Classical (Re)Vision, SF Ballet’s second program of the 2020 Repertory Season continues through February 22.
Jennifer Stahl (here in a studio image by Erik Tomasson) dances as Anna Karenina in Foreshadow, a world premiere that Val Caniparoli has created for Opening Night Gala on Thursday.
Unlike the (very long) Tolstoy novel, this is a brief work that explores the dynamics of the love triangle of Anna, Count Vronsky (danced by Tiit Helimets), and Princess Kitty (danced by Elizabeth Powell).Caniparoli zeroes in on Tolstoy’s use of the train as a metaphor—and an omen.
“Tolstoy thinks the train is a monster that, by cutting through the countryside, is ruining Russian culture,” he explains. When Anna meets Vronsky at a train station, a railway worker is run over by a train, which Anna sees as a bad omen. And (spoiler alert!) it’s an omen that ultimately foreshadows her own demise.
Caniparoli’s new ballet is set to “Choros,” from Ludovico Einaudi’s Taranta Project. “Even the music has a drive to it,” he says. “Like a train, it keeps moving forward.”