“Spring
Bouquet”
Yerba Buena
Center for the Arts, San Francisco
May 17th,
2013
For the final
program of its nineteenth season, Smuin Ballet presented a lovely mixed
repertory evening: Michael Smuin’s “Chants D’Auvergne” (1999), Helen Pickett’s
“Petal” (2008) and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s “Jazzin’” (2012). A diverse set of
offerings, the Spring Dance Series revealed a lasting characteristic of this
San Francisco troupe: elegance. The current artistic leadership is committed to
retaining Michael Smuin’s vision and honoring his legacy yet, at the same time,
not becoming stuck in the past. Smuin Ballet is spring boarding into their
coming twentieth anniversary year with strength, technique and of course, a
regal elegance.
“Chants
D’Auvergne”, choreographed by Smuin to Joseph Canteloube’s score of French folk
songs, was a sweet, charming ballet. An ode to civility, couples entered the
stage and greeted each other, bowing and curtseying; a dignified sense of
community. The choreography reflected Smuin’s lyrical sensibility, though
“Chants D’Auvergne” was certainly more classical than many of his other works.
Robin Semmelhack was divine – her stage presence drawing the audience in at every
moment. While the dance was both graceful and enchanting, it was not without
its issues. First and foremost, it is just too long. With the exception of one
humorous pas de trois for the men (danced at this performance by Jonathan
Powell, Aidan DeYoung and Jonathan Mangosing), the choreography and dynamics
are pretty much the same through the whole ballet. Length-wise, it really could
have been cut in half. Secondly, it revealed some pretty obvious technical
disparities amongst the women of the cast. A couple of the women in this
company (Janica Smith, for one) technically outshine some of the others and it’s
starting to become noticeable.
A new addition
to Smuin’s repertory is Helen Pickett’s 2008 contemporary work, “Petal”. This
was far and away the best piece of the evening. Here we saw range, strength and
flexibility (something that was missing in “Chants D’Auvergne”) from the entire
cast: Erica Chipp, Erica Felsch, Jane Rehm, Erin Yarbrough, Jonathan Dummar,
John Speed Orr, Joshua Reynolds
Smuin Ballet dancers Jane Rehm and Jonathan Dummar in the West Coast Premiere of “Petal” by Helen Pickett, part of "Bouquet," Smuin's 2013 Spring Dance Series Photo credit: Keith Sutter |
Closing the
Spring Program was Darrell Grand Moultrie’s “Jazzin’”. An entertaining, high
energy piece, it fused together so many fun and different tastes. The first
sequence, appropriately dubbed ‘The Strut’, was reminiscent of Tharp’s “Deuce
Coupe” and Robbins’ “West Side Story”. Erica Felsch’s solo (titled ‘Spring in
My Step’) was gorgeous. A recent addition to the Smuin roster, Felsch is going
to go far. The final full-cast unison variation was absolutely smashing, though
it took forever to get to this last brilliant moment. The ensemble finale ramp
up was just way too long.
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