Ballet San Jose's

"Neoclassical Masters"

March 24, 2013

youdancefunny.wordpress.com

Greetings from sunny California!

I thought my last few days in Seattle were crazy, but my travels in California have been insane so far! To recap with some highlights, I spent almost a week in the San Francisco bay area, taking classes but staying in San Jose with my gracious host and frienderina, Jen. She recommended Lee Wei Chao’s class at Alonzo King Lines Ballet, a notion seconded by others in the dance community so I took his class twice (Lines has a nifty deal where your second class is half off, the good ole foot-in-the-door sales pitch), and I also took class at local studios in San Jose (including Marny Trounson, a former soloist with the Royal Ballet, who danced for Ashton! Danced for Ashton I say!!!). Last Thursday began my gauntlet of performances, kicking off with San Francisco Ballet’s opening performance of John Cranko’s Onegin (uh, DRAMA!), on Friday I went to see Ballet San Jose’s ‘Neoclassical Masters’, which consisted of Les Rendezvous and Méditation from Thaïs by Sir Frederick Ashton, Stanton Welch’s Clear, and concluded with Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto. After a six hour drive to Los Angeles the next day, I found myself on UCLA campus, watching Los Angeles Ballet perform ‘Balanchine Gold’, an all Balanchine program with La Sonnambula, Concerto Barocco, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and The Four Temperaments. Did you get all that? Because I’m not even sure I did!

I’m still processing much of this, and much of the material is going into the book, but I would like to take a moment to write a bit about Ballet San Jose’s ‘Neoclassical Masters’. I was fascinated by the idea that a good size company like BSJ (who also enjoys the luxury of a live orchestra!) was so close to San Francisco and its home company, because I imagined there might be some competition for dancers and audiences alike. I wondered how proximity affected programming as well, and clearly, the fact that BSJ did two Ashton ballets meant the two companies do have some different interests in mind. However, A common thread was that both companies make wonderful efforts to provide extra educational opportunities to inform the audience about the works they’re seeing—SFB had a discussion with Jane Bourne, a choreologist who stages Onegin and other Cranko ballets, while BSJ brought in Hilary Cartwright to talk about staging Les Rendezvous for the company. Cartwright had some wonderful anecdotes and insights into Ashton’s work, how he trained in the Cecchetti method, his famous demand of his dancers to “bend” (which wasn’t simply a bending of the torso, but required bending of the torso with a spiral or a twist), and that Lucia Chase, the co-founder of American Ballet Theatre even asked him once to be resident choreographer for ABT.

Les Rendezvous is a ballet that is not performed often even in the UK so it’s a real treat to have seen it on BSJ. Charming, airy, romantic, it’s simply a meeting between various couples and four little girls, set in a nineteenth century Parisian park. Few ballets could be so utterly delightful as Les Rendezvous—we’re talking white lace, pink ribbons, and sweet kisses on the cheek. Still, some of the choreography is devastatingly wicked, with plenty of Ashton’s trademark speedy and intricate footwork and a never-ending cascade of the little steps that look simple but aren’t. Soloist Amy Marie Briones in particular handled the choreography with ease, and it has to be said that she is a ferocious fireball of a dancer. She is so technically strong that she’s the kind of dancer you can watch and never wonder if she’s going to do complete the steps because she’s always in control of what she’s doing. One part of the solo requires a fast double pirouette to land in plié, then whip around while arching the back, which is heinously difficult and she did it—several times. With bright eyes and exuberance, Briones was an absolute joy to watch.

Ballet San Jose in Sir Frederick Ashton’s ‘Les Rendezvous’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

It seemed many of BSJ’s ballerinas would shine in Ashton, as soloist Nutnaree Pipit Suksun, danced Méditation from Thaïs with a rare and extraordinary beauty. She is one of those dancers that has it all—the lines, the feet, the artistry, and in a spiritual role like Thaïs, with its certain exotic aroma, Pipit Suksun is a stunning goddess. Even the costume seemed to glue itself to her, glowing like an amber firefly as she floated across the stage in ethereal fashion. Beyond her lyricism, Pipit Suksun has a generous warmth to her dancing that invites the audience into the piece, and the image of her in it is permanently emblazoned into my fondest memories. Curiously, I didn’t know that she is one of few Thai ballerinas, and the only one to be currently employed in the US, and it really pointed to the diverse makeup of BSJ as a whole—not just in ethnicity, but also noticeably in physiques. There are curvier dancers, shorter dancers, and not everyone is a beanpole with high arches. The multi-faceted diversity BSJ makes its flavor unique, and I think sends an important message to audiences that ballet is possible for more people than we think, and that artistry and quality of character in dancing is defined by many things.

