{"id":436728,"date":"2026-08-18T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436728\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T23:30:20","slug":"city-ballets-34th-season-opens-with-serenade-at-ucsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/436728\/","title":{"rendered":"City Ballet’s 34th season opens with Serenade at UCSD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Five<\/a>Dancers perform \u201cSerenade\u201d under the glow of the moon. (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego)<\/p>\n

George Balanchine was so taken with California orange groves, he built Serenade\u2019s famous opening around their visual pattern, arranging 17 women in a scattered, uneven formation of an orchard rather than traditional straight lines.<\/p>\n

Nearly a century later, Pacific Beach-based City Ballet of San Diego<\/a> will open its 34th season on Aug. 21 with \u201cSerenade,\u201d performed outside at UC San Diego\u2019s Epstein Family Amphitheater<\/a>, a setting Artistic Director Steven Wistrich said is particularly suited to the landmark ballet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe actual lighting for Serenade is moonlight,\u201d Wistrich said. \u201cI always thought what a wonderful opportunity it would be to perform this ballet outside as it was originally conceived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set to Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cSerenade for Strings,\u201d the performance unfolds with a large corps de ballet in long, pale blue dresses that fall nearly to the floor. Wistrich described it as ethereal yet athletic, built around a sweeping opening and an equally dramatic close.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A large corps de ballet is a signature of \u201cSerenade.\u201d (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Wistrich, who danced Serenade across two continents and three decades, said the ballet holds a singular place in his life. He first performed in its corps as a young dancer with Boston Ballet, later rose to the lead \u201cWaltz Boy\u201d role and eventually danced that same part again in Geneva, Switzerland, where Balanchine himself coached him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was going to be leaving this planet and someone said, \u2018You have time to see one more ballet before you go,\u2019 it would be \u2018Serenade,\u2019\u201d Wistrich said. \u201cThere\u2019s just something so exquisitely beautiful about it. Once you see Serenade, you never forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening program also features \u201cRhapsody in Blue,\u201d choreographed by company member Geoff Gonzalez, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa\u2019s \u201cEcliptic,\u201d returning for a third season after selling out in past runs and drawing audiences back for repeat viewings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audience went absolutely bonkers,\u201d Wistrich said of \u201cEcliptic\u2019s\u201d debut.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cEcliptic\u201d explores harmony, human connection and the continuous flow of energy. (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego)<\/p>\n

City Ballet was founded 34 years ago as a school in Pacific Beach before growing into a full company that now employs dancers from around the world, including Japan and Brazil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Diego really deserves to see world-class dancing and they don\u2019t have to go outside of San Diego to see it,\u201d Wistrich said.<\/p>\n

The company is also a family affair: Wistrich\u2019s wife, Elizabeth, and son-in-law Geoff Gonzalez both serve as resident choreographers, and his daughter, Ariana Gonzalez, a principal dancer, was recently named associate artistic director.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful we get to see each other all the time. How many people get to see their grown daughters just about every day?\u201d Wistrich said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Family ties are just one part of a season that continues with four more programs across San Diego County.<\/p>\n

In the fall, \u201cAmerican Icons\u201d runs Oct. 24-25 at the Balboa Theatre. The program pays tribute to three choreographers who shaped American dance and is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Arts grant commemorating the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary. The show pairs Balanchine\u2019s \u201cConcerto Barocco\u201d with Peter Martins\u2019 \u201cAsh\u201d and a company premiere of Gerald Arpino\u2019s 1981 Joffrey Ballet classic \u201cLight Rain.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Ballet\u2019s holiday staple, \u201cThe Nutcracker,\u201d returns with its signature opulence Dec. 19-23 at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido.<\/p>\n

In March, Geoff Gonzalez\u2019s condensed staging of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d will have its world premiere in Escondido, sharing the bill with Elizabeth Wistrich\u2019s multimedia work \u201cEnigma,\u201d last performed by the company in 2011, and a stand-alone pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon\u2019s \u201cThe American.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>March brings Geoff Gonzalez\u2019s condensed staging of \u201cWest Side Story\u201d to Escondido. (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego)<\/p>\n

The season closes in May with City Ballet\u2019s first full-length production of \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d performed with the company\u2019s live orchestra and an expanded corps of swans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wistrich said the season, taken as a whole, was built with a wide range of audiences in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a season for everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you like tutus, you\u2019re going to love Swan Lake. If you like athletic ballets, you\u2019re going to love \u2018American Icons.\u2019 If you want to be dazzled with something that\u2019s timeless and unforgettable, you want to see \u2018Serenade.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that newcomers shouldn\u2019t feel intimidated by the art form.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t need to know anything about ballet to enjoy it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just meant to be visually enthralling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a>The season closes with City Ballet\u2019s first full-length production of \u201cSwan Lake.\u201d (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Student tickets are $12 for every performance, Wistrich said, while tickets to Serenade start at $39.<\/p>\n

For Wistrich, the payoff comes once the curtain rises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highlight of the whole thing for me is watching the dancers grow right in front of my eyes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City Ballet of San Diego performs \u201cSerenade,\u201d \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d and \u201cEcliptic\u201d at UC San Diego\u2019s Epstein Family Amphitheater Aug. 21-22. Tickets and full season details are available at www.cityballet.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dancers perform \u201cSerenade\u201d under the glow of the moon. (Photo courtesy of City Ballet of San Diego) George…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[75675,30734,105940,74,76,75,5729],"class_list":["post-436728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-balboa-theatre","tag-ballet","tag-epstein-family-amphitheater","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-uc-san-diego"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}