Smuin Ballet Closes 15th Season With ST LOUIS WOMAN 5/8-5/17

Smuin Ballet, called "one of this country's most entertaining, original ballet troupes" by Dance Magazine, will close its 15th Anniversary Season with the Spring Program featuring a suite from St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet, Michael Smuin's last narrative ballet; the West Coast Premiere of The Naughty Boy!, a neo-classical ballet featuring the choreography of Trey McIntryre and Bouquet, Michael Smuin's two-piece expression on love and romanticism.

The Spring Program will play 12 performances (May 8 - May 17) at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission Street) and then continue for another 13 performances in Walnut Creek (May 22 - 24), Mountain View (May 27 - 31) and Carmel (June 5 - 6). Tickets range in price from $18 - $55 for San Francisco performances and $40-55 for Walnut Creek, Mountain View and Carmel performances. For complete schedule or to purchase tickets, visit www.smuinballet.org or call 415-495-2234.

St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet premiered at Lincoln Center in 2003 by Dance Theatre of Harlem, who also commissioned the work. Hailed as "gorgeous entertainment" by the New York Times, St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet is a work that exemplifies Smuin's genius at "mixing ballet's classical idiom with period social dances." This marks the Company debut of this work.

In 2007, Smuin Ballet Director Celia Fushille met with Trey McIntyre, renowned choreographer and two-time National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipient, to discuss the possibility of Smuin presenting one of his pieces. The result is The Naughty Boy!, McIntyre's neo-classical, loose narrative of Cupid's effects on four couples set to Mozart's "Violin Concerto in G Major."

Michael Smuin created Bouquet in 1981 to the music of Shostakov ich. A set of two pieces, the Pas de Deux is a sensual expression of love, and the romantic Pas de Quatre depicts a woman and her three adoring suitors.

Recognized for their innovative repertory and uncompromising originality, Smuin Ballet, now under the direction of Celia Fushille has been a staple of the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene since its inception in 1994. Over the past decade and a half, Smuin Ballet has premiered over forty works by the late Michael Smuin and has recently begun premiering works by a new generation of choreographers, some drawn from Smuin Ballet's own company of artists.

The Spring Program will play 12 performances (May 8 - May 17) at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission Street) and then continue for another 13 performances in Walnut Creek (May 22 - 24), Mountain View (May 27 - 31) and Carmel (June 5 - 6). Tickets range in price from $18 - $55 for San Francisco performances and $40-55 for Walnut Creek, Mountain View and Carmel performances. For complete schedule or to purchase tickets, visit www.smuinballet.org or call 415-495-2234.