Tomasson, Marston and Lander
San Francisco Ballet's groundbreaking 2019 repertory season continues with Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson's dynamic ensemble work The Fifth Season, up and coming British choreographer Cathy Marston's brand new piece Snowblind and Danish ballet master Harald Lander's blissful ode to the joy of dance Etudes.
A work of many moods, Tomasson's The Fifth Season is exemplary of the choreographer's penchant for neo-classicism, embodied in playful, sinuous movements set to eclectic composer Karl Jenkin's String Quartet No 2.
This is followed by Snowblind, a 30 minute work which was created for the SFB's Unbound Festival of New Work 2018. Inspired by Edith Wharton's novella Ethan Frome, the work evokes the story's impassioned love triangle with theatrical flair, set to a score by Philip Feeney, Amy Beach, Arthur Foote and Arvo Part.
The evening closes with a rousing performance of Lander's Etudes, a piece that starts simply at the barre, but moves with rapid pace to a 39-strong climax of whirling, leaping and turning.