Thursday, April 30, 2009

Jewels




The complete three-act Balanchine Jewels (first performed in 1967) is currently in performance at San Francisco Ballet

I. Emeralds (epitome of French ballet)
II. Rubies (epitome of American ballet)
III. Diamonds (epitome of Russian ballet)

Months ago as soon as the program was announced I snatched up three tickets for this Friday night, with the plan of taking along my daughter and son-in-law (whose lives, in my view, can never be properly fulfilled until they have witnessed this masterpiece). And those two young people are very good about indulging my retrograde tastes. We will have dinner first at Hayes Street Grill, a good retrograde restaurant.

The current online cast list tells me Yuan Yuan Tan will dance the finale, Diamonds, partnered by Davit Karapetyan. Both are personal favorites, though they seldom dance together. When Patrick heard of this pairing he said, "Your dream couple."