Ballet San Jose dancers Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun and Jeremy Kovitch in in Sir Frederick Ashton’s ‘Méditation from Thaïs’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

Still, it’s not bad to have it all—as long as a dancer knows how to use it, and corps dancer Joshua Seibel really stood out to me in Clear. Sure, he has that blonde prince, Greek marble statue, beautiful lines stuff going for him, but it was really his expressivity in Clear that was so beautiful to watch. There was intensity and focus, on top of incredible control, and I can only imagine what else he could bring to more featured roles. Sometimes I’ve seen dancers who are giving everything they have into a performance but for whatever reason I could still see a little reservation—maybe he or she doesn’t like the music or the choreography is somewhat uncomfortable, but watching Seibel in Clear was an exercise in conviction and commitment to a performance, which is exceptionally hard to do because one doesn’t simply attack the choreography of Clear—a dance for seven men and one woman, Clear is the kind of work that has to unfold from origami to a clean sheet of paper or dissipate like clouds to reveal a sunny day. The subtleties and mastery of ballet technique have to increase as the performance goes on, with purity as the final destination.

Ballet San Jose dancers Zhang Jing and Akira Takahashi in Stanton Welch’s ‘Clear’ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

Concluding the program was Clark Tippet’s effervescent Bruch Violin Concerto No.1, a showy piece I described as a “bouquet of mountain wildflowers” when I saw it for the first time (Corella Ballet, circa May, 2011). Bruch is typical of a classic symphonic ballet, choreography to music with tights and tutus, and showed off BSJ’s strengths incredibly well. Divalicious Briones sizzled in the red tutu, but the company also boasts two sprites in Junna Ige and Mirai Noda, who fluttered through their roles with smiles and joy. Akira Takahashi provided dazzling virtuosity, his allegro work precise and flighty (as it also was in Clear) as he sailed through numerous jumps and turns with ease. With technique and aplomb, Bruch was the perfect piece to end a marvelous evening of dance with, and I think represents a lot of what the company is all about—diversity, technique, and truly thrilling performance qualities. As the company works through some transitions in changes of leadership, there is real potential to take the Ballet San Jose to establish itself upon the next tier, as a company with more regular performances and a repertory that attracts more dancers. Though there are difficulties to be expected in doing so, with funding being the ever-pressing concern, there is real potential and that is one hell of an exciting prospect.

Ballet San Jose in Clark Tippet’s ‘Bruch Violin Concerto No.1′ (Photo ©Robert Shomler)

SF Chronicle, March 25th 2013

Ballet San Jose review: Signs of growth

Robert Shomler, San Jose Ballet

Ballet San Jose is aiming - and reaching - higher under new artistic director Wes Chapman.

Allan Ulrich

March 25, 2013

If Saturday's matinee at the Center for the Performing Arts is any indication, something significant may be happening at Ballet San Jose. Less than two years under new direction, the company looks ready to take chances.

It went for a big one in the first mixed bill of the new year, one that will be marked by live musical accompaniment at every program. But it was a smashing repertory addition that made the afternoon so rewarding. Whoever suspected that we might be seeing Frederick Ashton's charming "Les Rendezvous" in the Bay Area again? Ashton is the artist many of us place second only to George Balanchine as greatest dance neo-classicist ever, and this 1933 confection had a brief run at the Mikhail Baryshnikov American Ballet Theater, where Wes Chapman - Ballet San Jose's current artistic adviser - danced in the piece with distinction.

I cannot recall any earlier San Jose performances of Ashton's dances, much to the community's loss. But "Les Rendezvous" (set to a recycled composition by Daniel Auber and staged here by Hilary Cartwright) is a fine way to begin a relationship. This is nothing more than a series of amorous comings and goings in a gated park (William Chappell's original set is reproduced) for 15 dancers, and it overflows with youthful invention. But cuteness yields to complex technical feats that need to be dispatched with casual mastery, from courtships on bended knee to combinations that include buoyant entrechats to descents into fifth position.

