San Francisco Ballet journeys from the Other Coast next week to our warm and humid climes, with a program that shows off classicism, diversity and brilliance.

At the Wolf Trap Festival, the company will perform "Tuning Game," a showcase for a ballerina and a consort of men, choreographed by artistic director Helgi Tomasson to the oboe concerto of John Corigliano. (Hence the title: The oboe tunes the rest of the orchestra.)

Two duets are at the center of the program: "Valses Poeticos," also by Tomasson, which traces the course of a relationship through a suite of waltzes by Enrique Granados; and the "Black Swan" pas de deux from "Swan Lake," which ends with a famous sequence of 32 fouette turns.

The evening closes with George Balanchine's "Symphony in C," an ebony and ivory jewel. Set to Georges Bizet's exuberant early symphony, it shows how line, pattern and repetition can make a ballet infinitely more exciting than a recycled fairy tale.

San Francisco Ballet performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Va. Use I-95 south to I-495 west to the Wolf Trap exit, then follow signs. Tickets are $10-$30. Call 703-255-1868.

Pub Date: 8/20/98