It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet.

When Willam moved to Salt Lake City later that year, Lew took over as full director of SF Ballet; he held the position until 1976, when Michael Smuin joined him as co-director.

On Christmas Eve 1944, the company staged Nutcracker—the first complete production of Tchaikovsky's most popular piece ever danced in the United States.

Until 1956, San Francisco Ballet had remained on the West Coast, but Christensen took the company to the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.

[9] On New Year's Day 1965, ABC-TV televised a one-hour abridgement of the Lew Christensen-choreographed production of Nutcracker featuring San Francisco Ballet.

[11] Under his direction, the national and international profile of SF Ballet was raised significantly by the broad success of productions such as 1977's Romeo and Juliet, which aired on the PBS series Great Performances: Dance in America in 1978.

[17] Over a span of more than 25 years, Tomasson has staged acclaimed full-length productions of classics including Swan Lake (1988, 2009); The Sleeping Beauty (1990); Romeo and Juliet (1994); Giselle (1999); Don Quixote, co-staged with former principal dancer and current choreographer in residence Yuri Possokhov (2003); and Nutcracker (2004).

It features sets (including "a backdrop of San Francisco's Victorian houses known as 'painted ladies'")[18] and costumes created by, respectively, Michael Yeargan and Martin Pakledinaz, both repeat Tony Award-winning designers.

The company's diverse repertory includes works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, David Bintley, August Bournonville, Val Caniparoli, Lew Christensen, Nacho Duato, Jorma Elo, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Jirí Kylián, Serge Lifar, Lar Lubovitch, Wayne McGregor, Agnes de Mille, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Hans van Manen, Peter Martins, Mark Morris, Rudolf Nureyev, Marius Petipa, Roland Petit, Yuri Possokhov, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Liam Scarlett, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, Antony Tudor, and Christopher Wheeldon.

[21] San Francisco Ballet's 2013 season included Trio, Ghost and Borderlands[22] as well as Suite en blanc, In the night, Nijinsky, The Rite of Spring, Onegin, Raymonda Act III and Cinderella.

[23] The 2014 season included Giselle, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Tears, Borderlands, From Foreign Lands, Firebird, Ghosts, The Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Cinderella, Shostakovich Trilogy, Caprice, Maelstrom, The Rite of Spring, Hummingbird, The Fifth Season, Suite en Blanc, Agon, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, and Glass Pieces.

[24] The 2015 season included Serenade, RAkU, Lambarena, Giselle, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Variations for Two Couples, Manifesto, The Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Act II, Dances at a Gathering, Hummingbird, Don Quixote, Shostakovich Trilogy, Caprice, Swimmer, and Romeo & Juliet.

[25][26] The 2017 season included "Haffner Symphony," "Fragile Vessels," "In the Countenance of Kings," "Seven Sonatas," "Optimistic Tragedy," "Pas/Parts 2016," "Frankenstein," "Stravinsky Violin Concerto," "Prodigal Son," "Diamonds," "Fusion," "Salome," "Fearful Symmetries," "Swan Lake," "Trio," "Ghost in the Machine," "Within the Golden Hour," and "Cinderella."

[29] In addition, the company performs in July at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco,[30] tours nationally in the summer and fall, and presents Nutcracker in December at the War Memorial Opera House.

Following the initial tour, The New York Times proclaimed, "Mr. Tomasson has accomplished the unprecedented: He has pulled a so-called regional company into the national ranks, and he has done so by honing the dancers into a classical style of astonishing verve and purity.

San Francisco Ballet under Helgi Tomasson's leadership is one of the spectacular success stories of the arts in America.

The festival commemorated the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, which took place at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.

The year culminated in a New Works Festival of world premieres by 10 of the dance world's most acclaimed choreographers—Julia Adam, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Margaret Jenkins, James Kudelka, Mark Morris, Yuri Possokhov, Paul Taylor, Stanton Welch, and Christopher Wheeldon.

San Francisco Ballet also performed in frequent overseas tours, including engagements at prestigious venues such as the famed Opéra de Paris-Palais Garnier in Paris (1994, 2001); London's Sadler's Wells Theatre (1999, 2004, 2012) and Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (2002); Athens' Megaron Theatre (2002) and Herod Atticus Amphitheatre (2004); Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens (1998, 2010); and the Edinburgh International Festival at the Edinburgh Playhouse (1997, 2003).

In fall 2009, San Francisco Ballet made its first trip to the People's Republic of China, with performances in Shanghai and Beijing.

In 2012, San Francisco Ballet embarked on the longest tour in the company's history, with engagements in London and Washington, DC, as well as first-time visits to Hamburg, Germany; Moscow; and Sun Valley, Idaho.

In 2005, San Francisco Ballet won its first Laurence Olivier Award, in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Dance, for its 2004 fall season at Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Of the engagement, London's The Sunday Times proclaimed, "Helgi Tomasson's outstanding artistic direction ... has transformed a regional American troupe into one of the world's top ballet companies.

The illustrious faculty includes Patrick Armand, Cecelia Beam, Sandrine Cassini, Kristi DeCaminada, Karen Gabay, Jeffrey Lyons, Rubén Martín Cintas, Ilona McHugh, Pascal Molat (Trainee Program Assistant), Anne-Sophie Rodriguez, Jaime Diaz (Strengthening), Dexandro "D" Montalvo (Contemporary), Brian Fisher (Contemporary), Dana Genshaft (Contemporary dance and conditioning), Henry Berg (Conditioning), Leonid Shagalov (Character), Jamie Narushchen (Music), and Daniel Sullivan (Music).

It also performs apart from the Company; it debuted solely as an orchestra in 1979 at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco's War Memorial Veterans Building, playing a program that included works by Haydn, Ives, and Vivaldi.

[44] The San Francisco Ballet Auxiliary is a group of 100 dedicated women who volunteer to raise over $1 million in net contributions annually.

group offers local young professionals access to a range of social and educational events with a behind-the-scenes perspective.