A MASTER CLASS IN MODERN BALLET
In its 29th season, the 16-member Smuin Contemporary Ballet is joyous, youthful and exuberant, meticulously rehearsed in fast-moving sequences that enkindle audiences again and again. And its post-Covid rebirth is grounds for celebration. For that dance critic who once said, I won’t go any more, they are too commercial, all one can say is phooey. With new personnel, the troupe continues to enkindle the vitality and eclectic dance diversity of founder Michael Smuin, who had already passed on 15 years ago (Smuin himself had done everything from night-club shows to choreography to Broadway to leading a major-city ballet troupe, with Emmy and Tony awards to match). This is modern ballet at its most lustrous, so meticulously rehearsed that I doubt any drill team or dance brigade could top it. Even when the music is replaced by speech, the nimble dancers can still leap in perfect unison.
The choreographers at SCB are diverse, this time with a Londoner (Rex Wheeler), a Belgian-Colombian (Annabelle Lopez Ochoa) and a Cuban (Osnal Delgado). The latter created the world premiere work “The Turntable” featured on the current set of West Coast works, seen Sept. 24 at San Francisco’s fog-enveloped Cowell Theater—a perfect environment for the enigmas of Delgado’s “The Turntable.” This opus overlays a welter of conflicting personal relationships of the dancers surrounding the central Tessa Barbour, as she’s constantly turning, seeking, rejecting and receiving, with emotions ranging from happiness to grief. The equally eclectic music choices, some distinctly Cuban, reflect Delgado’s wide stylistic vision and postmodern inclination.
Wheeler’s “Take Five,” the only piece in toe shoes, showed off jazz ballet to match the music of composer-pianist Dave Brubeck. It’s full of puckishness and flirtation, and a lot of silliness where dancers simulate piano-playing on any nearby leg.
Barbour returned, with ultra-long hair all but sweeping the floor, in the enigmatic “Requiem for a Rose,” a work reflecting the intensity of the somber Schubert chamber music used in accompaniment. The lanky form of Brandon Alexander towering over everybody provided welcome contrasts in a work where I was also impressed by Marc LaPierre, with his effortless and nimble footwork. The effective lighting designs of Michael Oesch also merits mention.
Under the 15-year leadership of Celia Fushille, the Smuin tradition continues to thrive. Somewhere upstairs, Smuin must be smiling as successors continue to weave on his threads.
DANCE NOTES—You can celebrate this program as the troupe’s rebirth in public, since the 2021 Christmas Ballet had been its only stage work subsequent to the pandemic’s start 30 months ago….Choreographer Delgado came from Cuba and stayed on for the first of the current performances.
Smuin Contemporary Ballet performs Program I at San Francisco’s Cowell Theater and Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center till Oct. 8. For info: (415) 912-1899, or go online: www.smuinballet.org.