Up to the challenge

Ballet San Jose made an impressive first go at the piece, the corps relishing Ashton's flying entries. Saturday's principal male Alex Kramer doesn't look like he's old enough to vote, but he possesses a natural elegance and a speed that carried him through brilliantly; the partnering remains a bit shaky. His lady, Mirai Noda, fluttered effortlessly in strings of bourrees.

The other Ashton premiere, the "Méditation from Thaïs" (set by the San Francisco Ballet's Bruce Sansom), did not work its familiar magic. This erotic dream of a piece needs considerably more sensuality and poise than Jing Zhang and Rudy Candia brought to it Saturday. George Daugherty expertly conducted members of Symphony Silicon Valley in Jules Massenet's swooning music.

Also in the pit for this piece and all but "Les Rendezvous," acclaimed violinist Rachel Lee performed the important solos. I applaud the company for hiring her, but the amplification was simply horrid.

Lasting romance

Lee did the honors in the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, accompanying the eponymous 1987 Clark Tippett ballet that Chapman brought from ABT. An unambiguously romantic work, it deploys eight corps couples and four principal duos in contrasting colored costumes. In this committed performance, the blue couple of Alexsandra Meijer (wonderful torso and articulation) and Jeremy Kovitch (careful partnering) and the pink pairing of veteran Karen Gabay (much of the old spirit) and Akira Takahasi left the lasting impression.

On a lesser level, the revival of Stanton Welch's energetic but tiresome 2001 "Clear" left a hole in the middle of the program. The male corps probably enjoys all those unisons and canons, set to Bach concerto movements, but this one should have receded into history long ago. The single brief duet uniting Kovitch with Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, formerly of the San Francisco Ballet, afforded a few moments of pleasure.

Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicle's dance correspondent.

March 22, 2013

Keep Calm and Dance On

BALLET SAN JOSE

BY JANICE BERMAN

Neoclassical masters, the inspiration for Ballet San Jose’s performances this weekend at the Center for the Performing Arts, cover a lot of ground. So did this show, and generally speaking, the artists rose brightly to the challenge. Of the four works on the bill, two were by Sir Frederick Ashton, providing a wonderful glimpse of someone we don’t see in these parts all that often.

Les Rendezvous, which opened the evening, exemplifies Ashton Style: the demanding pointe work, lovely carriage of the arms, speed, energy, and precision, all delivered with charm and understatement. The meme borrowed from the British wartime slogan, Keep Calm and Carry On, is totally applicable here. Set to music by Daniel Francis Auber, orchestrated and arranged by Constant (the program calls him Constance) Lambert, for years a major force in the Royal Ballet, it embodies a sense of play.

At the gate of a garden, as six well-behaved ladies in white, with hats and gloves, greet each other in grand jetes, arabesques, and of course air kisses, shoulders passing close. The gents (their six partners) also execute grand jetes, albeit not quite as grandly. There are still dancers who don’t point their feet. Technique and the necessary elements of speed and timing remain problematic for some of the dancers in neoclassical pieces such as this one. But everyone’s enthusiasm, as well as a palpable sense of knowing how to take the stage, feels new and invigorating. Certainly Ballet San Jose has moved forward since the great upheaval and change in command that led to it becoming something of an ABT offshoot. The work has visibly paid off.

Jing Zhang and Akira Takahashi in Clear

Amy Marie Briones and Maykel Solas, the principal couple, delighted together and separately. His split leaps were exceptionally high and clean, and her series of spins impeccable. The artful and artless pas de trois of Junna Ige and her partners Alex Kramer and Francisco Preciado were textbook Ashton, in the best way. No strain, just brilliant speed and timing, not to mention sunshine.

A guest artist, the young virtuoso violinist Rachel Lee, played for three of the four pieces (all but Les Rendezvous). She accompanied the Ballet San Jose Orchestra conducted by George Daugherty. They sounded marvelous throughout the show.

Ashton’s Meditation from Thais, a brief pas de deux set to music by Jules Massenet, beautifully displayed the plastique, power, and composure of Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, in the arms of Jeremy Kovitch, who partnered her well. It’s poetic, tranquil, and tricky at the same time; he is required, at various seconds, to lift her straight up off a seated position on the floor; drape her around his neck, and lift her overhead so she can, extremely calmly (after all, this is Ashton), strike a still, meditative pose. They looked like they belonged together, in shades of muted yet festive gold and bronze, and Kovitch never let us see him sweat.

