war memorial opera house orchestra seating

'I can see the patterns, the geometry.' But he is extreme, even for a balletomane. 'Upstairs I get the perspective,' says Delfs, who comes up from the Peninsula. To study the company from both low and high, Delfs sits two nights in front, moves to the balcony for a third night and can be found in standing-room on a fourth. 'Sometimes they look at each other and smile,' Tabari says, 'so you know something went wrong.' Leela Tabari, down the row, says she can 'see the muscles moving,' and the tiny facial hints that reveal what body movement hides. Richard Delfs also wants to 'hear the heavy breathing, and when a dancer runs into another, I can hear them say, 'Sorry,' ' he says. 'They want to feel the sweat on them.'ĭr. 'They're nuts,' says San Francisco Ballet Master Ashley Wheater, a former company dancer. The view sacrifices the big picture for human detail.

Front row at the Ballet is like courtside at a basketball game or next to the dugout for baseball. But the people in row A are not conventional fans. Conventional wisdom is that the front of the balcony, where the Kirschbaums used to sit, offers the best view.

War memorial opera house orchestra seating