San Francisco Ballet
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 7:30 pm
“Van Manen: Dutch Grandmaster
A Superb Evening of Dance
Hans Van Manen, choreographer for the Netherlands Dans Theater, has enlivened the San Francisco Ballet repertory in several previous years. His work (“Solo”) was seen in SF in 1999! He has created 150 ballets in his career. This season’s audience is entertained, refreshed and delighted with four of his ballets: “Grosse Fuge”; “Variations for Two Couples”: “Solo” and “5 Tangos”.
All the works on this program brought surprise . All were superbly danced, with particular delight in the trio of ‘corps de ballet’ men: Alexis Valdes, Lleyton Ho and Archie Sullivan, in the work entitled “Solo”. These dancers were teasingly competitive, technically superb and to our delight, comic! (We look forward to seeing them promoted to solo roles!)
The program opened with “Grosse Fuge” (Beethoven) on a completely white stage. The ballerinas did not wear toe shoes! The program notes that this is “…an academic piece…the formations are very clear …a dance for the men…a dance for the women…they dance for each other…they dance with each other.’ The eight dancers (four couples included Sasha de Sola and Joseph Walsh. (See the SFBallet web site for complete cast.)
Stars of the SF Ballet also appeared in the next work on this highly energetic, highly skilled evening. These were Jasmine Jimison and Esteban Henandez, Katherine Barkman and Harrison James. The program notes… ”It’s all about the relationships between the two couples.” Wow! What a great pleasure it is to see skilled dancers at the height of their abilities projecting such achievement.
This delightful evening closed with ”5 Tango’s” to Piazzolla’s music. Danced by ten dancers, featuring Katherine Barkman and Joshua Jack Price, the work closed an evening of pure dance joy. For this reviewer, story ballets, exciting, charming and dramatic though they be, cannot replace the elegance and excitement of dance as dance. I look forward to future seasons of Van Manen’s works.
Bravo, Bravo to the stars, the corps and all members of the San Francisco Ballet who danced Van Manen’s Dutch Grandmaster’s works on April 9, 2025.