San Francisco Ballet Rehearses Blake Works I Ahead of Spring Run

Madeline Woo and company dancers moved through the sharp, deconstructed phrases of William Forsythe’s Blake Works I in rehearsal this week, captured in a rehearsal photo gallery that accompanies the company’s spring presentation. The full-evening program pairs Blake Works I with company premieres of Prologue and The Barre Project and is scheduled to play the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, with a run listed Feb. 27–Mar. 08, 2026; ticketing blocks for the engagement note a promotional code WINTERSALE for 35% off and list the venue phone as 415-864-3330.

San Francisco Ballet’s program copy positions the evening as a collision of Forsythe’s choreography and James Blake’s electronic score, calling the work “High-octane, rhythmically charged, and visually striking, The Blake Works redefines what ballet can be.” The company’s credits list William Forsythe as choreographer and scenic designer and James Blake as composer, with costume design credited to Dorothee Merg and William Forsythe and lighting by Tanja Ruehl. The program also identifies Niels Lanz as sound supervisor and credits a San Francisco Ballet Costume Shop construction team led by Wes Crain, with Jarred Garza and Shannon Maxham named among the makers.

Music selections for Blake Works I include tracks from James Blake’s The Colour in Anything album, “I Need a Forest Fire,” “Put That Away and Talk to Me,” “The Colour in Anything,” “f.o.r.e.v.e.r.”, while Prologue and The Barre Project draw on Blake pieces including “Lindisfarne I,” “Buzzard & Kestrel,” “Lullaby for My Insomniac,” and “200 Press.” Program copy notes that The Barre Project originates as the basis for Blake Works II, created and filmed in 2020 for a March 25, 2021 digital broadcast on the CLI Studios platform.

Production listings in materials circulated by the company present inconsistent credits that should be clarified before curtain. One program block lists the SF Ballet premiere date for the current presentation as February 27, 2026 while another block records a February 3, 2022 SF Ballet premiere for Blake Works I; the program also includes multiple “Staged by” attributions across copies, Jodie Gates and Noah Gelber in one instance and Jodie Gates, Felipe Diaz, and Katita Waldo in another. The program itself carries the notice “Program subject to change.”

Ancillary audience information appears in multiple promotional blocks: one version invites patrons to “JOIN US AFTER EVENING PERFORMANCES Enjoy a 1-hour after-party immediately after evening performances,” while another description states “All evening performances will include an after party. DJ to be announced at a later date.” Terms and conditions for the WINTERSALE offer and full after-party details are referenced but not reproduced in the promotional material.

The world premiere of Blake Works I is recorded as July 4, 2016 at the Paris Opera Ballet, Palais Garnier. San Francisco Ballet’s spring engagement presents the work as part of a three-part evening that the company’s promotional language bills as “This is ballet like you’ve never seen it.” Program and staging discrepancies remain in the circulated materials and the company lists the engagement subject to change as it prepares for the Feb. 27 opening at the War Memorial Opera House.