The first week of San Francisco Ballet’s Unbound: A Festival of New Works was all about new ballets, with 12 world premieres by the likes of Justin Peck, Dwight Rhoden and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. The second weekend provided time to reflect, as artists and influencers gathered for “Boundless: A Symposium on Ballet’s Future.” Dance Magazine […]

Since the beginning, when I first started dancing at 6 years old, I loved it. I never really thought of the hard work and long hours as a sacrifice because ballet always brought me joy and happiness. In 2013, a bunion injury left me unable to dance for a year and three months. There was […]

As any good bunhead would tell you, for me, Nutcracker is a yearly tradition as old as leaving cookies out for Santa Claus. But this year, I got to experience it with fresh eyes by taking both my 35-year-old fiancé and my 5-year-old nephew for their first times. I didn’t plan on being a Nutcracker […]

Who are you when you no longer do what you’ve been doing for years? It is the big question facing anyone who retires. For top ballet dancers, however, the situation is more extreme. They start young, grow up in a rarified atmosphere, mostly see only each other, and become more and more removed from ordinary […]

To stay in shape, San Francisco Ballet’s Sofiane Sylve takes class with the trainees, taught by SFB School associate director Patrick Armand. Why? Because it’s 30 minutes longer than company class. “You have to floss deep,” quips the 41-year-old principal. She also gets massage, physical therapy and plenty of sleep, eschews alcohol and follows a […]

Sofiane Sylve doesn’t mince words. “If you are just going through the motions,” she says to her trainee class at the San Francisco Ballet School, “we might as well stay home.” The veteran SFB principal is famed as much for her directness as for her exquisite technique, astonishing interpretive range and captivating stage presence. “I […]

When we heard rumors earlier this summer that World Ballet Day LIVE might get cancelled this year, we thought our hearts might break. But we needn’t have worried! The happy news came out yesterday that our favorite day of the year is back: World Ballet Day LIVE 2017 is officially scheduled for October 5. Clear […]