Stanton Welch’s Clear, to various excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach, is the Australian’s Paul Taylor piece, without feeling in the least derivative. With open chests and expansive leaps, it surges powerfully onward in ensembles and solos, taking the breath away. That it doesn’t do the same to the dancers speaks volumes about how far the company has come. This really felt like a breakthrough number.

The men of Clear

For male and female principal dancer (Akira Takahashi, a marvelous technician, and the graceful Jing Zhang respectively) and six more men, Clear is a festival of mutability at top speed, where giant leaps are dotted with lovely little moves — a rond de jambe en l’air here, agargouillade there, or manly slaps on the bare tummy (pants by Michael Kors, abs by BSJ). One man even does an amazing series of perfect fouette pirouettes. The partnered interludes cool things down a bit, and the conclusion is so quiet, ending on an upbeat, that it’s easy to think the whole ballet was a dream. In a way, it was. Standout performances from all, but special huzzahs are owed to Francisco Preciado, Kendall Teague and James Kopecky for their pas de trois.

Clark Tippett’s Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 could have been a train wreck and it still would have been terrific to hear Lee and her fiddle, but of course it wasn’t. The whole company shone with precision and musicality, looking proud to be there, as well they might. They conveyed a sense of tremendous unity in ensemble work, and the principal couples displayed warmth and brio.

Of the principals, Mirai Noda and Akira Takahashi, the couple in pink were particularly ebullient, with charming allusions to Spanish stylings, and Alexsandra Meijer, buoyantly partnered by Jeremy Kovitch, looked fresh and easy as the couple in blue.

Janice Berman was an editor and senior writer at New York Newsday. She is a former editor in chief ofDance Magazine.

San Jose Mercury News

inShare Ballet San Jose takes on 'Don Quixote' By Andrew Gilbert Correspondent Posted:   02/12/2013 04:00:00 AM PST For Ballet San Jose's Wes Chapman, "Don Quixote" isn't just one of the most welcoming and beloved ballets in the classical canon. Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky's delightful Spanish idyll is an old friend with whom he's traveled far and wide. Beyond Chapman's personal ties, "Don Quixote" is a rare canonical work that has eluded BSJ, making it ripe for interpretation. This weekend the company tackles the Russian classic for the first time in the season's only full-length production. "When I joined Ballet San Jose last year and really looked at its repertory, I saw that they've done almost everything and then some, but 'Quixote' was one of the big pieces missing," Chapman, the company's artistic adviser, says. "Along with 'Coppélia' it's one of the two great comedy classics, and it's such an accessible ballet. "Even if you haven't seen it, most people are familiar with what 'Don Quixote' is about." Chapman was still a teenager when he was cast in his first "Don Quixote," dancing Basilio at American Ballet Theatre with Leslie Browne under Mikhail Baryshnikov's direction. He went on to partner with Amanda McKerrow and Cynthia Harvey. When Baryshnikov left ABT, Chapman got a whole new look at the ballet when the company acquired the Bolshoi's famed production. "That was a new learning experience," Chapman says, noting that famed Bolshoi dancer and choreographer Vladimir Vasiliev didn't speak any English, "so it was a very challenging rehearsal period. He demonstrated a lot, and I was in heaven learning from somebody like him. After learning from Vasiliev and Baryshnikov, those great Basilios shaped my idea of how to approach the ballet." During Chapman's 11-year run as director of the Alabama Ballet, he staged "Don Quixote" twice, tailoring his own interpretation by drawing on the elements he liked from an international array of productions. Chapman makes it clear that the version he's staging at Ballet San Jose is cut from the Petipa/Gorsky cloth. "It's still 'Don Quixote,' he says. "I made cuts and additions that made it uniquely ours. This is the third time I've staged it, and I made it really fit." The production is notable on several fronts. For star power, the ballet scored a coup with the recent addition of the powerful Cuban dancer José Manuel Carreño. Playing Basilio, the former ABT principal dancer partners Ballet San Jose principal dancer Alexsandra Meijer as Kitri on Friday's opening night performance and Sunday's closing matinee. While the ballet's enduring popularity has kept it in constant circulation since the 1869 Bolshoi premiere (Petipa greatly expanded it in 1871 for a new Imperial Ballet production), Minkus' ingratiating music hasn't fared as well. Where definitive scores of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker" are readily available and universally employed, the score for "Don Quixote" has been treated with less than reverence, pervasively amended, reorchestrated and expanded with interpolations by other composers. For the BSJ production, Symphony Silicon Valley has gone back to the source. BSJ music director and conductor George Daugherty reached out to English National Ballet librarian Lars Payne, who painstakingly reconstructed Minkus' original score from the original Bolshoi Moscow and Imperial Ballet St. Petersburg productions. "Minkus himself got in on the act, changing his stuff," Daugherty says. "But over the decades, the ballet changed greatly. People wrote new orchestrations, and then other people rearranged those orchestrations without going back to Minkus' music. It became a crazy circus of contributors." Despite Minkus' relatively low status as a composer who worked exclusively in ballet -- Slonimsky sniffed that his music's "cursive melodies and bland rhythmic formulas suit old-fashioned Russian choreography to their airiest entrechat" -- he is responsible for some of the most widely embraced melodies associated with ballet. Daugherty, who's conducted at least a dozen different "Don Quixote" orchestrations over the years, worked with Payne to come up with a score that's "as original Minkus as you can possibly get. He was an incredibly talented composer, with beautiful melodies and rich harmonies. The Spanish flavor is so evident." The enchanting score, clattering castanets and overall atmosphere of whimsy are why "Don Quixote" is second only to "The Nutcracker" as a traditional gateway to a love of ballet. Ballet San Jose is reaching out to young audiences with programming for children before the Saturday matinee, including arts and crafts activities, story time with a ballerina and an introductory ballet class. "Don Quixote" isn't completely new to BSJ. At the inaugural gala last November, the program included Chapman's staging of the grand pas de deux from the wedding scene, one of ballet's most frequently excerpted pieces (Chapman's future ABT partner Leslie Browne performed it in the 1977 film "The Turning Point," a role for which she earned a best supporting actress Academy Award nomination). "But there's so much more to this ballet than just that pas de deux," says Daugherty. "It's an absolutely beautiful ballet, and audiences are always delighted to discover the fantastic colors Minkus was able to deliver." 'don quixote' Ballet San Jose When: 8 p.m. Friday, 1:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 p.m. Sunday Where: San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd. Tickets: $30-$105, 408-288-2800, www.balletsj.org

