San Francisco Ballet

American ballet company

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July 15, 2026

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The San Francisco Ballet is an American ballet company founded in 1937 by Willam Christensen. Christensen, along with his brothers Harold and Lew, established the company while he was a soloist and choreographer for the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company presented the first full-length U.S. productions of Coppélia (1939), Swan Lake (1940), and The Nutcracker (1944).1

The San Francisco Ballet is one of the premier ballet companies in the United States, contributing significantly to the development of classical ballet in the country. It has a rich history of staging classic ballets and fostering new choreographic works.1

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Lew Christensen
…choreographer whose work with the San Francisco Ballet Company helped establish ballet in the western United States.
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…choreographer whose work with the San Francisco Ballet Company helped establish ballet in the western United States.
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Willam Christensen
In 1937 he founded the San Francisco Ballet Company, which staged the first full-length versions of Coppélia (1939), Swan Lake (1940), and The Nutcracker (1944) in the United States.
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In 1937 he founded the San Francisco Ballet Company, which staged the first full-length versions of Coppélia (1939), Swan Lake (1940), and The Nutcracker (1944) in the United States.
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Mark Morris
…the American Ballet Theatre, the San Francisco Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. By the turn of the 21st century, the onetime enfant terrible of modern dance had become a setter of standards and a solid member of the dance establishment. In 2001 the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn,…
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…the American Ballet Theatre, the San Francisco Ballet, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. By the turn of the 21st century, the onetime enfant terrible of modern dance had become a setter of standards and a solid member of the dance establishment. In 2001 the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn,…
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Alexei Ratmansky
…Bright Stream, 2003); and the San Francisco Ballet (The Carnival of the Animals, 2003). The positive reception of The Bright Stream earned him in 2004 an appointment as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, which had been struggling since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the next…
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…Bright Stream, 2003); and the San Francisco Ballet (The Carnival of the Animals, 2003). The positive reception of The Bright Stream earned him in 2004 an appointment as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, which had been struggling since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the next…
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