San Francisco Ballet takes a wrong turn — After 37 years the Ballet has a new Artistic Director
200 candidates, a 10 month international search but, did they choose the right person? The San Francisco Ballet Board of Trustees Search Committee co-chairs Sunnie Evers and Fran Streets had an agenda: find a woman, preferably a woman of color, to be artistic director of the San Fransisco Ballet (SFB). Tamara Rojo fit the bill perfectly. A Latina, a renowned principal dancer and, most recently, Artistic Director of the English National Ballet (ENB). They also wanted to be “with it” and look to the future, the bright new world of diversity and a new, post-white-male ethos.
They were going to be thoroughly modern. “Tamara is the dynamic leader who will change and expand upon how patrons of dance will be able to see and engage with it. She is the voice of the future, and we are delighted she will be here at SF Ballet,” said Sunnie Evers and Fran Street. Out with the old, in with the new. Polemics, not art, was their aesthetic. They can’t stop congratulating themselves over how clever and politically correct they are. They didn’t care about what might actually benefit the SFB, the dancers, the staff, and the culture of our company. In fact, they don’t care about ballet at all; only about how they look to the world.
Helgi Tomasson spent 37 years building SFB from a second tier regional company into an international powerhouse of ballet known the world over for sponsoring new works, for its diverse and adventurous programming, and for attracting the interest of the world’s best dancers. His choreography and his partnership with our resident choreographer, Yuri Possokov, have given us memorable ballets. The Romeo and Juliet that’s currently in performance was choreographed by Tomasson. Apparently, this legacy and proud history count for nothing with our search committee; Tomasson was not even part of the decision-making process. He is a white male, after all, and older, so what would he know about the future of ballet?
Rojo brings with her Issac Hernandez, her husband, formerly a Principal dancer with the ENB and a star in his own right. How does that work? The Artistic Director is married to one of the Principal dancers? To complicate matters further, Issac’s brother, Esteban Hernandez, is also a Principal dancer with SFB. There are red flags all over this. Didn’t the Search Committee consider this?
Helgi Tomasson reached out to Julian MacKay, a fabulous dancer and international star, to join SFB and MacKay was happy to become part of the company. He had only been here for a year and we hardly had a chance to see him dance when Rojo decided not to renew his contract. “I’ve never even met the woman,” a surprised MacKay said. Was Rojo worried that MacKay would take attention away from Issac Hernandez, our newly appointed Principal? MacKay was doing so well here; Tomasson had just given him a raise, and then we let him go. That is not how you honor Helgi’s judgement and his vision for the company.
Tomasson had no experience directing a ballet company before he came here. He was a Principal dancer at New York City Ballet under George Balachine. Many other prominent ballet directors had no experience running a company before being made Artistic Director: Kevin McKenzie at American Ballet Theatre (ABT); Peter Martins, long time Artistic Director of NYC Ballet; Karen Kain, Artistic Director of National Ballet of Canada. Our former Principal dancers Gennadi Nedvigin and James Sofranko are now successful Artistic Directors at the Atlanta Ballet and Grand Rapids Ballet, respectively. Obviously, you don’t need prior experience running a ballet company to be successful at it.
In my 25 years of going to SFB, I’ve not seen the “Greetings” page that begins each program shared with the Executive Director. Now, it’s not “From the Artistic Director” but “From the Artistic and Executive Directors.” Our former Executive Director, Glenn McCoy, who had been with the Company for over 30 years, was never featured next to Tomasson on the “Greetings” page to my knowledge. I doubt very many people outside of patrons and donors even knew who Glenn McCoy was. And I’m sure Danielle St. Germain, appointed Executive Director in March 2022, didn’t expect to be featured alongside the Artistic Director. Before she can even get used to her job title she is being given equal billing with the Artistic Director? Who’s idea was that? It couldn’t have been Danielle St. Germain’s idea; I very much doubt it was Tamara Rojo’s idea. Could this be the work of Sunnie Evers? We’ll go one better than everyone else: we’ll have a woman Artistic Director and a woman Executive Director and we’ll feature them together. Just look at how cool we are, being led by two strong women. Predictably, that did not work out. Danielle St. Germain has stepped down with no explanation given by any of the parties. Arturo Jacobus, who was with the SFB 19 years ago and has been at Atlanta Ballet for the last 12 years, will step in as Interim Executive Director. “The Board of Trustees will be forming a committee to launch an international search for St.Germain’s successor in the coming months.”
A look at some of the material SFB has put out in advance of the 2023–2024 season is revealing. The headline on the SFB web page is “The 23–24 Season will be like no other you’ve experienced before. It is a season of firsts.” The 1st program Mere Mortals, an “ immersive sensory experience where sound is influenced by dance” doesn’t sound much like ballet but it is new. The 2nd program is Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth (Das Lied von der Erde from 1965) and Sir Frederick Ashton’s period costume drama Marguerite and Armand (1963). The last was once a star vehicle for Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn. These pieces, as you can see, are not new. The photo accompanying “The Song of the Earth,” is of Rojo dancing in the ENB production. They may be SFB premieres, but San Francisco audiences are not unfamiliar with MacMillian and Ashton and I very much doubt these works will be “like no other you’ve experienced before.”
Rojo brings what she knows from the ENB and the Royal Ballet. Ballet companies where she was a star. The Dos Mujeres program includes Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings, a ballet that “explores the life and art of Frieda Kahlo.” The ballet premiered in April 2016, danced by the ENB with Tamara Rojo as Kahlo. An accompanying photo shows Rojo dancing the role. It seems that Rojo thinks she will rival, and even surpass, all the prima ballerinas of the past, including Fonteyn. She is going to see to it that she and Issac get all the recognition they deserve. And I want her to have it all. I want her and Issac to have the accolades and recognition. I just don’t think the SFB should be the vehicle to achieve it.
Do we really need the mid-20th century repertory of the Royal Ballet and the ENB here? Do we want a European sensibility at SFB? Is this the way forward for the San Francisco Ballet? The remainder of the 2023–24 program consists of two full lengths, Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tomasson’s Swan Lake. We missed Midsummer (it had only one performance because of the pandemic) and it’s a great choice to bring it back. We had Swan Lake last season and it is always a crowd pleaser. These are safe choices; nothing adventurous here. Three ballets from Next@Ninety, from this season, will be brought back to make another program. For the final two programs, Rojo says she will reprise Swan Lake with guest artists and one other program, from earlier in the season, to be determined, that was popular with the audience.
NYC Ballet turned to their most senior dancers to run the company and decide on the next artistic director. Might we have done something along those lines?