Tony Bravo December 23, 2020Updated: December 24, 2020, 6:34 pm
Sarah Van Patten and Pierre-Francois Vilanoba rehearse for the San Francisco Ballet’s 2009 production of the “Nutcracker.” Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle 2009
Growing up in Antioch during the 1940s and ’50s, Jeanne Rose heard about San Francisco Ballet’s production of “Nutcracker,” but her family never made the trip into the city to see it. In 1968, she purchased a pair of balcony tickets to take her 4-year-old daughter, Amber, to a performance of the beloved story ballet. Rose still recalls her first time seeing the production’s Christmas tree expand until it filled the opera house stage.