by Julie Diana Hench | Jul 31, 2016 | Company Life
In Balanchine’s comedic Coppélia, San Francisco Ballet’s Frances Chung brings out Swanilda’s playful side. All of Swanilda’s actions come from a place of pure fun. She’s kind of sassy, but I like bringing out her playfulness...
by Caroline Seymour | Jul 6, 2016 | TBT
Updated 1/11/24. Bolstered by its eccentric characters, Coppélia has comic flare like no other ballet. In this 2009 rendition staged by Sergei Vikharev, Natalia Osipova, a then 23-year-old Bolshoi Ballet soloist, storms the stage in Swanhilda’s variation from...
by Joseph Carman | Sep 24, 2014 | Career, Company Life, Profiles
In a rehearsal before their Lincoln Center performance of Coppélia last May, Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin ran through some of the partnering in a studio several levels below the Metropolitan Opera stage where they would perform. In Frederic Franklin’s charming...
by Rosie Gaynor | Sep 28, 2010 | Company Life
Still winded from a run-through of Swanilda’s 10-minute Act III pas de deux, Lesley Rausch walks through her variation with Pacific Northwest Ballet ballet master Otto Neubert. “You have a killer instep; show that to the audience,” says Neubert. As they move along the...
by Pointe Magazine | Dec 1, 2009 | Company Life
Dancer: Sarah Van Patten Company: San Francisco Ballet Ballet: Marius Petipa’s Swan Lake San Francisco Ballet principal Sarah Van Patten always commands the stage in roles that call for dramatic depth and musicality. But because she is not usually thought of as...
by Pointe Team | Nov 28, 2001 | Company Life
Nothing provides more comfort than catching your best friend’s eye during a performance, or realizing that someone familiar is dancing by your side. And when a ballet’s choreography caters to friendship, the most intimate dance arises from the stage. Australian...
by Pointe Team | Nov 28, 2001 | Company Life
Among the set, costuming and score of a ballet, movement becomes the most powerful form of expression—especially in romantic-era story ballets, which entertain and convey a plot without words. Thus, the most underrated skill of a professional dancer becomes...
by Pointe Team | Nov 28, 2001 | Company Life
Many Romantic ballets revolve around tragedy when dealing with love and romance. However, some simply attempt to replicate the joy of dancing, and produce little conflict other than a delayed marriage (Swanilda’s story in Coppélia hardly compares to the trials and...