Birmingham News November 1, 2012

Former Alabama Ballet director Wes Chapman lands artistic position at Ballet San Jose

By Michael Huebner | mhuebner@al.com 
on November 01, 2012 at 9:46 AM, updated November 01, 2012 at 10:07 AM

Email | Print

Wes Chapman

Former Alabama Balletartistic director Wes Chapman will fill the position of artistic consultant for Ballet San Jose in California, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story.

Chapman, who led the Birmingham-based company from 1996 to 2006, is from Union Springs and graduated from Alabama School of Fine Arts. He joined the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre in 1984 and was promoted to soloist and principal dancer, where he danced in works by George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Fredrick Ashton, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham, Antony Tudor and others. He also created roles in Clark Tippet’s "Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1" and Tharp’s "The Elements."

At Alabama Ballet, Chapman grew the company from 16 to 44 apprentices and professional dancers and established the Alabama Ballet School. During his tenure, he established ties with the George Balanchine Trust, and the company became one of six companies licensed to perform Balanchine's "The Nutcracker," the version still perform every year. He returned to American Ballet Theatre in 2006 to become artistic director of ABT II (later called ABT Studio Company), a company of 12 young dancers in training for the main company or other ballet companies.

In 2009, Chapman became an artistic adviser for the animated PBS program, "Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps," based on children's books by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig.

Wes Chapman dances with Deidre Carberry in a 1989 American Ballet Theatre performance of Frederick Ashton's "Les Rendezvous."

''It's charming and creative,'' Chapman told the Birmingham News in 2010. ''All of the story lines have a good message, about friendship, doing the right thing, or something that's important in a kid's development.''

Starting with February productions, Chapman will guide "Don Quixote," and programs featuring the work of Frederick Ashton, Merce Cunningham and Jessica Lang.

"I want to give the company a new identity by performing different choreographers," Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Ashton is one of them."

