Feature Stories
2007 Season Preview: An Interview with Helgi Tomasson
In the following interview, Mary Wood—a moderator for the Ballet’s Pointes of View Lectures and Meet the Artist Interviews—and Artistic Director and Choreographer Helgi Tomasson provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Company’s 2007 Repertory Season.*
This is the first in a three-part series of audio interviews with Tomasson. Click here to listen to the audio interview.
Mary Wood: The most consistent thing about a San Francisco Ballet repertory season is variety. Is that a priority for you? How do you think about creating that variety for the audience?
Helgi Tomasson: Yes, [variety] is a very important part for me. If I were to go to the theater, that’s what I would want to see. [Variety] also gives great insight into what the Company is about and what the dancers are capable of dancing. It’s also more interesting for dancers to have a great variety of choreographers and dances. So from an audience point of view it works the same way.
MW: We always have some works from what we might call the hot, young choreographers. This year we have new works by Wayne McGregor and Matjash Mrozewski. How do you choose these wonderful choreographers?
HT: There’s not a certain formula for it. I happen to see Wayne McGregor’s work in Europe, Eden/Eden, and I was very taken by it. I immediately thought this would be a very good work for San Francisco Ballet and [a way for] audiences to see Wayne’s work.
It was a similar situation with Matt. I was up in Toronto maybe three years ago. There was a big conference going on between artistic directors of major ballet companies. One of the things they did for us after a long day of talking was to bring us to the School [National Ballet School of Canada] where a small performance was given. The work had been choreographed by Matt. I looked at him and thought, this is a very talented young man. So I put that in the back of my mind and thought I definitely needed to get in touch with him. So that’s how that happened.
MW: It seems as though every season there are one or two of the great historical, traditional, full-length pieces. This [season includes] The Sleeping Beauty. The piece was created in 1890 and I think it’s never been out of repertoire in some companies or many companies around the world ever since. We first did it here, I believe it was in 1990, and you have put it on the program every couple of years ever since. Can you tell us how important that is for audiences to see that work and for the Company to perform it?
HT: First of all, you take Tchaikovsky’s music. It is just beautiful, beautiful music. Marius Petipa’s work was just exquisite, the way he choreographed it, even though I have in some instances added a few things. Today we have such great male dancers that I wanted to incorporate [them] into the ballet because it’s so heavily female.
Having said that, the purity of the classical technique should be seen. It’s a huge challenge to the dancers to step back from what we call today “freedom in their movement.” To sort of reign it in—this is the style of classical ballet. It’s like playing classical music and it’s so important for dancers to go back to the basics. If you can do that well then you can do everything else well. [But that’s] usually very deceiving. It’s very hard but it shouldn’t look it and they [the Company] don’t make it look [difficult]. So I think from that point of view, it is very important to bring The Sleeping Beauty to the dancers. It is also probably the hardest and difficult classical ballet to perform.
From an audience point of view, it is a beautiful fairy tale, suited for the whole family, and it’s full of beautiful costumes by Jens Jacob Worsaae. It’s a wonderful ballet and it should be seen. It truly is a classic just like Swan Lake and it gives so many opportunities and roles to Company members. In The Sleeping Beauty there are so many roles—call them secondary roles—that can be filled. That way the whole Company is so much more involved.
MW: We always have a few [George] Balanchine works in our season’s repertoire. You danced for New York City Ballet and had works created for you by Balanchine. There are something like 450 works in Balanchine’s repertoire and we have many to choose from. Many years we see what are sometimes called the “black and white” works, very contemporary movement ballets. This year the two works on the season are what I would call “tutu” works, the much more traditional works of Balanchine. Was that planned or an accident?
HT: Well, that’s “sort” of planned. Symphony in C is one of the most glorious neoclassical works there is and I think it’s just something that should be seen periodically. I think some people like to see it every year. It shows the Company off in their neoclassical style. Again, a lot of different movement, a lot of opportunities to dance.
You said, “Is it planned [to have these two works on the season’s repertory]?” Well, when you bring in something like [William] Forsythe’s Artifact [Suite] which is going to be repeated [this season] and is quite contemporary and you’re going to have Wayne McGregor’s Eden/Eden which might be considered even more contemporary but really interesting work—very thought provoking—again, I want to see contrast. So Symphony in C is certainly one of those [contrasting] ballets. Plus, I just really watching that ballet, I have to say.
We haven’t done Divertimento No. 15 since I have been here in 21 years so I felt it was time to bring it. So it’s more so of an accident that I put it on the same season as Symphony in C. Again, Mozart’s music is just a jewel of a ballet so there is still a contrast between Divertimento and Symphony in C which tends to be more bravura, energetic dancing. Divertimento is exquisite Mozart and so is the dancing.
MW: There’s another direction that the Company goes and that is to showcase the great choreographers of recent history. We have a wonderful collection of Jerome Robbins pieces. I’ve loved each one more than the one before, but to find out that we were going to be doing Fancy Free was one of the most exciting things I’d learned in a long time. Can you review a little about the fabulous history of Fancy Free and what we’re going to see when that ballet bursts onto the stage?
HT: It’s considered Jerome Robbins’ first ballets and it was done in the 1940s. It’s about three sailors out on the town. I think it’s amazing how beautifully it holds up. It’s not dated at all. I’m excited to see it now as I was the first time I saw it many years ago. It’s just one of those works that’s great, it’s wonderful, and I just really enjoy it.
I had thought of bringing [Fancy Free] here earlier and again I was quite amazed that we’d never done it. It is truly a wonderful ballet with the music of Leonard Bernstein. It’s pure Americana ballet. What I’ve seen of the rehearsals, which are going on right now, the Company is going to be wonderful in it. I just can’t wait to see them perform it.
MW: How excited will the audience be this coming 2007 season to see such a wide variety of works and to see this wide acclaimed Company in its depth?
HT: We have proven that we are truly one of the major companies in the world. I’m not just saying that. It’s been written, it’s been said from European capitals to American cities. The Company’s variety, I don’t think there’s any other company that can do that as much as we do and do it as well. So when I look at the upcoming season, I sort of amaze myself. How wonderful [it is] that we have ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, Forsythe, Mark Morris, David Bintley, Paul Taylor. I mean, what other company does this? There just isn’t any other.
Last season in New York at Lincoln Center proved that. The audience was just fantastic. The way the Company danced, I just looked at them and thought, they can’t get any better than this. So I have no doubt that the upcoming season is going to be really spectacular.
* Interview has been edited from its audio format.
Image above: Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson leads Company Class (© Erik Tomasson).