Every season opener carries a certain electricity, but this one arrives with something more. Tonight marks the first performance of Tiit Helimets's tenure as Artistic Director, opening a new chapter for a company that has called Sacramento home since 1954. The evening offers a little of everything: a cornerstone of twentieth-century ballet, an international favorite, and a voice raised right here in Northern California that sends you out into the night soaring.

Helimets knows the stage from the inside. Born in Estonia, he began his professional career with Estonian National Ballet, went on to Birmingham Royal Ballet, and then spent two decades as a Principal Dancer with San Francisco Ballet, where his Albrecht in Giselle earned him the Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Along the way he danced the works of Balanchine, Ashton, MacMillan, Forsythe, and other giants of the art form. Beyond the stage, he has coached dancers at the Paris Opera Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Philadelphia Ballet School, and more, always with a focus on musicality and artistic integrity. He arrives in Sacramento with deep respect for everything that came before him. "That history matters," he said upon his appointment, calling it something "we carry forward with responsibility."

That same spirit runs through this evening. A landmark of modern ballet, a joyful work by one of the field's most celebrated figures, and a hometown choreographer earning national acclaim share a single stage, each one revealing a different side of what ballet can be.