Smuin Ballet To Kick Off Bay Area National Dance Week With Open Studio 4/24

Smuin Ballet, now celebrating its 15th Anniversary Season, will  kick off Bay Area National Dance Week with an Open Studio on Friday, April 24 from 10:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. at City Ballet (32 Otis St., San Francisco).  During this time, dance enthusiasts will get the rare opportunity to observe the Smuin Ballet company rehearse for their upcoming Spring Program (Friday, May 8 - Saturday, June 6).  Admission for the Open Studio is free! 
            
Smuin Ballet's Spring Program will feature 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 McIntyre and Bouquet, Michael Smuin's two-piece expression on love and romanticism.  Tickets for the Spring Program range in price from $18 - $50 for San Francisco performances and $40-55 for Walnut Creek, Mountain View and Carmel performances and are on sale now at smuinballet.org or by phone at 415-495-2234.  
 
National Dance Week was founded in 1981 to increase awareness of dance and its contributions to our national culture. The first Bay Area National Dance Week festival grew out of a public dialogue in 1998, when dance artists, administrators, and organizations came together to explore how best to spotlight Bay Area dance during National Dance Week. The festival that emerged took a national initiative and imbued it with the innovative and inclusive spirit of the Bay Area. As the largest per capita center for dance in the United States, the Bay Area's festivities have been the most extensive and best attended celebrations in the country since its inception.