’s Bloom from 2021, and Tomasson’s White Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake, highlighting beloved SF Ballet principal dancer Yuan Yuan Tan.