Sasha De Sola and Francesco Gabriele Frola in Helgi Tomasson/Yuri Possokhov’s “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
It’s a truism not repeated often enough that ballet dancers are not just artists but also serious athletes, risking their bodies with each performance.
The point was driven home painfully Thursday, March 19, as San Francisco Ballet opened an 11-performance run of “Don Quixote” at the War Memorial Opera House.
“Don Quixote”: San Francisco Ballet. Through Sunday, March 29. $35-$575. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. 415-865-2000. www.sfballet.org
For more than two dazzling hours, the recently hired Italian principal dancer Francesco Gabriele Frola had been commanding the role of Basilio to silence all skeptics. His bravura jumps were gasp-inducing, his pirouettes marvels of centrifugal clarity, his chemistry with his Kitri, danced by Sasha De Sola, crackling. The only challenge that remained was a darting circle of jetés élancés when suddenly, going into the turn to launch them, Frola hopped and grimaced, and hopped again.
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As he limped into the wings, De Sola bravely forged ahead with the hardest part of her performance, a final marathon of fouetté turns, dispatching them cleanly and even adding a regular snap opening of her fan above her head. Left alone when her partner should have returned, she improvised some smiling interactions with the other characters, then tossed in a second fouetté series to fill the void.
Francesco Gabriele Frola made his San Francisco Ballet debut in “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
When De Sola took her bows, the audience wild with appreciation, concern for her fellow dancer radiated from her worried eyes. Everyone on stage knew: An injury like the one Frola had just sustained is a serious matter, probably taking him out for the rest of the season, if not longer. That it struck just as Frola had shown San Franciscans the full powers of his technique was all the more heartbreaking.
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“Don Quixote,” an audience favorite since its first performances at the Bolshoi Ballet in 1869, has a way of drawing dangerous adrenaline levels from its performers. Longtime Ballet attendees will remember when former principal dancer Tina LeBlanc came down from a supercharged jump and snapped a tendon in Act One, her partner Gonzalo Garcia gallantly carrying her offstage.
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Although Frola will be deeply missed, the brighter news is that the entire company is dancing this sunny 2003 staging by former artistic director Helgi Tomasson and resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov as though it were brand new.
Nathaniel Remez in “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
We’re fortunate to have a gold-standard production of “Don Q” here in San Francisco, combining the timelessly clever choreography passed down from Marius Petipa (with emendations from Alexander Gorsky in 1900) with deliciously bold color combinations by the late costume designer Martin Pakledinaz. The total package is ideal for newcomers and diehard ballet fans alike, offering a story of sweet young love, comic hijinks and a taste of Cervantes that moves along far more briskly than the 17th century novel’s 1,072 pages.
To be sure, the eponymous knight who tilts at windmills is an integral part of the story here. Nathaniel Remez played him with great sympathy Thursday, even if his bewildered facial expressions proved more convincing than the old man’s arthritis.
But it’s the barber Basilio and his spirited love Kitri who really command our attention as they try to outsmart Kitri’s father, who would have her marry Gamache, a rich, balding fop. Myles Thatcher, one of the all-time greats in the role, dodders through in purple velvet.
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Myles Thatcher in San Francisco Ballet’s “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
Toss in two real-life horses on the stage and the San Francisco Ballet orchestra playing Ludwig Minkus’s sprightly score and you’d be hard pressed to have a bad time whether you sit in box seats or the highest balcony.
What’s easy to forget in all the fun is how thoroughly “Don Quixote” tests a company’s overall classical dancing health, requiring not just a virtuoso lead couple, but a deep bench of talent. Tucked into the second act is a ballet-within-the-ballet: Don Quixote’s dream of ideal femininity. Whereas the first act calls for earthiness and abandon, the dream ballet suddenly takes us into “La Bayadère”-like territory, demanding ensemble control and precisely stylized positions.
Sasha De Sola in “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
De Sola led it all fabulously. In the first act, it was clear that drama coach Javier Galitó-Cava’s instruction has improved her interpretation of the wild-eyed Kitri. Immediately her steps, such as a glissade with her arms thrust forward, came across as dramatic gestures. Both she and Frola moved on quickly from the final pose of each variation, staying in character instead of waiting for applause.
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By contrast, in the dream scene, De Sola’s exposed adagio balances near the lip of the stage were spectacularly cool and impersonal, befitting an apparition. Flanking her, Julia Rowe was a perfectly crisp Cupid, while Frances Chung reigned as a powerful Queen of the Driads, leading an ensemble of 19 women without a weak link.
The parade of talent hardly stopped there. In the first and third acts, Jihyun Choi and Seojeong Yun were a splendid pair (with beautiful feet) as Kitri’s friends. Also throughout the night, Fernando Carratala Coloma kept threatening to run away with the show as the bullfighter Espada, flagging down the commanding Jasmine Jimison as his Mercedes.
Fernando Carratalá Coloma in San Francisco Ballet’s “Don Quixote.”
Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
With Frola injured, De Sola most likely will not dance again for this run. But the casting remains enticing. Fans of the uninhibited Madeline Woo are keen to see her debut as Kitri alongside Cavan Conley, while I’m equally intrigued to catch the young First Soloist Joshua Jack Price’s Basilio, paired with the ever-daring Nikisha Fogo. Katherine Barkman and Esteban Hernandez, who have forged a wonderfully attuned partnership, will have two performances, as will the dependably impressive Wona Park and Wei Wang.
Here’s wishing all the dancers high spirits and safe landings — and Frola a speedy return to the stage.
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Rachel Howard is a freelance writer.