San Francisco Chronicle, SF Gate

Wes Chapman plays new role at Ballet SJ

Allan Ulrich

Published 2:24 p.m., Wednesday, October 31, 2012

• 

  New Ballet San Jose artistic adviser Wes Chapman (center) rehearses Maykiel Solas and Junna Ige of Ballet SJ in the "Don Quixote" pas de deux, which Chapman is staging in February. Photo: Robert Shomler, Ballet San Jose / SF

  
  

Many, perhaps too many, dancers find it impossible to relinquish their ballet slippers, even when the calendar tells them to.

Not Wes Chapman. Once a much-lauded principal in both classic and contemporary fare at American Ballet Theater (and an audience favorite during the company's annual San Francisco visits), he retired with no regrets at 31. "It was one of those scenarios where I had done everything at ABT at that point," said Chapman in a phone call, "and wanted to get into the other side of the business, directing, in particular."

Indeed, he did. Sixteen years later, Chapman has returned to the Bay Area in the newly created post of artistic adviser of Ballet San Jose and he promises big changes in repertoire and the standard of dancing. Before all that, Ballet San Jose needs to raise some money, which is why the company is launching its 2012-13 season with a gala of dance and music Saturday evening.

Arrived in January

One suspects that the ousting last year of founding Artistic Director Dennis Nahat may have alienated some of the company's financial backers and possibly encouraged new sources of support. But that is a matter that Chapman, who came aboard in January, cannot discuss.

After this weekend's gala, the entire repertoire will be fresh to the South Bay. Following the premiere of a new "Nutcracker" (the first in 30 years) by veteran principal dancer Karen Gabay, Ballet SJ's partnership with ABT will be clearly evident. In February, the troupe will dance "Don Quixote" (in a Chapman staging) for the first time. Later, two mixed bills will include vintage dances by Frederick Ashton, Merce Cunningham and Kurt Jooss (the antiwar classic "Green Table"), a world premiere from emerging choreographer Jessica Lang and recent dances by Stanton Welch and Jorma Elo. Live music (courtesy of Symphony Silicon Valley), the cost of which will be underwritten by the gala proceeds, will accompany all ballets that call for it.

"I want to give the company a new identity by performing different choreographers," says Chapman, 47. "Ashton is one of them." The great British choreographer is ranked by many critics second only to George Balanchine among 20th century classicists. Yet, says Chapman, "there are not a lot of American companies who are doing his work on a regular basis." A new licensing arrangement with the Ashton estate should make his ballets more available in the future.

Deciding on repertoire is one of Chapman's chief tasks carried out in tandem with principal ballet master Raymond Rodriguez. They will jointly run Ballet SJ on a daily basis, dealing with everything from casting to photo shoots.

41 dancers overall

In addition to unfamiliar repertoire, new dancers will spice the Ballet SJ roster. Five dancers split for various reasons last season; Chapman has increased the overall number to 41, feeling he can draw from the Ballet SJ School when crowds are required for "Nutcracker" and "Don Quixote." Peruse the revised roster and you may spot Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun, a San Francisco Ballet soloist for many years and an attractively fluid dancer who always seemed criminally underused in her former job.

Chapman has his eye on her and others on the roster. "One of my great strengths is coaching. As a director, I think I have a gift for making dancers understand what a ballet is about," he says.

Chapman has had plenty of experience in that area. When he quit ABT, he returned to his home state to run Ballet Alabama for 11 years. Then, he received a call to be an ABT ballet master and, subsequently, to direct the junior ABT company, for which he coached, commissioned ballets and led international tours. Costs eventually forced a disbanding of the troupe, but Chapman found his four years on the job helpful to his career.

"It got me connected with presenters all over," said Chapman. "Running around the world with those wonder children was an experience I would not otherwise have had. It was enlightening and exciting."

The adviser in front of his name may not suggest permanent employment, but this is a full-time job. Chapman has relocated to San Jose and owns a California driver's license. Right now, he is wrestling with finding a "Don Quixote" set that will fit on the Performing Arts Center stage (the costumes come from ABT). In the long run, he is pondering a subscription program during the autumn months.

Chapman is hopeful: "I've seen the company come a long way since January. Now, they're being inundated with work they've never seen, and they're loving it."

And his wish for the company: "I'd like to see us become a real happening thing."

Ballet San Jose: Opening gala and performance. 8 p.m. Saturday. Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. (408) 255-2820. $45-$125. www.balletsj.org.

Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicle's dance correspondent. E-mail: dancebookletters@sfchronicle.com