Smuin Contemporary Ballet to Kick Off 29th Season With a World Premiere & More in DANCE SERIES 1

Smuin Contemporary Ballet will kick off its 29th season with Dance Series 1 featuring a long-awaited World Premiere by brilliant Cuban choreographer Osnel Delgado, whose work Bay Area audiences will experience for the first time in The Turntable. Set on Smuin company artists, this vibrant debut is inspired by the uncanny timing of life and is set to a sweeping percussive soundtrack including music from Latin American artists and composers. Also on the bill is Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's hit Requiem for a Rose, which examines both the ephemeral nature of romance and the enduring devotion of love in a pulsing ballet called "Brilliant" by the San Francisco Chronicle. Finally, the music of jazz legend Dave Brubeck will come alive in Take Five by former Company member Rex Wheeler (who recently gained international fame as the first runner-up on the 2022 season of "RuPaul's Drag Race.")

Dance Series 1 will tour the Bay Area beginning with shows in Mountain View (September 16-18), San Francisco (September 23-October 2), and wrapping up in Walnut Creek (October 7-8). Tickets ($25-$99) are available by calling the individual venues (see below for details) or visiting www.smuinballet.org.

Smuin will introduce Cuban choreographer Osnel Delgado to the Bay Area with the World Premiere of The Turntable, a creation inspired by the timing of life and how it determines which paths cross-and which ones do not. Delgado compares the phenomenon to a turntable: "The world turns while she remains on pause. Static in the center of space, frozen like someone waiting for the perfect companion, who shares a bolero in reverse, altered, mystical, and unfinished..." The Turntable will be set to a diverse, percussive soundtrack including Miguel de Gonzalo's version of the bittersweet bolero "En las Tinieblas" ("In the Shadows"), as well as Kronos Quartet's "Tashweesh" and "El Sinaloense," Cuban violinist William Roblejo's arrangement of Kenny Garrett's "Wayne's Thang," and tracks from Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. Smuin Artistic Director Celia Fushille first glimpsed Delgado's work during a trip to Cuba ten years ago and has labored ever since to bring the acclaimed choreographer to San Francisco. This premiere, originally scheduled for spring 2020, was derailed by the pandemic. Delgado's choreography expresses the passion, cultural blending, and uncertainty of life, drawing his inspiration from Cuba's rich and varied dance traditions-from the beloved Latin American ballet culture to the vibrant modern dance scene. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Malpaso Dance Company, an Associate Company of Joyce Theater Productions. Prior to founding Malpaso, he danced with Danza Contemporanea de Cuba from 2003 to 2011. The following year he met Smuin Artistic Director Celia Fushille, who fell in love with his work and vowed to introduce his work to Bay Area audiences. With the Joyce, Malpaso has commissioned original works from prominent choreographers such as Trey McIntyre-well-known to Smuin, which commissioned McIntyre's Oh, Inverted World and Be Here Now, and performed his Blue Until June, to great acclaim.

Smuin first introduced Bay Area audiences to acclaimed Colombian-Belgian dancemaker Annabelle Lopez Ochoa in fall 2017 with the West Coast premiere of Requiem for a Rose, called "Intriguing. Brilliant. A meditation on the nature of love," by the San Francisco Chronicle. Set to what many consider to be Schubert's most romantic string adagio, from the Quintet in C, Requiem for a Rose examines the fleeting nature of romance in comparison to the enduring devotion of everlasting love. Lopez Ochoa is an internationally acclaimed choreographer who choreographs contemporary dance works and adapts her style for classical ballet companies. She also creates for theatre, opera, and fashion events such as celebrated Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf's project in the Van Gogh Museum. She has created works for more than 40 dance companies around the world including Dutch National Ballet, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet Hispánico, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet, among others.

The music of jazz legend Dave Brubeck will come alive in Take Five, by former Company member Rex Wheeler. This exuberant tribute to the jazz icon, developed in Smuin's own Choreography Showcase, offers a charming and colorful set of inventive and surprising movement to match the landmark jazz standard. Born in London, Wheeler danced with Slovak National Ballet and Sacramento Ballet before joining Smuin as a dancer in 2015. As a choreographer, he has created works for organizations across the country including several classical and contemporary ballets for Smuin's annual holiday spectacular, "The Christmas Ballet." Wheeler rose to worldwide acclaim following his appearance on season 14 of "RuPaul's Drag Race." Competing as his drag persona Lady Camden, Wheeler finished the season as a fan favorite and the first runner-up, and has since toured worldwide as a featured performer on "RuPaul's Drag Race: Werq the World."

ABOUT SMUIN

For more than 25 years Smuin has pushed the boundaries of contemporary ballet within a distinctly American style, engaging and delighting audiences with 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. Artistic Director since 2007, Celia Fushille has celebrated Michael Smuin's legacy while enriching the company's impressive repertoire by collaborating with inventive choreographers from around the world, commissioning world premieres, and bringing new contemporary choreographic voices to the Smuin stage.

To post a comment, you must register and login.