Smuin Contemporary Ballet, formerly known as Smuin Ballet, "Smuin company shows growing pains in season opener"
''San Francisco Chronicle''. 2016 is a touring

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Smuin Ballet performs its season in multiple venues: the

Dean Lesher Dean Stanley Lesher (August 4, 1903 – May 13, 1993) was an American newspaper publisher, founder of the ''Contra Costa Times'' and the Contra Costa Newspapers chain. He was also a well-known philanthropist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Life ...

Center in

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

, the

Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is located in downtown Mountain View, California, Mountain View, California. It is operated by the City of Mountain View and hosts a variety of art events. Its home theatre companies include Thea ...

in Mountain View, the Sunset Center in

Carmel Carmel may refer to: * Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea * Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea * Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order Carmel may also ...

, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and The Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco.

History

Founding

Michael Smuin Michael Smuin (October 13, 1938 – April 23, 2007) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer and theatre director. He was co-founder and director of his own dance company, the Smuin Ballet in San Francisco. Biography Born in Missoula, Montana ...

, a former dancer, choreographer and co-artistic director with the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

and an award-winning choreographer, founded Smuin Contemporary Ballet in 1994. "SF Dance Pioneer Michael Smuin Collapses, Dies."
''SF Chronicle''. 2007. Then known as Smuin Ballet, the "American ballet company with a distinctly American accent… infused ballet with the rhythm, speed, and syncopation of American popular culture.” Michael Smuin created about 40 ballets for the Smuin Ballet company. After his sudden passing in 2007, Smuin's longtime “muse and mainstay,” Celia Fushille, was named Artistic Director of Smuin."Review: New take on 'Serenade’ for Smuin Ballet"
By Rachel Howard. ''SF Gate'', October 4, 2014"Dance review: Smuin Ballet kicks off holiday performance season"
''SF Gate'', Allan Ulrich, November 22, 2014 As a founding member of the company, Fushille created roles in some of Michael Smuin's most memorable ballets, from the romantic Roxane in ''Cyrano'' to the lusty Lola-Lola in ''The Blue Angel''. Fushille's vision for the Company, beyond the role of conservator and prime presenter of Michael Smuin’s ballets, is to bring to the stage new works by both world-renowned and emerging choreographers, as well as support young aspiring choreographers within the Smuin company.

Company

Artistic Director

* Celia Fushille

Ballet Mistress

* Amy London

Choreographer in Residence

* Amy Seiwert

Principal Dancers

* Brandon Alexander * Tessa Barbour * Ian Buchanan * Claire Buehler * Stéphano Candreva * Maggie Carey * Mengjun Chen * Cassidy Isaacson * Tess Lane * Marc LaPierre * Terez Dean Orr * John Speed Orr * Lauren Pschirrer * Yuri Rogers * Brennan Wall

Touring and performing

Smuin performs over 60 shows per season in theaters throughout San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Mountain View, and Carmel. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Smuin also tours across the country to venues including the

Joyce Theater The Joyce Theater (“The Joyce") is a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The building opened in 1941 as the Elgin Theater, a movie house, and was gut-renovated and reconfigured in 1981-82 to re ...

in New York; Montana, Michael Smuin's home state; southern California; Colorado; and Alaska, as well as throughout Europe and Australia. Smuin has launched over 50 new works into the American dance repertoire, including many choreographed by

, as well as over 10 ballets created b
Amy Seiwert
Smuin's Choreographer in Residenc

Many notable choreographers such as

Trey McIntyre Trey McIntyre (born November 12, 1969) is an American dancer and choreographer, who has a body of work that includes around 100 original dance pieces. He founded and acts as president of Trey McIntyre Project, a dance company that was based in B ...

Helen Pickett Helen Pickett is an American choreographer for stage and film, and has been described as “one of the few prominent women in ballet today”. Early life and education Pickett was raised in San Francisco, California. Her mother is a retired pe ...

Ma Cong Tulsa Ballet is a professional American ballet company located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The artistic mission of Tulsa Ballet is "To preserve the tradition of classical ballet, promote the appreciation of contemporary dance, create works of superior and ...

Adam Houghland
and

Val Caniparoli Val Caniparoli is an American ballet dancer and international choreographer. His work includes more than 100 productions for ballet, opera, and theater for over 50 companies, and his career as a choreographer progressed globally even as he continu ...

have premiered works with Smuin. Many of the choreographers have also given Smuin the opportunity to perform their works, including

Jiří Kylián Jiří Kylián (born 21 March 1947) is a Czech former dancer and contemporary dance choreographer. Life Jiří Kylián was born in 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, to his father Václav who was a banker and to his mother Markéta, who was as a ...

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (born 30 April 1973) is a Belgian-born international choreographer based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dance background Ochoa, who is half-Colombian and half-Belgian, completed her dance training at the Royal Ballet Acad ...

, and mor

References

External links

Smuin Ballet Website
{{authority control Ballet companies in the United States Organizations based in San Francisco Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area Dance in California