Swimmer (ballet)

Swimmer is a 42-minute ballet choreographed by Yuri Possokhov[2] to music he commissioned from Shinji Eshima, plus existing music by Kathleen Brennan, Gavin Bryars and Tom Waits, for the San Francisco Ballet. The première took place on Friday, 10 April 2015 at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco and it was revived by the company in 2016.

Based on the 1964 short story by John Cheever called "The Swimmer," it incorporates the choreographer's vision of the United States while growing up in the Soviet Union. Other sources of inspiration included Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Jack London's Martin Eden and Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks.

The creative team consisted of costume designer Mark Zappone, lighting designer David Finn, scenic designer Alexander V. Nichols and video designer Kate Duhamel. The world premiere cast included Taras Domitro in the title role, as well as Maria Kochetkova, Tiit Helimets, Lorena Feijóo, Yuan Yuan Tan and Vitor Luiz.