San Francisco Ballet's gala at Belfast's Grand Opera House on Friday got a standing ovation for its astonishing range of talented principals and soloists. Two Swan Lake pas de deux - the White Swan from Act 2 with Luccia Lacarra and Cyril Pierre, and the Black Swan from Act 3 with Yuan Yuan Tan and Vadim Solomakha - were both splendidly danced. Also the pas de deux from Le Corsaire was brilliantly performed by Tina LeBlanc and the remarkable Roman Rykine, reminiscent of Nureyev. Otherwise, most items were unfamiliar.
A protege of Balanchine, artistic director Helgi Tomasson began the evening with Balanchine's joyful Tarantella, highkicking Kristin Long, soaring Christopher Stowell and tambourines. His Tchaikovsky pas de deux, to music meant for Swan Lake (and now sometimes included in it), was finely danced by Lorena Feijoo and Parrish Maynard, while Gershwin's Embracable You had Julia Adam, partnered by Benjamin Pierce, in Balanchine's stylised ballroom dancing on point.
Tomasson also included his own Two Bits, to a percussion score by Aaron Jay Kernis, in which Vanessa Zahorian and David Palmer excelled, and his Handel, A Celebration, with Joanna Berma and Yuri Possokhov leading the ensemble into the finale in grand style.
Lack of a programme note on Leonid Jacobson's Vestris prevented the audience from appreciating Cuban Joan Boada's excellent character study of the great, but conceited, 18th-century dance master, but they loved Possokhov's fine white mask solo by Val Caniparoli. For me, however, the unexpected highlight was William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated with Muriel Maffre and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba, since a previous performance of this acclaimed piece had left me cold.
