Don’t you love it when your not-so-clever lead gets mangled into something absolutely stupid? The second sentence of my review of San Francisco Ballet’s program seven used to read: “a name as unknown in these parts as it is unpronounceable.” Ah, well:

“San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson attracts a roster of international choreographers to rival any company in the world, but he’s always ready to take a chance on young talent. His latest pick is Matjash Mrozewski, a name that is unknown in these parts and not easy to pronounce either.

He’s 31, a former dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, and from the looks of “Concordia,” which premiered Wednesday on the Ballet’s Program 7, he still has a lot of growing to do. But there is no shame in producing a modestly scaled ballet that teaches you new lessons while keeping your audience reasonably engaged. And there is certainly no shame in being upstaged by a rousing performance of an ebullient masterpiece like George Balanchine’s “Symphony in C,” which closed the evening on a note of triumph.

“Concordia” has the aura of a “learning ballet” rather than an artistic statement. Kristin Long and Gennadi Nedvigin play the classical couple parading through stately promenades and ports de bras, she in a tutu; Muriel Maffre and Pierre-Fran?ois Vilanoba are the contemporary couple, limbs melting like hot wax or contorting like the branches of some gnarled old oak.”

Click here for the full review.