About Tomasson’s Caprice
âBe More Daring. Be Joyous.â
Tomassonâs Caprice is part of SF Balletâs 2022 Season. It was performed in Program 2, from February 3â13, 2022.
âDanceable, very danceable.â Thatâs what San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director & Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson thought when he first heard Camille Saint-SaĂ«nsâ Symphony No. 2. For his first ballet since his 2011 Trio, Tomasson chose music thatâs big, exhilarating, and off the beaten choreographic track. With two adagio sectionsâthe very brief one in Symphony No. 2., plus the generous one he added from the well-known Symphony No. 3âTomasson ended up with a lively, varied score that allowed him to take a fresh approach to structure and scale.
Symphony No. 2 was written when Saint-SaĂ«ns was 24âfor him ânot that early, because he was a child prodigy,â says Music Director & Principal Conductor Martin West. âBut itâs still quite young to do a symphony of any major importance. He was playing major recitals when he was five and memorized Bachâs entire Toccata and Fugue by the time he was six.â West isnât sure why Saint-SaĂ«ns wrote such a short adagio (a slow movement that typically serves as a balletâs centerpiece), but it does indeed flash by with no opportunity to develop an expansive pas de deux. âAll that beautiful musicâa great beginning, a great finale,â Tomasson says. âBut it needed something else.â
He found what he calls âa beautiful adagioâ in Symphony No. 3. He gave the short adagio from Symphony No. 2 to three men; for the longer adagio, he decided to forgo tradition and use not one but two principal couples: first one, then the other, then both together. âThat would be different structurally,â Tomasson says. âAlways constant in the back of oneâs mind is to try to get out of the box; donât do something exactly the same way all the time.â Lush and luxurious, the adagio is emotional without being romantic. âIt has a sway to it, but I donât approach it as a love pas de deux,â he says. âItâs just an interpretation of what that music means.â

Music as big and grand as Saint-SaĂ«nsâ symphony begs for a full stage, and Tomasson responded. He began with five corps de ballet couples, because he likes to work with odd numbers; but as rehearsals progressed, he found that he âdidnât use the five couples the way I thought I would, structurally or musically. And particularly when we got to the final movement, I felt we needed to have more symmetry.â He added another couple because he wanted to have âa feeling of a big group out there,â he says. âThe music is so wonderful; it builds and builds.â
Principal Dancer Frances Chung sees each movement as having âa different flavor,â she says. âIn the first movement, youâre like pow, pow, pow! Nonstop technique. And the third movement, for us, is more playful, which I really enjoy. The fourth movement starts with the adagio couple, and then my partner and I do another adagio; itâs more mature.â She sees her role as âdisplaying everything you are as a dancer. My partner and I are in the first, third, fourth, and fifth movements, so thereâs a lot of dancing. Itâs quite difficult stamina-wise.â

Principal Dancer Mathilde Froustey says she was thrilled to be part of the creation of a neoclassical ballet. New classically based ballets arenât done at Paris Opera Ballet, Frousteyâs previous company. âTo have Helgi with me in the studio makes me feel classical ballet is still alive,â she says. âIt was very emotional.â
Itâs emotional for Tomasson too. In rehearsal one day, he urges the corps to enter with more abandon. âBe more daring,â he tells them. Dancers sometimes approach a classically based ballet too seriously, he says, âand I donât look at it that way. Iâm saying, âJust go for it. Enjoy.â I think the music is very joyous.â
by Cheryl A. Ossola
Header Image: Mathilde Froustey in Tomassonâs Caprice // © Erik Tomasson