Frances Chung

Biography

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Frances Chung trained at Goh Ballet Academy before joining SF Ballet in 2001. She was promoted to soloist in 2005 and principal dancer in 2009. She was appointed Herbert Family Principal Dancer in 2018. 

Snapshot
  • BORN

Vancouver, Canada

  • TRAINING

Goh Ballet Academy

  • SAN FRANCISCO BALLET

Joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2001
Promoted to soloist in 2005
Promoted to principal dancer in 2009
Appointed Herbert Family Principal Dancer in 2018

Repertoire - SF Ballet
  • ASHTON

Symphonic Variations

  • BALANCHINE

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Divertissement Pas de deux)

Agon (Pas de trois)

Ballo della Regina

Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (3rd movement)

Coppélia (Swanilda)

Divertimento No. 15 (Allegro – Ballerina)

Emeralds (Principal)

The Four Temperaments (Sanguinic)

Rubies

Serenade (Russian Girl, Angel)

Square Dance

Stars and Stripes

Symphony in C (3rd & 4th movement Principal)

Tarantella

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux

Theme and Variations (Principal)

Who Cares?

  • BINET

Children of Chaos (Pas de deux)

  • BINTLEY

The Dance House (3rd movement Principal)

  • CANIPAROLI

Ibsen’s House (Hedda Gabler in “Hedda Gabler”)

Lambarena (Principal)

  • DAWSON

Anima Animus (Principal)

  • ELO

Double Evil

  • FOKINE

Petrouchka

  • FORSYTHE

Artifact Suite (Principal)

Blake Works I

in the middle, somewhat elevated

Pas/Parts 2016 (originated)

The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude

  • JENKINS

Thread (originated)

  • KUDELKA

The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful (originated)

Terra Firma (“Purple”)

  • LIANG

Symphonic Dances

  • LIFAR

Suite en Blanc (Pas de deux, Pas de cinq, Flute)

  • LUBOVITCH

Elemental Brubeck

“…smile with my heart” (1st Principal Couple)
 

  • MACMILLAN

Elite Syncopations

Winter Dreams (Irina)

  • MAKAROVA AFTER PETIPA

La Bayadère, Act II (Nikiya, 3rd Solo Shade in “The Kingdom of the Shades”)

Paquita (Demi-Soloist, Pas de trois)

  • VAN MANEN

Variations for Two Couples

  • MCGREGOR

Borderlands (originated)

Chroma

  • MILLEPIED

The Chairman Dances—Quartet for Two (Principal)

  • MORRIS

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes

A Garden

Joyride

Maelstrom

Pacific

Sandpaper Ballet

Sylvia

  • NUREYEV

Raymonda—Act III (Raymonda)

  • PAGE

Guide to Strange Places (Principal)

  • PECK

In the Countenance of Kings (originated Electress)

  • POSSOKHOV

Classical Symphony (Principal)

Diving into the Lilacs (Principal)

Francesca da Rimini (Francesca)

Fusion (Principal)

The Rising (originated Principal)

Violin Concerto (Muse)

  • RATMANSKY

Le Carnaval des Animaux (Turtle)

From Foreign Lands

Russian Seasons (Violet Woman)

Seven Sonatas

Piano Concerto #1 in Shostakovich Trilogy

The Seasons (The Spirit of the Corn)

  • RHODEN

LET’S BEGIN AT THE END (originated)

The Promised Land (originated Principal)

  • ROBBINS

Dances at a Gathering (Yellow)

Glass Pieces

Other Dances

  • ROBSON

The Energy Between Us

  • SCARLETT

Fearful Symmetries (originated)

Frankenstein (Elizabeth Lavenza)

Hummingbird (originated)

  • THATCHER

Ghost in the Machine

  • TOMASSON

7 for Eight

Caprice

Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers

Chi-Lin

Criss-Cross (1st movement Principal)

Don Quixote (Kitri, Kitri’s Friends, Queen of the Driads)

The Fifth Season (Principal)

Giselle (Giselle, Myrtha, Peasant Pas de cinq, Solo Wili)

Haffner Symphony (Principal)

Nutcracker (Queen of the Snow, Grand Pas de deux, Snowflakes, Sugar Plum Fairy, Spanish, Flowers)

On a Theme of Paganini (Pas de trois)

Prism (Pas de trois)

Le Quattro Stagioni

Romeo & Juliet (Acrobats)

The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora, Pas de six, Enchanted Princess/Bluebird Pas de deux)

Swan Lake (Odette/Odile, Neapolitan, Act I Pas de trois, Russian Princess, Czardas)

Trio (3rd & 4th movement principal)

  • VAINONEN

Flames of Paris (Pas de deux)

  • WELCH

Bespoke (originated)

Naked (originated)

Tu Tu

  • WHEELDON

Borealis (originated)

Carousel (A Dance) | (Soloist)

Cinderella (Cinderella, Stepsister Clementine)

Continuum

Ghosts

Number Nine (Principal)

Rush (Principal)

Within the Golden Hour (Principal)

  • ZANELLA

Underskin (originated)

  • DANCE FILMS

Dance of Dreams (Dir. Benjamin Millepied, 2020) | (Principal – Soloist)

Honors
  • Received the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance (Individual) for the 2013 Repertory Season.
  • Finalist at the Helsinki International Competition in Finland, 2001.
  • Awarded silver medal (no gold medal awarded) at the Adeline Genée Awards in London, 2000.
  • Finalist and prizewinner at the Prix de Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, 2000.
  • Awarded 3rd place with partner Nozomi Haga at the Japan National Pas de Deux Competition, 1999.
VIDEO

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