San Francisco Ballet’s “Mere Mortals” — love it or hate it?

Am I allowed to say that back in 2024, I didn’t love the buzzy world premiere of Aszure Barton’s Mere Mortals? I’m still not sure if I’m brave enough to say “I hated it” because it brought such wide acclaim from critics and audience members alike with only a minority of naysayers. It seemed very clear … Read more

“Don Quixote” sizzles on the SF Ballet stage

Sizzles isn’t the right word. Or maybe it’s the perfect word. Don Quixote opened at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House on March 19th on the waning end of a massive California heat wave — meaning, still too hot. But there was a silver lining. San Francisco, normally cool-to-chilly most months of the year, had … Read more

It’s Nutcracker time in San Francisco

There is this moment In Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker where the party host, Dr. Stahlbaum, connects two electrical cords and the Christmas tree in the family’s San Francisco living room lights up. Everyone oohs and aahs because in-house electricity was a new-fangled thing in 1915, the year in which the production is set. The irony is … Read more

Simple Gifts, Simple Gratitude

  You might notice more white space on this blog. Less words.   That’s on purpose.   Space feels great. It’s a hard commodity to come by as we approach the holidays and the end of the year. Everything gets squeezed in, condensed. More food than usual. More family time than usual (leading, admittedly, to … Read more

A World Ballet Day in 2025?

Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of  the Ballet Theatre Chronicles!  Book 1, Off Balance and the final book, Other Stages, are only 99 cents. Books 2 and 3, Outside the Limelight and  Ballet Orphans  are only $2.99.   Just click on their titles! Everyone’s asking: will there be a World Ballet Day in 2025? On October 16th, the answer became YES!! Please join me … Read more