Performer: Sarah van Patten

Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov's restaging of the 1869 Petipa classic brings a sunny smile to faces in San Francisco. 

With Tchaikovsky’s dear, familiar overture, the reassuring sameness of Wendall K Harrington’s slide show projecting 1915 San Francisco scenes onto the curtains, we were all, most decisively, back. 

Wheeldon’s Cinderella is the kind of production that so enthralls, you immediately want to make plans to see it again.

Most of the pieces were choreographed at a similarly demanding level, with speed, precision and immaculate timing as necessities.

Petipa's 1869 classic receives a splendid treatment in San Francisco Ballet's 2003 restaging of Don Quixote.

It must be exciting to be a member of San Francisco Ballet, America’s oldest ballet company, founded in 1933. These classically trained dancers are given the opportunity to sample many wonderful new works, rather than a repertoire of old traditional masterpieces.