The San Francisco Ballet’s 74th season launches Wednesday with the opening gala. Allan Ulrich profiles departing ballerina Muriel Maffre in today’s Chronicle. Meanwhile, the paper asked me to highlight some up-and-coming young dancers. I chose Jaime Garcia Castilla, Frances Chung, Rory Hohenstein, Nutnaree Pipit-suksun, Lily Rogers, and Sarah Van Patten. Click here to find out why. And look for my review of the gala in Friday’s Chronicle.