Feature Stories

Questions for Tomasson

San Francisco Ballet, once primarily known as America’s oldest professional ballet company, has, under Helgi Tomasson’s 20-year tenure as artistic director and choreographer, emerged as one of the most esteemed ballet companies performing in the twenty-first century. That reputation is based, in part, on what Tomasson does best as artistic director—presenting one of the most vibrant and diverse repertories in the world.

Recently, Tomasson took a moment to answer some questions on what he values as an artistic director, a life-long career in dance, and how he has established one of the most creative forces in the contemporary ballet world.

When you assumed the role of artistic director and choreographer of San Francisco Ballet in 1985, did you set out to build a company that would perform such a diverse repertory?

Yes, to some degree though I probably didn’t see how far it would go.

When I was a dancer in New York you could go to see New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, American Ballet Theatre. When I came to San Francisco, I wanted a company that could showcase different types of dance with ballet as the mainstay.

At New York City Ballet, but also at the Robert Joffrey [Theatre Ballet] or the Harkness [Ballet], we began approaching what w e would have called in those days, modern choreography. I was there when that movement took off so I was very much exposed to it. When I came here the Company had a lot of
Balanchine ballets in the repertory. I wanted to bring in some of his other ballets, but I wasn’t interested in making San Francisco Ballet a second Balanchine company.

As artistic director I started introducing different choreographers almost right away.

How did your dance career influence the sort of artistic director you’ve become?

I was very fortunate. I started dancing when I was 10. I was exposed to the Royal Danish Ballet and growing up some of my first dance instructors w ere Danish-trained who performed at the Pantomime Theater in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Garden. Now, looking back, I realize that in learning the art of pantomime I can show all kinds of characters when I’m choreographing a story ballet. It comes naturally to me.

I also think the touring I did all over the world with the [Robert] Joffrey [Theatre Ballet], the Harkness [Ballet], New York City Ballet, and as a guest artist, influenced me as an artistic director. I was exposed to many different kinds of dance and dance companies: what works they were doing; how they were performing it.

Is there a process that you go through when you select a repertory?

This is a question I get asked quite often and I never know just how to answer it. There is no formula. It’s just my instinct, what I would like to do, what goes well on a program. Frequently, I juxtapose different works on a program. For instance, in this season’s all-Robbins program, the works couldn’t be more different. I like that.

Sometimes I need to do a full length because I have dancers that need that experience as part of their career. Or maybe I’ll start at what I can bring back from last year. As I go along I try to keep in mind what dancers will dance this, what’s it going to look like. It’s a long, slow process that takes many weeks.

Also, I can’t do a whole new season of new works because we just don’t have the time, aside from the money, but it’s mostly a matter of time. I do try to get something new—new choreography or a new work to San Francisco Ballet —on each program and sometimes even two new works.

Then I start saying to myself, “If I was walking up to the Opera House and looked up to see what San Francisco Ballet was dancing, would that program be interesting to me?” I try to put myself in the mind of the public. They might not like everything on a program but in my mind I’m trying to show them different types or different interpretations of what dance can be.

In the end I have to go o n intuition. It comes down to my own taste, what my experience has been as a dancer, choreographer, and artistic director, basically a lifetime involved in dance. All those experiences as a dancer have molded me into the type of director I am today. I’m lucky. I had so much exposure to so many different types of dance. I’ve worked with so many great choreographers.

What is it like to juggle the roles of artistic director and choreographer?

The artistic director role for any company is huge. There’s so much to deal with. I think there’s even more to deal with now than when I started 20 years ago. I have to continually reassess the success of the Company and my expectations.

As artistic director there’s always something that needs addressing: hiring dancers, staff. It’s not easy. The paper work alone—who wants to audition here, choreographers and composers who submit their work to me—is time consuming because you have to take the time to listen, watch, and weigh.

My background as a dancer involved working with artistic directors who choreographed as well: Balanchine at New York City Ballet, Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino at the Joffrey Ballet, and at Harkness, even though we went through many artistic directors, most of them choreographed as well.

As a choreographer you need a lot of time to think about what you want to do, find the music, ideas. And that’s hard. But if I didn’t choreograph I wouldn’t have the same communication with the dancers. I teach company class, lead rehearsals, and create new works. I have to interact with the Company rather than just remain in my office.

In a company with such a varied repertory, it’s extremely important that I’m part of that creative process. It doesn’t mean that I have to be prolific. I’m comfortable doing one or maybe even two new works a year.

This season you’ve created two new works, Blue Rose on Program 2 and The Fifth Season on Program 5. Can you comment on this burst of creativity?

Normally after the repertory season ends in May we have a six-week break, I take off to see works in other parts of the world, and then come back and begin working on the next season in July. This past season we went from the repertory season directly into rehearsing three new works for our Paris engagement. When I returned from Paris in late July, I had more time to get away. I literally took shopping bags full of music to our country house. It was the first time that I had four or five weeks in our country house. I had time to listen. So maybe that’s what did it—just having time.

How would you describe your stages of development as a choreographer?

It does come in stages. You do one work and that leads to another. Later I realize that I couldn’t have done a later work without having done an earlier one. It’s a process and an unknown what the result is going to be, but it’s a building block. For example, with 7 for Eight I had always liked this particular piece of Bach music and I felt, okay, this is the right time for me to do this. If you had asked me four or five years earlier I probably would have said, 'No, I’m not ready for that.’ It’s what I’m ready for now. I don’t think about the future.

You’re well known for developing the careers of choreographers. How do you go about choosing a choreographer, perhaps someone less known?

In most cases I might have seen a bit of what a choreographer has done. Or perhaps a choreographer has produced a few works but nothing has happened in their career. I have to use my own experience and intuition. There have been times when I’ve said to myself about a choreographer, ‘Oh yes, there’s more there’ and I might just be able to give someone an opportunity. You can’t make them a success but you can give them an opportunity if you feel that the talent’s there. And sometimes I look at a choreographer’s work and think, “It’s very interesting but it’s not for us.”

In Programs 2 and 3, you’ve included works by Paul Taylor and Agnes de Mille, two choreographers with roots in twentieth-and twenty-first centuries modern choreography. How do you go about choosing choreographers who are not working expressly in classical ballet?

I go to see modern works and some I like more than others. And sometimes I feel a choreographer could do something for us in the way we dance. We had done de Mille’s Rodeo years ago and it was time to bring it back. It’s a wonderful work. You wouldn’t say that de Mille was a classical choreographer but it still makes for a wonderful evening.

What kind of dancer does it take to dance this repertory?

My first inclination is to say that they have to be versatile. That doesn’t mean that everyone is equally good in a range of styles. You have to keep that in mind. Some might be more focused on contemporary works and others are more suited for classical or neoclassical works. I look for musicality, whether a dancer has the passion to want to do this work, and if a dancer has the drive to be in such a creative environment.

A dancer also needs to have good solid classical technique because I firmly believe that if you have that you can cross over to different styles. Also, it’s a question of what kind of dancers I need at a particular moment in time.