"Our OG heroine is a noblewoman from 1898 and has perfect posture, but minimal personal agency; She twirls for the affection of two men, one a war hero, the other a bad boy. One lives, the other dies - and in between, Raymondadecorates the conflict with flawless footwork. Structurally speaking, Raymonda hasn't strayed too far in Rojo's recent update, which puts a feminist perspective on choreographer Marius Petipa's original work."
"The love triangle remains, but no one dies now, and our protagonist swaps her noble title for some overlap to Florence Nightingale - who history remembers for turning war hospitals from death traps to functional clinics. I guess the Nightingale bit threw me a little when attending the opening on March 1st. I expected Sasha De Sola's pointe shoes to flutter across the battlefield as she bent to tie a tourniquet around a beautifully fallen dancer."
Traditional ballet tropes of dainty princesses and pristine performances are upended by contemporary productions that subvert expectations: heroines who fumble, AI-themed existential pieces, and vengeful ensembles. Tamara Rojo's San Francisco Ballet update of Raymonda reframes the 1898 noblewoman through a feminist perspective. The production retains the central romantic entanglement but removes death and introduces a Florence Nightingale–aligned nursing and career dimension for the heroine. The lead's conflict becomes a balance of romantic choices and professional desire, shifting tone toward modern romantic-comedy sensibilities while keeping much of Marius Petipa's classical choreography intact.
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