The name C. F. Kip Winger may sound unfamiliar to some people. Kip Winger is the latest composer for the San Francisco Ballet. He has come full circle, starting off as a ballet dancer and now being a composer for the San Francisco Ballet!

Winger began his musical career at age eight. From the ages of sixteen to twenty- eight, he too was a ballet student. As a young man he studied guitar with Edgar Grana, Richard Hermann, Michael Kurek and Sam Guarnaccia at the University of Denver and continued his training at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, the University of New Mexico and Vanderbilt University in Nashville. At one time Kip was the bassist for Alice Cooper in the 1980s; he formed his own band “Winger” releasing two platinum albums, Winger and In the Heart of the Young.

While many musical artists from twenty years ago are today on reality shows or talk shows, Kip Winger is still learning and growing in his musical career. He is not someone that you would stereotype as a Rockstar. “I‘m not one of those guys who can do the same song over and over and over again and sell the brand name and tshirts, that would be sudden death to me. I‘d kill myself. I just can‘t do it.”

Kip also states in an NBC interview, “Learning is the big thing. If you continue in your life to press towards the things that excite, you will not be bored by life.” As Winger ages, he is doing so with such grace. The ballet will be a new experience for all of Kip’s fans.

When the ballet starts for “Ghosts” there is a large metal object hanging from the ceiling that looks like the wreckage of an airplane. The dancers stop from time to time and look at the wreckage. It appears that the dancers are the spirits or ghosts from this plane crash.

Ghosts is choreographed by renown choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Winger submitted a six minute piece of music to Wheeldon, and although he liked it, it wasn’t long enough for a ballet. So, he asked Kip to extend the piece of music.

This was the “golden opportunity” for Winger. “About six to eight months later I got a box in my office, and it was a fully orchestrated, fully recorded and scored piece of music with a note saying, Dear Chris, hope you like it,” Wheeldon says. He decided to use the score for his fifth commission for the San Francisco Ballet; Ghosts is his ninth ballet for the Company.

The ballet dancers are so smooth with their movements and very graceful. The way their bodies intertwine with each other made it look like they had no bones in their bodies. The costumes were designed by Mark Zappone. They were gray pajama like clothes with bottoms and tops for the males and nighties for the girls.

If you are looking to expand your artistic taste try going to the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California. The building itself is such a wonderful experience. To learn all that goes on in creating this type of entertainment is very interesting. From the composer to choreographer, scenic designer, costume designer, lighting design, the dancers, all the volunteers, ticket takers, ushers and the generosity of all the people who donate money to the ballet.

Between the music, the dancing, and the audiences reaction, it was an extraordinary afternoon at the ballet. One man I spoke to in the audience said to me that this should not be called Ghosts but maybe called “Entanglement” because of the way all the dancers intertwine themselves.

If you are looking for a sample of the music from this ballet look on www.amazon.com and search C.F. Kip Winger Ghosts - Suite No. 1. The cost to download it is $2.97. Tickets range from $20 - $260. Contact: (415) 865-2000 or www.sfballet.org