S.F. Ballet preps for takeoff to China

"Here! Here!" shouts Lola de Avila, as the flock of swans runs a tight circle around Vanessa Zahorian and Ruben Martin Cintas in the studios of San Francisco Ballet. "Run to here!"

The swans head for the studio's double doors, and soloist Anthony Spaulding, who's playing von Rothbart, helpfully warns, "They're coming out this way. I wouldn't want you to get trampled!"

Dancer after dancer streams out into the hallway, with de Avila - the associate director of the Ballet School - hot on the heels of the last one.

"Better!" she says warmly. "I'm still screaming, but that was much better."

Breathing hard, the dancers head back into the studio, where the artistic team is already in action, dispensing corrections. Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson is giving Spaulding notes on how to make his brooding Rothbart more owlish, ballet master Betsy Erickson is working with the little cygnets, and Bruce Sansom - a newly appointed assistant to the artistic director - is coaching more loft into Zahorian's jumps.

Read more at the SF Chronicle site.