SF Ballet Sets Seven-Performance Engagement at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing

SF Ballet has announced that it will return to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. with the Washington, D.C. premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella, October 26-30. SF Ballet will present seven performances of the acclaimed, full-length production; the Company last performed at the prestigious venue in November 2012.

"The Company loves performing at the Kennedy Center and we are delighted to return after four years, with Christopher's magical Cinderella," said SF Ballet Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson. "This production is visually stunning and enchanting-I can't wait to share it with the audiences in Washington, D.C."

Wheeldon's Cinderella, a co-production by SF Ballet and Dutch National Ballet, was given its world premiere by Dutch National Ballet in December 2012 and its U.S. premiere in May 2013, by SF Ballet. Set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, Wheeldon's interpretation includes elements of nature and Cinderella's mother's spirit, taken from the Brothers Grimm version. For this production, Wheeldon assembled an award-winning artistic team, with sets and costumes by Julian Crouch, libretto by Craig Lucas, tree and carriage sequence direction/design by puppeteer Basil Twist, lighting by Natasha Katz, and projection design by Daniel Brodie. The production was deemed "magical" by The Guardian (U.K.) and upon its U.S. debut, the San Francisco Chronicle heralded the ballet as "utterly alluring" with the San Jose Mercury News calling it "technically and scenically ingenious." While this is the first full-length production that Wheeldon has created for SF Ballet, the Company has twelve of his works in its repertoire.

Tickets & Performance Dates

SF Ballet will present Wheeldon's Cinderella on Wednesday, October 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 at 7:30pm, and on October 29 and 30 at 1:30pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit kennedy-center.org.

Sponsorship Credits

The 2013 San Francisco Ballet premiere of Cinderella was made possible by New Productions Fund Lead Sponsors Mrs. Jeannik Méquet Littlefield, and Mr. and Mrs. John S. Osterweis; Major Sponsors Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation, and Larry and Joyce Stupski; and Sponsors Richard C. Barker, Christine H. Russell Fund of the Columbia Foundation, Suzy Kellems Dominik, Stephanie Barlage Ejabat, Gaia Fund, The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Cecilia and Jim Herbert, Alison and Michael Mauzé, and Diane B. Wilsey.

The following funds of the San Francisco Ballet Endowment Foundation provide permanent support for touring by San Francisco Ballet:

Lead Underwriters
Osher Touring Fund
G. William Jewell Touring Fund
The Hellman Family Touring Fund
Major Underwriters
Frannie and Mort Fleishhacker Touring Fund
Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation Touring Fund
Teri and Andy Goodman Touring Fund
Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Touring Fund
Bob Ross Foundation Touring Fund
Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Touring Fund
Underwriters
Davidson Bidwell-Waite and Edwin A. Waite Touring Fund
Glenn McCoy Touring Fund
Phyllis W. Nelson Touring Fund

Anne and Michelle Shonk Touring Fund

San Francisco Ballet

As America's oldest professional ballet company, San Francisco Ballet has enjoyed a long and rich tradition of artistic "firsts" since its founding in 1933, including performing the first American productions of Swan Lake and Nutcracker, as well as the first 20th-century American Coppélia. San Francisco Ballet is one of the three largest ballet companies in the United States. Guided in its early years by American dance pioneers and brothers Lew, Willam and Harold Christensen, San Francisco Ballet currently presents more than 100 performances annually, both locally and internationally. Under the direction of Helgi Tomasson, the Company has achieved an international reputation as one of the preeminent ballet companies in the world. In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Dance" and in 2006, it was the first non-European company elected "Company of the Year" in Dance Europe magazine's annual readers' poll. In 2008, the Company marked its 75th anniversary with a host of initiatives including an ambitious New Works Festival. In October 2013, the Company performed at New York's David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, where The New York Times declared SF Ballet "a national treasure." 2015 marked the 30th anniversary of Helgi Tomasson's tenure as artistic director of San Francisco Ballet.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America's living memorial to President Kennedy. Under the leadership of Chairman David M. Rubenstein and President Deborah F. Rutter, the nine theaters and stages of the nation's busiest performing arts facility attract audiences and visitors totaling 3 million people annually; Center-related touring productions, television, and radio broadcasts welcome 40 million more. With its artistic affiliates, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the Center's achievements as a commissioner, producer, and nurturer of developing artists have resulted in more than 300 theatrical productions, and dozens of new ballets, operas, and musical works.

Each year, millions of people nationwide take part in innovative, inclusive, and effective education programs initiated by the Center, including school- and community-based residencies and consultancies; age-appropriate performances and events for young people; career development for young actors, dancers, singers, and instrumentalists; and professional learning opportunities for teachers, teaching artists, and school administrators.

As part of the Kennedy Center's Performing Arts for Everyone outreach program, the Center stages more than 400 free performances of music, dance, and theater by artists from throughout the world each year on the Center's main stages, and every evening at 6 p.m. on the Millennium Stage. The Rubenstein Arts Access Program expands the Center's efforts to make the arts accessible to children, young adults, and to people who have little or limited ability to attend and enjoy the performing arts, enabling audiences to engage in more ways, at more times, and in more places than ever before.