SMUIN: Ballet But SexySaturday, May 16, 2009
Join the Wharton Club and Smuin Ballet for a special performance and celebrate the Company’s 15th Anniversary Season! Also presenting a WCNC-only post-performance back stage tour and discussion with Smuin Director Celia Fushille, the choreographers and Smuin Ballet dancers! (Discounted tickets for WCNC members.)
Enjoy the excitement of three powerful productions
The evening begins with St. Louis Woman: A Blues Ballet which premiered at Lincoln Center in 2003 by Dance Theater of Harlem. Hailed by the New York Times as “gorgeous entertainment” this work embodies Michael’s genius at “mixing ballet’s classical idiom with period social dances” (New York Times).
Trey McIntyre set The Naughty Boy! to Mozart’s “Violin Concerto in G Major” The ballet is a neo-classical, loose narrative of Cupid’s effects on four couples.
Michael Smuin created Bouquet to the music of Shostakovich. 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.
- And . . . a special Wharton Club-only post-performance reception with Smuin Director Celia Fushille-Burke and several of the evening's Smuin dancers!
Register Online (Note: If you plan to attend, reserve your tickets early - we have a limited amount set aside for us and the last event was oversold and requested again by those that attended for this spectacular Spring program).
Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Time: 7:30pm check-in. 8:00pm performance.
10:00pm post-performance reception with Smuin Director Celia Fushille and several of the evening's choreographers and Smuin dancers!
Location: Yuerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Cost: WCNC Members and their accompanied guests: $35 per person. Members of affiliate clubs and their accompanied guests: $35 per person. Non-member alumni and other guests: $55 per person. Tickets are typically $55 and going rapidly, and while we hope to have them available for sale through Thursday afternoon, 5/14, there are no guarantees! The WCNC's standard cancellation policy applies for this event.
You might be asking yourself, "What is Smuin?" www.smuinballet.org
Michael Smuin was a remarkable figure in the history of ballet. He was a major force in the San Francisco dance world and one of the region's most prominent and audacious showmen. Known for the vibrant, expressive and brassy works he created for his own company, for various regional companies, on Broadway and in Hollywood, Smuin was co-artistic director of the San Francisco Ballet (SFB) from 1973 to 1985. He was instrumental in raising the company’s profile in the international arts community with his staging of a performance at the White House, and was co-chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts dance panel. He danced with SFB from 1953 to 1961 and later with the American Ballet Theatre, where he was both a principal dancer and choreographer. Michael passed away on April 23, 2007, leaving behind a powerful legacy and vision for the company that is carried forward today.
Celia Fushille is currently Director of Smuin Ballet and has been with the Company since its inception. Michael created a number of roles for Celia: Frankie in Frankie and Johnny, Roxanne in Cyrano, Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel, and Santa Baby from The Christmas Ballet. Fushille-Burke was Associate Director from 1998 until 2007 when she became the Smuin's Artistic Director.
