San Francisco Ballet
March 14-23, War Memorial Opera House

FOR A GOOD 30 years, story ballets were considered proof that the dance form was hopelessly reactionary. Go and see a dance about princes, magicians, or swan maidens? Not on my dollar. But now, full-length narrative ballets, ranging from Peter Pan to Hamlet, are having a resurgence all over the country. And San Francisco Ballet, sensibly enough, is forsaking odd experiments in favor of remaking another Petipa masterpiece, Don Quixote. The choreography is by Helgi Tomasson, assisted by Yuri Possokhov (who used to dance in the Bolshoi Ballet version). Don Quixote is actually quite a wonderful nonsensical story, based as much on commedia dell'arte as on Cervantes's novel. There are great crowd scenes, roles for character actors as well as virtuosos, a winning love story, a play within a play, and the obligatory dream scene for ballet blanc (white tutu) dancing. The music is catchy – not very Spanish, of course, but who cares. SFB's dancing is a marvel these days, and the men in particular will knock your socks off. And there is more than one spunky Kitri who can flatten you with a flick of her fan. Fri.-Sat. and March 18 and 20, 8 p.m. (also Sat., 2 p.m.); Sun., 2 p.m. (also March 20, 2 p.m.; March 23, 7:30 p.m.); March 19, 7:30 p.m. 301 Van Ness, S.F. $8-$120. www.sfballet.org. (Rita Felciano)