San Francisco Ballet (SF Ballet) has announced its 2024 season filled with premieres, company firsts, and works rarely seen in the United States. Curated by Tamara Rojo, the first woman to lead the trailblazing company and SF Ballet’s first new artistic director in nearly four decades, the season centers cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations, celebrates the artists and histories of San Francisco, and spotlights women’s voices on stage and off. Moreover, it furthers SF Ballet’s longstanding mission to balance innovation in choreography with a deeply held dedication to the classics. Programs include a cutting-edge commission led by the composer Floating Points; world premiere commissions from female choreographers Aszure Barton and Arielle Smith, who, along with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, will reimagine the myths of Pandora, Carmen and Frida Kahlo; and two classic British ballets rarely seen by American audiences.
Programs in the 2024 Repertory Season, taking place at the War Memorial Opera House from January 25 – May 5, 2024, include: a world premiere by Aszure Barton in collaboration with Floating Points; a double bill of Latina choreographers, featuring works by Arielle Smith and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa; Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth; Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand; selections from 2023’s next@90 festival, including Yuri Possokhov’s Violin Concerto, Nicolas Blanc’s Gateway to the Sun and Danielle Rowe’s MADCAP; Swan Lake; George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; family holiday favorite The Nutcracker; and special encore performances with guest artists.
“The warm welcome I’ve received from the San Francisco community has been truly inspiring. For my first season as Artistic Director, I am inviting a cross-cultural group of exceptional artists to bring their creativity and visions to my new home city,” said Rojo. “From engaging with technology in new and intriguing ways to offering exciting interpretations of two Latina heroines to the creation of new, contemporary scores, this season we will showcase the broad talents of our world-renowned company while expanding what the War Memorial Opera House, its audiences and ballet itself can look like.”
The repertory season will be presented in the recently renovated War Memorial Opera House. SF Ballet performs with the Grammy Award-winning San Francisco Ballet Orchestra throughout the season, under the direction of Music Director Martin West.
As part of its work to engage with global perspectives, SF Ballet will invite international guest artists Julio Bocca, Ed Watson, Sandy Jennings and Patrick Armand to teach and work with the company during intensive residencies throughout the season.
In 2024, the company will also launch a new professional development initiative, the SF Ballet ChoreoLab Series, which will open and nurture a dialogue around making work, between visiting artists and emerging choreographers in the company and School. To inaugurate the series, SF Ballet will welcome three world-renowned female choreographers presenting work this season — Aszure Barton, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Arielle Smith — to lead sessions that offer insight into their creative process in an informal, intimate setting. SF Ballet will also partner with San Francisco-based contemporary dance company ODC to include associated artists in ChoreoLab sessions.
For more information on San Francisco Ballet’s 2024 season, visit www.sfballet.org.
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