Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – SMUIN CONTEMPORARY BALLET celebrates 30 years with a trio of New York premieres at The Joyce

• By drediman
• July 10, 2024
• No Comments

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Smuin Contemporary Ballet has returned to The Joyce Theater for the first time in more than a decade. The Chelsea residency also represents a sort of passing of the flame — after the weeklong engagement, Associate Artistic Director and Choreographer Amy Seiwert will succeed Celia Fushille as the company’s Artistic Director. Grounded in classical training, the company was established in San Francisco by founder Michael Smuin with the purpose of injecting ballet with rhythm and an overall contemporary sensibility. Judging from the eclectic program I encountered on opening night, I can safely say that Smuin Ballet continues to be well ensconced in that vision.

The first of a trio of stylistically divergent ballets was Val Caniparoli’s 2014 work Tutto Eccetto Il Lavandino — which translates basically into “everything but the kitchen sink” — an energizing exercise in playful engagement with the highly rhythmic music of Vivaldi. On Tuesday, the dancers launched headlong into the ballet, exhibiting athleticism and mastery over Caniparoli’s rigorous choreography, even though some of the more extreme actorly bits — and the last moment visual spoof of quite literally throwing a kitchen sink onto the stage — didn’t quite land. The bill continued with Seiwert’s own Renaissance, which she choreographed in 2019. For the soundtrack, the incoming Artistic Director chose a collection of soulful Eastern European folk songs recorded by Oakland-based Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble. Less frenetic than the opener, the piece allowed the company to breathe and emphasize the eloquence of their dancing, striking a fascinating balance between comforting familiarity and fragrant exoticism.

The evening concluded with the newest ballet of the lot, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Tupelo Tornado. Choreographed just this year, the piece is the only misfire in an otherwise impressive set of company commissions, all of which are making their New York premieres during this visit. Drawing inspiration from the distinctive works of choreographers like Crystal Pite and Sharon Eyal — as well as good old experimental theater — Tupelo Tornado takes a stylized look back at Elvis Presley’s momentous career, wrapping in with it the good, the bad, and the ugly (including his appropriation of Black music and dubious relationship with fame). Unfortunately, the resulting concoction is muddled and failed to leave much of a lasting impression.

RECOMMENDED

SMUIN CONTEMPORARY BALLET
Dance
The Joyce Theater
2 hours (with two intermissions)
Through July 14