Title: San Francisco Ballet
Content: San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. San Francisco Ballet was the first professional ballet company in the United States. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described

Title: San Francisco Ballet
Content: initiatives included a commemorative book, "San Francisco Ballet at Seventy-Five", and the broadcast of Tomasson's "Nutcracker" in December 2008 on the "Great Performances: Dance in America" series on PBS, produced in partnership with KQED Public Television in San Francisco. San Francisco Ballet also performed in frequent overseas tours, including engagements at prestigious venues such as the famed Opéra de Paris-Palais Garnier in Paris (1994, 2001); London's Sadler's Wells Theatre (1999, 2004, 2012) and Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (2002); Athens' Megaron Theatre (2002) and Herod Atticus Amphitheatre (2004); Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens (1998, 2010); and the Edinburgh International Festival at

Title: San Francisco Ballet
Content: and Juliet" (1994); "Giselle" (1999); "Don Quixote", co-staged with former principal dancer and current choreographer in residence Yuri Possokhov (2003); and "Nutcracker" (2004). Tomasson's "Nutcracker", set in San Francisco during the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, is notable for being the only uniquely San Francisco "Nutcracker". It features sets (including "a backdrop of San Francisco's Victorian houses known as 'painted ladies) and costumes created by, respectively, Michael Yeargan and Martin Pakledinaz, both repeat Tony Award-winning designers. Upon its premiere, "The New York Times" called Tomasson's "Nutcracker" "striking, elegant and beautiful". Today, San Francisco Ballet presents approximately 100 performances each year.

Title: San Francisco Ballet
Content: continued to serve as the school's director until his retirement in 1975. In 1938, the company's first major production was "Coppélia", choreographed by Willam Christensen. In 1940, it staged "Swan Lake", the first time that the ballet was produced in its entirety by an American company. On Christmas Eve 1944, the company staged "Nutcracker"—the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece ever danced in the United States. In 1942, San Francisco Opera Ballet split into two independent companies, ballet and opera. The ballet half was sold to Willam and Harold Christensen. Willam became artistic director, while Harold took on

Title: San Francisco Ballet
Content: end of 1975 with "Nutcracker" and has met with both audience and critical acclaim ever since, becoming known by the 1990s as one of the world's finest ballet orchestras. SFBO toured with the SF Ballet's touring company from 1978 until 1984. It has accompanied many prestigious international ballet companies that have toured to the San Francisco Bay Area, including The Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Hamburg Ballet,the Bolshoi Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre, and the Paris Opéra Ballet. In 1995, the orchestra took on the remarkable task of accompanying 13 international dance companies over

Question: Which word used to be in the name of The San Francisco Ballet?
Answer: Opera