The Visiting Scholar Program brings nationally known scholars to San Francisco Ballet to lecture on a variety of topics that are meant to educate and inspire balletomanes of all levels and ages.

San Francisco Ballet 2012 Visiting Scholar Beth Genné
 

Beth Genné, Professor of Dance History and Art History at the University of Michigan specializes in twentieth century American and British ballet as well as dance in the American film musical. She is interested in the synergy of dance, art and music and the historical context of the works she studies. She also has a special interest in George Balanchine and his relationship to popular as well as classical dance. She is the author of numerous articles as well as a book on the founder of the Royal Ballet, Dame Ninette de Valois. 

Professor Genné was also a principal researcher for the George Balanchine Foundation's project “Popular Balanchine, on Balanchine's work in Hollywood. She organized the international symposium "From the Maryinsky to Manhattan: George Balanchine and the Transformation of American Dance” as well as being one of the few American scholars invited to present her research in Russia at the symposium Balanchine: Past, Present and Future at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Her next book to be published by Oxford University Press is a study of dance in the American Musical Film and the contributions of Balanchine, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.
 

Tickets still available for our lecture at the Commonwealth Club on Thu, Apr 12. Attendees save 30% on tickets to the opening night performance of Balanchine Masterworks!
 

San Francisco Ballet Visiting Scholar Events

Attend Commonwealth Club Lecture and get 30% off SF Ballet‘s Balanchine Masterworks Program

Diamonds: The Many Facets of Balanchine’s Style
Thursday, April 12   |  Noon - 1pm
The Commonwealth Club of California,
595 Market Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
415.597.6700 (Reference “Patron of San Francisco Ballet”)
$20 standard, $12 Club members and Patrons of San Francisco Ballet, $7 Students (ID required). Lecture ticket buyers will be given Promo Code for 30% discount off SF Ballet tickets ($21–$69) purchase at sfballet.org or call 415.865.2000

Performance: Program 7 – Balanchine Masterworks (Opening Night)
Thursday, April 12  |  8pm  |  War Memorial Opera House
San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 Visiting Scholar Professor Beth Genné examines the many facets of Balanchine style, primarily referencing three works being presented as SF Ballet’s Program 7: Balanchine Masterworks. The program includes Divertimento No. 15, set to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a revival of Scotch Symphony (the first performance of the work by the Company in more than 40 years), and Balanchine’s neoclassical masterpiece, The Four Temperaments, set to music by Paul Hindemith. Balanchine is often seen as the man who brought ballet into the modern age, with his fast-moving, streamlined, leotard-clad dancers and plotless ballets – worlds away from the ethereal, lavish story ballets so popular during the nineteenth century. Yet Balanchine’s work had many facets. He was the most modern of choreographers, who loved and celebrated his own era, but he carried within him the legacy of classical ballet. Each of his works incorporates a different aspect of his widely ranging interests. Professor Genné considers this dichotomy and what makes all of his varied ballets distinctively “Balanchine.”
 

Community Lectures – Free and Open to the Public

 

Due to popular demand, we’ve added an additional free community lecture on Fri, Apr 13. RSVP required.

Diamonds: The Many Facets of Balanchine’s Style
Friday, April 13  6-7pm
San Francisco Ballet Association, Chris Hellman Center for Dance
455 Franklin Street – Dollar Board Room
RSVP 415.865.6584 or adulted@sfballet.org
Space is limited, RSVP required (limit two per person)

San Francisco Ballet’s 2012 Visiting Scholar Professor Beth Genné examines the many facets of Balanchine style, primarily referencing three works being presented as SF Ballet’s Program 7: Balanchine Masterworks. The program includes Divertimento No. 15, set to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a revival of Scotch Symphony (the first performance of the work by the Company in more than 40 years), and Balanchine’s neoclassical masterpiece, The Four Temperaments, set to music by Paul Hindemith. Balanchine is often seen as the man who brought ballet into the modern age, with his fast-moving, streamlined, leotard-clad dancers and plotless ballets – worlds away from the ethereal, lavish story ballets so popular during the nineteenth century. Yet Balanchine’s work had many facets. He was the most modern of choreographers, who loved and celebrated his own era, but he carried within him the legacy of classical ballet. Each of his works incorporates a different aspect of his widely ranging interests. Professor Genné considers this dichotomy and what makes all of his varied ballets distinctively “Balanchine.”

From the Mariinsky to Manhattan: George Balanchine and the Transformation of American Dance - No additional RSVPs  can be accepted as this event has reached its capacity

Saturday, April 14  |  5–6:30pm
San Francisco Ballet Association, Chris Hellman Center for Dance
455 Franklin Street – Dollar Board Room
This event has reached capacity. We are no longer accepting RSVP’s. A small number of “stand by” seats may be available on the evening of the event. Seating is on a first come/first serve basis, and cannot be guaranteed. Please do not arrive before 4:45 pm.

Professor Beth Genné looks at the colorful and often tumultuous life path of George Balanchine, from his training in Imperial Russia, where he danced before the Tsar at the Maryinsky Theatre, through the terrors of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, to voluntary exile with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris and London during the “Roaring 20’s.” Ultimately Balanchine found his place in America, where, through the Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the counterculture era of the 60’s and 70’s, he founded the American Ballet School and Company, thus providing his adopted country with a repertory of ballets widely recognized among the greatest artworks in history. Professor Genné looks at Balanchine’s life experiences and how they deeply affected his work.

On Your Toes: Balanchine on Broadway and in Hollywood- No additional RSVPs  can be accepted as this event has reached its capacity

Monday, April 16  |  6–7pm
Film Screening of On Your Toes  |  7–8:30pm San Francisco Ballet Association, Chris Hellman Center for Dance 455 Franklin Street – Dollar Board Room
This event has reached capacity. We are no longer accepting RSVP’s. A small number of “stand by” seats may be available on the evening of the event. Seating is on a first come/first serve basis, and cannot be guaranteed. Please do not arrive before 4:45 pm.

Balanchine is best known for his extraordinary creations for the world of classical ballet, but little is known about his impact on Broadway and Hollywood musicals, and his collaborations with George and Ira Gershwin, Vernon Duke, Josephine Baker, Richard Rodgers, and Lorenz Hart.  Professor Beth Genné presents her original research on Balanchine’s work on Broadway and in Hollywood during the 1930’s and 1940’s, and his influence on these quintessentially American art forms. Professor Genné will examine Balanchine’s first Broadway hit, On Your Toes, the first of his collaborations with Rodgers and Hart, in which he combined ballet and jazz dance. The production was made into a film in 1939, which will be screened after the lecture.

All programs are subject to change. The information, views, and opinions expressed at all CDE events are strictly those of the participants and do not necessarily represent or imply any official position of San Francisco Ballet Association.

 

Past Visiting Scholars:
 

2011, Doug Fullington

2010, Richard Taruskin

2009, Janice Ross

2008, Jennifer Fisher

2007, Lynn Garafola

2006, Deborah Jowitt