Dancer-choreographer Myles Thatcher says the opportunity for San Francisco Ballet School students to learn how perform a new work is a valuable stepping stone toward a professional career.
“When you’re a student, mostly you’re focused on technique classes …. and then you might have some contemporary work, but specifically working with a choreographer in a contemporary fashion is what we do once you join a company,” says Thatcher, whose piece “Mayfly” is in the school’s spring concert in the War Memorial Opera House this weekend.
“I love when dancers understand what their strengths are and show them off in the room; that skill is really important to cultivate,” adds Thatcher, a San Francisco Ballet soloist and San Francisco Ballet School trainee in 2008-09.
Thatcher created “Mayfly” for San Francisco Ballet School students, who premiered excerpts of it with Ballet Sun Valley in Ketchum, Idaho in October last year. Pre-professional trainee students will perform the full piece, accompanied by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, at the Spring Festival on Friday and Saturday.
The program, curated by SF Ballet School Director Grace Holmes, also includes a demonstration of foundational technique choreographed by instructor Karen Gabay; an excerpt of George Balanchine’s “Serenade”; a classical suite featuring the polonaise, pas de deux and pas de trois from Marius Petipa’s “Paquita” by ballet teacher Loipa Araújo; and an excerpt from former SF Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson’s “Winter” from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.”
Thatcher, who began work with students on “Mayfly” in September 2025, first wanted to create a space that would allow the dancers to take risks and learn about themselves as artists. He says, “After we started those initial weeks, that’s when I started to shape what the piece might be about. I wanted to look at the urgency that we feel in our short time on the planet for purpose and connection, or just understanding we have limited time here with these bodies—that drive to find meaning while we’re here. Mayflies live, like, 24 hours, mate and die. I think this group could handle the sensitivity of that subject matter.”
The work for six male and six female dancers is set to music by Peter Gregson and Hania Rani, whom Thatcher describes as “classically based with a bit of electronic treatment” composers.
“The movement we had developed was really craving arpeggios and that was my starting point for the music, and I think we’ve found something that feels really atmospheric and can capture the sensitivities of the trainees,” says Thatcher, who calls Russian-Ukrainian-American choreographer Alexei Ratmansky—his mentor in the 2014-15 Rolex mentoring program which pairs established masters with protégés—very influential in his choreography career.
“I had real, lived experience studying under him and seeing how he works, not only in creating new works but also restaging some of the classics,” says Thatcher, who was 19 when he choreographed “Timepiece” in 2009 for students at the Assemblée Internationale festival in Toronto.
Thatcher, who joined San Francisco Ballet’s corps in 2010 and was promoted to soloist in 2020, says his interactions with choreographers William Forsythe, Yuri Possokhov, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Danielle Rowe and Val Caniparoli offered insight into how he creates his own dances. Following “Manifesto,” his first major commission for San Francisco Ballet in 2015, he also has choreographed for New York City Ballet and Joffrey Ballet. In 2025, he was named the first associate choreographer for San Francisco Ballet’s Creation House Initiative, a program offering mentorship, training and commissioning opportunities.
The 35-year-old dancer says the skills he’s been honing as a creator and his continuing working relationship with veteran English dance coach Kerry Nicholls have become increasingly valuable as he segues fully into choreography. He says, “I’m getting to the winter of my dance career and I’m not sure how many more seasons I’ll dance, so having the forethought to be preparing all of those foundational ideas has really been helpful.”
San Francisco Ballet School’s Spring Festival is at 7 p.m. May 8 and 3 p.m. May 9 in the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets are $34-$250 at sfballet.org
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