San Francisco Ballet at 90
International Terminal
San Francisco Ballet at 90
Cutting Edge Choreography
Celebrating its ninetieth season in 2023, and its first under artistic director Tamara Rojo (b. 1974), San Francisco Ballet is one of the most influential ballet companies in the world. Founded as the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1933, its initial purpose was to train dancers to appear in opera productions. The Company separated from the Opera in 1942 and was renamed San Francisco Ballet. Headed by brothers Willam, Harold, and Lew Christensen, San Francisco Ballet made its mark early by staging the first full-length American productions of Swan Lake (1940) and Nutcracker (1944). 
Lew Christensen (1909–84), a student of George Balanchine (1904–83)—one of the most important ballet choreographers of the twentieth century—succeeded his brother Willam as artistic director of San Francisco Ballet in 1952. In 1976, Michael Smuin (1938–2007) became co-artistic director alongside Lew.
Helgi Tomasson (b. 1942) succeeded the two as artistic director and principal choreographer in 1985, marking the beginning of a new era. Like Lew Christensen, Tomasson was a leading dancer for George Balanchine. Tomasson’s emphasis on both classical style and emerging choreographic trends has made San Francisco Ballet a calling card for the city—a ballet company suited to both the old-world grandeur of the War Memorial Opera House and the 21st–century innovation of San Francisco’s tech scene. This is largely due to Tomasson’s keen eye for emerging choreographers and his innovative programming of unexpected works, especially in the five choreographic festivals he curated during his tenure: United We Dance Festival (1995); Discovery Program (2000); 75th Anniversary New Works Festival (2008); Unbound: A Festival of New Works (2018); and next@90 Festival (2023). These festivals have introduced emerging and established choreographers to San Francisco and have made San Francisco Ballet one of the premier centers for new ballet choreography in the United States and around the globe.
This exhibition features costumes from ballets created by choreographers who were commissioned for these festivals, showing the breadth of repertoire and design created in San Francisco over the past four decades. Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena (1995) weaves African rhythms with Bach compositions and classical ballet with African dance movements and features hand-painted dresses. Arthur Pita’s Björk Ballet (2018) is set to Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk’s alternative pop music. The “ballet rave” features futuristic costumes designed by Marco Morante. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Guernica (2018) draws inspiration from the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937), and she choreographs the ballet with cubist effects. Four of the principal dancers wear bull horns and black-and-white ensembles. Dark and edgy costumes worn in Dwight Rhoden’s The Promised Land and an elaborate bejeweled tutu worn in Helgi Tomasson’s Haffner Symphony are some of the many other intriguing costumes on view.
Special thank you to San Francisco Ballet for making this exhibition possible.
San Francisco Ballet has long been recognized for pushing boundaries in dance, continually redefining 21st-century ballet. To learn more about San Francisco Ballet visit sfballet.org.
[inset performance image]
Sarah Van Patten performs in Wooden Dimes 2022
Choreographer: Danielle Rowe
Costume designer: Emma Kingsbury
Photograph © Erik Tomasson
Courtesy of San Francisco Ballet
R2022.1601.078
[inset costume image]
Wooden Dimes multicolored sheath dress and coat with red wool trim 2021
Choreographer: Danielle Rowe
Costume designer: Emma Kingsbury
Courtesy of San Francisco Ballet
L2022.1601.017a,b
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