San Francisco Opera Ballet
| San Francisco Ballet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Name | San Francisco Ballet |
| Previous names | San Francisco Opera Ballet |
| Year founded | 1933 |
| Founders | Willam Christensen, Harold Christensen, Lew Christensen |
| Principal venue |
War Memorial Opera House San Francisco |
| Website | www |
| Senior staff | |
| Chief Executive | Glenn McCoy |
| Artistic staff | |
| Artistic Director | Helgi Tomasson |
| Principal Conductor | Martin West |
| Other | |
| Official school | San Francisco Ballet School http://school.sfballet.org |
San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. San Francisco Ballet was the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today".
Willam Christensen, Harold Christensen, and Lew Christensen made up the famed trio of brothers considered by many to have done more than anyone else to establish ballet in the United States. Born into an artistic and musical family, the three brothers studied folk dance and ballet from early ages and went on to tour the famous vaudeville Orpheum Circuit during the 1920s and 1930s, exposing many Americans to ballet for the first time with their act "The Christ Brothers".
As vaudeville faded from American popular culture, Harold and Lew joined George Balanchine's new company, American Ballet, in 1935. In 1932, Willam formed a ballet school in Portland, Oregon; in 1937, he was engaged as principal male soloist by San Francisco Opera Ballet. He became the company's ballet master and choreographer in 1938. With his brother Harold, he purchased the company from the Opera in 1942, renaming it San Francisco Ballet. In 1951, Willam retired as director of SF Ballet and moved to Utah, where he started teaching ballet in the country’s first university ballet department at the University of Utah. With a group of his students, he founded the Utah Civic Ballet (now known as Ballet West) in 1963; the company remained under Christensen's directorship until 1978.
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