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The San Francisco Ballet abbreviated as SFB is a ballet company, which was formed in the year 1933 as part of San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is presently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson.
The San Francisco Ballet is the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is of the world's leading dance companies, and along with American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet has been defined as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today”. The San Francisco Ballet’s first major production was Copplia in the year 1938, which was choreographed by Willam Christensen.
In the year 1940 ‘Swan Lake’ was produced in its total for the first time by Americans with principal ballerina Celina Cummings. The company also started to show ‘The Nutcracker’ Willam Christensen and was the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most admired piece in the United States.
In the year 1942 San Francisco Opera Ballet divided in 2, forming independent ballet and opera companies. The ballet half was purchased by Willam and Harold Christensen, who became the artistic director and appointed the director of the San Francisco Ballet School, respectively.
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