Photo by Erik Tomasson
San Francisco Ballet has been invited to the Spoleto Festival in Italy this summer, to give four performances over three days in July. The company will perform works by Alexei Ratmansky, Hans van Manen, Sir Frederick Ashton, and company artistic director Helgi Tomasson.
Ratmansky's From Foreign Lands, set to music by Moritz Moszkowski, incorporates steps that hint at traditional dances from Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Hungary. Variations for Two Couples by Hans van Manen, resident choreographer at Dutch National Ballet, had its American premiere at S.F. Ballet’s 2014 opening night gala.
Set to the music of Johann Strauss, Voices of Spring is a pas de deux, choreographed by Ashton, introduced by the Royal Ballet in 1978. Tomasson’s 7 for Eight has been performed by S.F. Ballet several times since its debut in 2004.
The company will go from Spoleto to Paris to give 18 performances there at the Les Estés de la Danse Festival, July 10-26, in Théâtre du Châtelet.