Where are they now? Alums of SF Ballet

As San Francisco Ballet celebrates its 75th season, we look at some of the dancers who shaped the company's rich history. The company will celebrate its alumni with a reunion weekend Friday through March 16.

Jacqueline Martin

A native of Portland, Ore., Jacqueline Martin came to San Francisco as a young girl in 1935 with Willam Christensen, who had taken over the then San Francisco Opera Ballet's school. Martin quickly drew attention in classical roles, and when Willam Christensen staged America's first full-length "Swan Lake" in 1940, he chose her to dance Odette opposite Janet Reed's Odile. With little money and few men in the troupe as World War II began, performances decreased, and Martin left to marry and raise a family in Oregon. There she was director of the Portland Ballet School for 32 years and the founded the Portland Ballet Company. She retired at age 62.

Read profiles of Janet Sassoon, Virginia Johnson, Cynthia Gregory, Diana Meistrell, Simon Dow, Mikko Nissinen and Caroline Loyola at the SF Chronicle site.

Jocelyn Vollmar of S.F. Ballet

At San Francisco Ballet's recent gala opening in January, rounds of polite applause greeted the introduction of many of the company's illustrious patrons and leaders, but when a trim, elegant little woman dressed impeccably in an evening gown made her way onto the stage of the War Memorial Opera House, there was a ripple through the room as the audience recognized America's first Snow Queen and rose to their feet in tribute.

"It's Jocelyn," went the whisper. "Get up! it's Jocelyn!"

Perhaps no figure in San Francisco Ballet's 75-year history is more beloved than Jocelyn Vollmar, who joined the company when it was 5 years old, and whose career traces nearly seven decades as dancer and then teacher for the Ballet.

Read more on the SF Chronicle site.

Yayoi Kambara, mother and dancer at ODC

From the exhilarated smile on Yayoi Kambara's face as she flies through the air at her partner, Jeremy Smith, or floats on his extended arms, you can almost feel the thrill she takes in sheer movement. Rehearsing KT Nelson's "Walk Before Talk" for ODC/Dance's forthcoming season at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Kambara holds nothing back. If there's a sense that she's embracing the instant, that every second she gets to dance is one to savor, perhaps it's because for this new mother every moment - onstage or off, at home or in the studio - is precious.

Regular watchers of ODC/Dance's Downtown seasons might remember Kambara from last year in Nelson's "Water Project," in which she danced what might be thought of as the Earth Mother role while 37 weeks pregnant. Her daughter, Hanae - whose name means "flowering branch" - was born two weeks later, on April 11. Nelson says it was a major editorial shift in the ballet to include a pregnant dancer, but with three mothers leading the ODC organization - Artistic Director Brenda Way has five children, Nelson has a son and the school's director, Kimi Okada, is also a parent - incorporating Kambara's real-life experience into the piece was only natural.

Read more on the SF Chronicle site.

Alvin Ailey chief Judith Jamison on retiring

She is the public face of one of the most popular and successful dance companies in the world - an articulate and warmly generous spirit who has led the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for just over 18 years, handpicked by Ailey as his successor.

Under her direction, not only has the Ailey company grown from a small troupe of dancers struggling to fulfill the vision of its founder to an internationally renowned 30-member company, but it has also built its own $56 million building in the heart of New York - which also houses a second company as well as Ailey's highly regarded school - and achieved financial security with a $22 million endowment.

But with Judith Jamison's announcement last month that she plans to retire as artistic director by 2011, the question for the company is who can possibly succeed her? Jamison, 64, answers that question and others as she takes a break during her company's residency in Berkeley this week.

Read more on the SF Chronicle site.