I walked into the War Memorial Opera House expecting tutus and tiaras. What I got was a main character who actually does something.
Tamara Rojo, SF Ballet's artistic director, has done what decades of dusty productions wouldn't dare—she's given Raymonda agency. The original 1898 ballet, choreographed by Marius Petipa with a lush Glazunov score, features a noblewoman who essentially stands around while men fight over her. She's a prize. A plot device in pointe shoes.
Rojo isn't having it.
Her version rewrites the central character as someone who chooses her own path. The love triangle still exists, but Raymonda isn't passive anymore. She's not waiting for a knight to rescue her from an "exotic" suitor—she's weighing her options and making decisions based on what she wants. It's a subtle shift on paper, but onstage it transforms everything.
And let's talk about that problematic exoticism. The original Raymonda leans hard into Orientalist stereotypes—the "foreign" suitor is coded as threatening, dangerous, Other. Rojo's team has reworked these elements with cultural consultants, aiming for something that doesn't make modern audiences squirm. Whether they've fully succeeded is debatable, but the effort itself matters. Too many ballet companies just slap a trigger warning on outdated material and call it a day.
What struck me most was the choreography. Petipa's technical demands haven't been gutted—the virtuosic variations, the grand pas de deux structure, it's all there. But woven through are contemporary moments that highlight Raymonda's physicality in a new way. She's not just executing steps beautifully; she's asserting herself through movement. The difference is palpable.
SF Ballet has always leaned toward innovation. They were among the first major American companies to commission works from choreographers like William Forsythe and Cathy Marston. Partnering with Rojo—a former principal dancer who's spent years advocating for updated classical repertoire—feels like a natural next step.
Here's what bugs me, though. Why did it take until 2026 for a major company to tackle this? Raymonda's problems aren't subtle. The ballet's been performed for over a century with its dated gender dynamics and cultural insensitivity intact. We've accepted it as "period piece" without questioning whether audiences actually need to see a passive heroine rescued by knights in 2026.
Rojo's production doesn't just update Raymonda—it asks uncomfortable questions about why we've been so slow to update anything at all.
The production runs through SF Ballet's spring season. If you've written off classical ballet as stuffy or irrelevant, this might change your mind. And if you're already a fan? You'll appreciate watching a 128-year-old ballet finally grow up.
Because Raymonda deserved better than standing in the wings while men wrote her story. Now she's writing her own.
