In this interview, Principal Dancer Sasha de Sola talks about the pure joy of dance. She describes how it feels to perform the lead female role in Haffner Symphony and how wearing a tutu affects her dancing. Sasha also addresses some common misconceptions about ballet and discusses what she does to achieve balance in her life.

Soloist Jennifer Stahl discusses her range of roles as a soloist, including the anecdote about receiving her promotion at the cast party following the premier of Yuri Possokhov’s Rite of Spring in 2013. She describes the process of creating the world premiere, Fragile Vessels, with choreographer Jiri Bubenicek, as well as working on last year’s world premiere of In the Countenance of Kings with choreographer, Justin Peck.

Patti Fitzpatrick, Interim Head of Women’s Wardrobe, describes the inner workings of the Wardrobe department. In her engaging manner, she reviews her early career as an ice skater and building her own costumes as preparation for this work. She uses a selection of costumes to illustrate some of the challenges faced by her staff, including the adaptation of costumes in the warehouse inventory for a variety of functions

Ricardo Bustamante, Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director, discusses his role as one of the Ballet Masters for John Cranko’s Onegin. Bustamante shares with the audience what to listen to in the music, what to look for in the choreography during Tatiana’s Bedroom scene in Act I, and what to watch for as different relationships develop in Act II. He also talks about the Company’s touring and rehearsal schedule during the summer when the Company is not performing in the War Memorial Opera House.

Patrick Armand, Associate Director of the SF Ballet School, begins by describing the rigorous curriculum in the School, which is designed to prepare students for professional careers. A former gold medal winner of the Prix de Lausanne, he discusses the nature of that competition his continuing association with the organization. Both he and Ballet Master, Betsy Erickson, speak about the challenges of producing a production as demanding as Onegin, and they emphasize the rewards of performing both the principal and ensemble roles.

Meet the Orchestra - Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West discusses the music of Cranko's Onegin with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra providing commentary and musical accompaniment.

Principal Dancer Mathilde Froustey, in her third season with the Company, discusses learning and dancing George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations and the challenges of Balanchine in general; her role in Alexei Ratmansky’s Seven Sonatas and what she has learned from working with him; and her upcoming debut as Tatiana in John Cranko’s Onegin. Audience questions touch on her training and the differences in dancing story ballets versus abstract works.

Cheryl A. Ossola, SF Ballet writer and Dance Studio Life magazine editor in chief, interviews Soloist James Sofranko. Soloist James Sofranko discusses his roles in Justin Peck’s In the Countenance of Kings (and the injury that kept him from performing it) and Christopher Wheeldon’s Continuum, whose creative process he was part of in 2001. An emerging choreographer himself, Sofranko talks about how Peck and Wheeldon have influenced him; his upcoming work for the San Francisco Ballet School Showcase (his second), set on the Trainees; and his new role as founder and artistic director of a small troupe, SFDanceworks.