San Francisco Ballet

As one of the world's premier dance companies, the San Francisco Ballet joins the New York City Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre to complete what London's The Observer calls a "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today." The ballet company rose to prominence in 1940 with the first complete American performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's masterpiece, Swan Lake along with the United States' first complete performance of The Nutcracker occurring four years later. Since then, the San Francisco Ballet has managed to remain on the forefront of dance theater, while launching the careers of numerous world-renowned dancers and choreographers in the process.