SF Ballet School's Spring Festival and Dinner Returns May 22–24
SF Ballet (SFB) School and SFB School Director Patrick Armand are presenting the SFB School Spring Festival (formerly called Student Showcase) at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, May 22 to 24. A celebratory dinner hosted by the SF Ballet Auxiliary follows the opening night performance on May 22 at the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco. Proceeds from the dinner and performances benefit scholarship and financial aid programs for the School, which total over $1.2 million annually.
As America's oldest professional ballet academy, SF Ballet School is a distinguished training ground for young dancers from around the world. The annual Spring Festival showcases the best of the students' work, presenting three different programs over three evenings. This year, SF Ballet School students in levels 2 to 8 will present a short demonstration choreographed by SF Ballet School faculty member Karen Gabay, and upper-level students and Trainees will dance in Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson's Ballet d'Isoline; quicksilver, a new work by AXIS Dance Company Artistic Director Marc Brew; excerpts from Jirí Kylián's Sarabande and Falling Angels; and new works by an SF Ballet company dancer and student choreographers in the SF Ballet School.
Demonstrations made by students enrolled in SF Ballet's Dance for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease and Pre-Ballet classes will take place before the Spring Festival performances, and on-stage meet-the-artist interviews will offer opportunities to hear from student choreographers and School faculty during the intermissions. Educational pop-ups will be set up in the lobby, which provide guests the chance to learn more about the School's history, tutus, pointe shoes, and more. Additional details will be announced closer to the event.
The Spring Festival Event Chair is Catherine Bergstrom, and the Honorary Chair is Sunnie Evers. Tickets to the performances start at $29.
Individual tickets to the 2019 Spring Festival Dinner, which include admission to the opening night Spring Festival performance, are $500 for Patron tickets, $700 for Benefactor tickets, and $1,000 for Grand Benefactor tickets. Tickets for children ages 12 and under are $200 each.
Photo Credit: Susana Bates for Drew Altizer Photography