Smuin Announces SERENADE FOR STRINGS as Next HUMP DAY BALLETS Feature

Smuin Contemporary Ballet announces the next installment of its Hump Day Ballets series, brightening mid-week spirits with free video streaming of a hit ballet from Smuin's archives. This week's release, offered beginning Wednesday, April 22, 2020, will feature acclaimed choreographer Garrett Ammon's Serenade for Strings. The release will be accompanied by a video introduction by former Smuin dancer (and current Smuin teacher) Valerie Harmon. The recorded performance will be available for 48 hours only, with streaming instructions announced through Smuin's email list (sign up at smuinballet.org), or via Smuin's Facebook (facebook.com/SmuinBallet), and Instagram (instagram.com/smuinballet). For more information the public may visit smuinballet.org.

Ammon's fresh and contemporary Serenade for Strings, called "exciting" and "playful" by the San Francisco Chronicle, is set to the centuries-old Tchaikovsky composition of the same name. Closely associated with Balanchine's iconic 1934 ballet, Serenade, the classical score is given a new lease on life with Ammon's infusion of humor and whimsical movement. Created in 2013 on Ammon's own Denver-based dance company, Wonderbound, and premiered on the West Coast by Smuin in October 2014, the "Hump Day Ballets" presentation of this bold and lively work was recorded in September 2017.

Garrett Ammon is an acclaimed choreographer who began his tenure as Artistic Director of Wonderbound in 2007. He has created nearly 70 dance works throughout 17 years and developed a trademark aesthetic that seamlessly blends tradition with adventurous new ideas. Ammon is a serial collaborator who has worked with poets, visual and digital artists, musicians, actors, a perfumer, and an illusionist. As a dancer, he was a member of Houston Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Ballet Memphis, and Trey McIntyre Project, with which he toured to Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Vail International Dance Festival, Dance Salad, and Wolf Trap.

Smuin's Hump Day Ballets series was created to share inspiring art and enable the company to stay connected with its community during the Shelter-in-Place order. Every Wednesday a different ballet from Smuin's repertoire, introduced by a current Company dancer or guest artist, is released to the public. The sharing of these productions is made possible by the generous support of Smuin's partners-the choreographers, unions, designers, and composers providing permission outside of standard contracts to share these creations with the community-and individual sponsors from Smuin's devoted patron base.

For more than 25 years Smuin has pushed the boundaries of contemporary ballet by presenting works that engage and delight audiences with their uncommon physicality and expression. Founded in San Francisco in 1994 by Tony and Emmy award-winning choreographer Michael Smuin, the company is committed to creating work that merges the diverse vocabularies of classical ballet and contemporary dance. Since 2007, Artistic Director Celia Fushille has built on Michael Smuin's legacy by creating her own vision and expanding the company's repertoire. Fushille has invited numerous choreographers to create works that highlight the Smuin artists' extraordinary versatility, presenting pieces that are unique, joyful, athletic and inventive.

Photo credit: Keith Sutter

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