The San Francisco Ballet's Program 1 for 2012 is Onegin. Onegin, in my regular guy un-ballet jargon, is a story of a small town girl who is enamored with big city boy but big city boy thinks little of small town girl which ended up breaking her heart. Then big city boy started flirting with his best friend's girlfriend which angered his best friend. Best friend and big city boy started fighting over the girlfriend, which turned into a duel, eventually killing the best friend. This made big city boy regrets everything and leave town. When he returns from his long absence, he discovers small town girl is now married to a Prince. Big city boy realizes he is truly and madly in love with small town girl but it is all too late for big city boy. Too late. The ballet is based on Alexander Pushkin's poem Eugene Onegin and the music was composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
I saw Onegin with my regular ballet friends, Anastasia and Alma, on a Thursday night and it can easily be one of my favorite ballet performances - up there with the Nutcracker, Swanlake and Giselle. Eugene Onegin was played by Pierre Vilanoba and Tatiana was played by Sarah Van Patten. Lensky, the best friend, was played by Isaac Hernandez. Just like the other SF Ballet's performances, this one is another ace. The company danced elegantly and in unison. This particular performance included lots of passionate pas de deux, lots of energetic movements and lots of Russian dance steps. It never ceases to amaze me how ballet performances can tell a story! I especially liked Scene 1 in the Act II during Tatiana's birthday.
Once again, this performance reminded me how fortunate I am to live in a city where ballet is accessible and, at the same time, the ballet company is world class. (Thank you, SF Ballet!)
Onegin is part of SF Ballet's Program 1 and it ran from January 27 through February 3rd at the War Memorial Opera House on Van Ness Avenue.
~rl
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