San Francisco Ballet's Nights Out

The San Francisco Ballet is facing many of the same issues confronting cultural and arts organizations all over the country: aging audiences, global recession, pricey tickets. To counter act these trends, they introduced some great programs to build community interest. The Fridays at the Ballet evening performances are aimed at young professionals and the Nite Out series is for members of the LGBT community. They start with pre-show talks with choreographers and company members and close with cocktails at the War Memorial Opera House. The evening’s presentation of three brief works ensure that even if you don't love one of the pieces, you and your friends are bound to find something that makes you want to do fouettés on your way home. Next Friday will be no exception with Jerome Robbins’s West Side Story Suite and Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour, one of the hits presented for the Ballet’s 75th anniversary. Looks like everything old is new again.