On Wednesday night, visitors arrived at San Francisco’s Metropolis Corridor in black tie to attend the Opening Evening Gala for the San Francisco Ballet. Not solely did the night time sign the beginning of a season, but it surely additionally served as the town’s official welcome to Tamara Rojo, the corporate’s glamorous new creative director. (She was beforehand the English Nationwide Ballet’s creative director and a lead principal dancer there.)

Wearing a gold lamé robe and headband, Rojo held court docket at a cocktail celebration and dinner hosted at Metropolis Corridor; trumpeters within the rotunda of the Beaux-Arts constructing signaled it was time to sit down for dinner at round 6 p.m.

Among the many banquet visitors had been the legendary Rita Moreno (who sported tinsel in her grey hair for added aptitude), actor Ana de la Reguera (who was sporting a sculptural jacket she discovered at a classic retailer in her native Mexico), Nancy Pelosi, and her husband, Mr. Paul Pelosi, who collectively served as this 12 months’s honorary chairs.

After dinner, at quarter to eight p.m., the trumpeters had been again, and so they performed as soon as once more to induce visitors to cross Van Ness Avenue and enter the Conflict Memorial Opera Home, residence of the San Francisco Ballet, for a efficiency.

Splashed on the outside of the theater had been posters saying Mere Mortals, a brand new ballet from choreographer Aszure Barton, which is able to mark Rojo’s first main contribution to the corporate. However that wouldn’t premiere for a few days; as a substitute, the gala’s program consisted of biggest hits, so to talk, together with pas de deuxs from Justin Peck’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, Marius Petipa’s Diana and Actaeon, and Swan Lake. The latter was carried out by Sasha de Sola and Isaac Hernández, Rojo’s husband, who lately returned to the corporate as a principal dancer after getting his begin there within the corps de ballet in 2008.

“Some will probably be teasers of the season, some will probably be crowd pleasers, some are simply good to have,” stated Rojo of the night time’s program. “Nevertheless it’s all to have fun the excellent range of this stunning firm.”

After the viewers heard from board chair Alison Mauzé, Rojo spoke to the room. As a dancer, she is aware of a factor or two about timing, and elegantly constructed anticipation for the forthcoming Mere Mortals.

“This can be a work impressed by synthetic intelligence, the know-how that’s being developed simply streets away from the place we’re, and it has introduced collectively probably the most thrilling staff of artists,” she informed the viewers. “I’ve a small request for you this night. If you have not bought it but, please buy your tickets for Mere Mortals. You should not miss it.”

These within the room—the theater consisted of the town’s most devoted balletomanes—wanted little convincing to return to the ballet, but when they did, Rojo’s phrases definitely did the trick.