Delightful and Drunken Dancing: SF Ballet's Cinderella

While in San Francisco, we went to see the ballet present Cinderella.  I was under the impression that the SF ballet is really really good, an impression helped by the number of well-dressed people outside the theatre begging for tickets.  Also, I had seen one of their principals, Yuan Yuan Tan, in a film version of The Little Mermaid and found her performance incredibly beautiful and moving.

Yuan Yuan Tan in The Little Mermaid

I was a little disappointed that Yuan Yuan Tan was not dancing the night we went to Cinderella, particularly since her photos were used in all the promotional materials, but we were going on a Thursday night, which meant that many of the principal roles were being filled by dancers from the corps.  It should be noted that the technical skill displayed was still absolutely incredible.  Several of these corps dancers would, I think, be soloists if not principals in smaller companies.  The audience was great as well.  There was a minimum of people getting up and leaving during the final scene and through the curtain calls, and people did not give a standing ovation.  Those are so easily given at most theatres they mean nothing.  Also, the audience was overall well-dressed with a good sense of when to clap.  I like this city.  I like this ballet.  Prokofiev is not the most structured of balletic composers, but Christopher Wheeldon choreographed everything perfectly and beautifully with the music.  There is nothing ugly in this Cinderella.  Even when Cinderella's mother dies, the blood-stained handkerchief (the mother coughs blood and dies, as proper tragic ladies do.) doesn't detract from the grace and beauty on the stage as the four fates (why four?  Why are they male?  Why are they present throughout the ballet?  I was confused by that) shelter the crying prima as she grows a magic tree with her tears.  The sets and costumes only get prettier and more elaborate as we go along, though the high point is indubitably Cinderella's departure for the ball.  The ball itself is a close second.

Cinderella preparing to change.  

Cinderella in her magic coach and dress. 

Showing off at the ball.  

Beyond the ball, the part I thought would be boring--the fitting of various women to see if the shoe fits*---was great.  A line of women sitting and doing pretty foot things in their pretty toe shoes, and perfectly timed to the music, was just delightful.  The chairs were then hoisted above the stage to float in an odd but pretty arch above Cinderella's home, where they remained for the great denoument.

All the characters in the ballet are extremely likable in themselves, not just for their dancing ability.  Even the evil ones are great.  The stepsisters are comic, and one is even rather kind and sweet.

The step sisters, in feathered hats,
 work on tightening a corset to timpani beats.  As they should. 

The stepmother is simply the best.  She gets really drunk at the ball and performs a passionate dance to and with wineglasses.  I am so inspired.

The evil stepmother may be my hero. 

The prince deserves an extra mention for being a great prince.  Most of the princes of ballet range somewhere between the boring (Siegfried) and the foppish twit (Solor) with a possibly a side trip into smug evil (Albrecht).  This prince, however, is an fun-loving soul who tries to avoid his own party, shows up badly dressed for it, and is then humorously horrified by the country-coded princessess who are having a dance-off for his hand in marriage.

Princesses of Spain, Russia, and Bali disregard the prince's personal space. 

Also, the prince is accompanied by his good friend Benjamin, who deserves a mention for his ability to perform satirical dances to mock princesses.

 Cinderella, of course, is the perfect magic ballet princess, if a little on the shy side.  Kind to beggars (who just happen to be princes in disguise), and ready to laugh and pretend magic ball dance with them.  And, of course, she is attended by four fates throughout, who appear to have no other purpose other than to give her a lift whenever she needs one. Oh the perks of being a magic ballet princess!

In sum, I loved it.  As a bonus, on the way back to the subway, we were regaled by a busker belting out a beautiful and accapella Waltz of the Toreadors. San Francisco is a delightful city.

*This is actually a terrible authentication method.  Out of the population of an entire kingdom, the odds of one person, and only one person,  fitting into a particular shoe are slim to none.