San Francisco Ballet

San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, has emerged as a world-class arts organization since it was founded as the San Francisco Opera Ballet in 1933. Initially, its primary purpose was to train dancers to appear in lavish, full-length opera productions.

Willam Christensen arrived in 1938 and choreographed the Company's first full-length production, Coppélia, the following year. In 1940, he staged the first American full-length production of Swan Lake. On Christmas… Show more Eve 1944, Christensen launched a national holiday tradition with the premiere of Nutcracker, the first complete version of the ballet ever staged in the United States.

In 1942, the Company became a totally separate entity from the opera and was renamed San Francisco Ballet. Willam Christensen was artistic director, and his brother Harold was appointed director of the San Francisco Ballet School, a position he retained for 33 years. Lew Christensen, America's first premier danseur, joined Willam as co-director in 1951 and took over the Company the following year. Under Lew's direction, the Company made its East Coast debut at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 1956 and toured 11 Asian nations the following year, marking the first performances of an American ballet company in the Far East.

In 1972, after performing in various San Francisco theaters, the Company settled permanently in the War Memorial Opera House for its annual residency. The following year, Michael Smuin was appointed associate artistic director and celebrated his new partnership with Lew Christensen by collaborating on a full-length production of Cinderella. In 1976, Smuin's Romeo and Juliet became the first full-length ballet and the first performance by a West Coast company to be shown on the PBS television series "Dance in America." In 1981, Smuin's The Tempest—the first ballet ever broadcast live from the War Memorial Opera House—was nominated for three Emmy Awards (Willa Kim received the award for Outstanding Costume Design). Three years later, Smuin received an Emmy Award for Choreography for the "Great Performances-Dance in America" national broadcast of A Song for Dead Warriors.

In 1974 San Francisco Ballet faced bankruptcy, but its supporters and the community responded with an extraordinary grassroots effort called "Save Our Ballet," which successfully brought the Company back from the brink. That same year, Dr. Richard E. LeBlond, Jr., was appointed president and general manager of the San Francisco Ballet Association. He developed the first long-range plan for an American dance company, and in 18 months San Francisco Ballet was in the black financially.

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