Smuin Ballet

This performance features some of the last works created by Michael Smuin prior to his untimely death on April 23, 2007. Scubert Scherzo is his latest piece. Smuin may have written this as his eulogy. It is a compendium of typical movements from his own developed vocabulary. This is a creative, joyful, vivacious, unaffected, athletic and with traditional movements modulated by the modern. Obrigado, Brazil is a one-act ballet set on the entire company to the seductive rhythms of South American music; an exotic journey that utilizes classical, samba, and bossa nova dance vocabulary. Bells of Dublin was originally choreographed for internationally acclaimed tap dancer Sam Weber. This is an example of Michael Smuin’s Tony Award winning Broadway style. Shinju is a powerful and striking works based on an 18th century Japanese play about two star-crossed lovers; an exotic mix of Japanese Noh theater and classical ballet.