In her program note, Smuin Artistic Director Amy Seiwert says she chose the title of “Future Forward,” playing through Apr. 25 at the Cowell Theater before stops in Walnut Creek and Mountain View, based on a conversation with a friend about “roots and wings.” The roots, she writes, ground us to our lineage, while the wings allow us to expand that lineage. Indeed, the show does feature a pair of throwback ballets alongside two world premieres. Still, the title’s a bit of a stretch in describing the show we get. Perhaps a more apt title would have been “Connections?”
To Seiwert’s credit, at least it’s a good show. We begin with Katarzyna Skarpetowska’s 2021 piece “Sextette,” a story-free ballet set to Bach’s “Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor.” As the title cheekily implies, it features six dancers (Tessa Barbour, Jacopo Calvo, Maggie Carey, Tess Lane, Eleanor Prince, and João Sampaio) dressed in tighty-whities exploring various levels of physical intimacy. It’s the piece that evokes the greatest sense of play from the ensemble, even if their physical closeness and skimpy attire suggest something beyond childlike innocence. It’s a good opener, with Skarpetowska’s choreography demanding a great deal of en pointe steps that are pulled off gracefully.
Things get more solitary for 1986’s “Hearts Suite,” by the late Michael Smuin. It features a classic commedia dell’arte clown (Yuri Rogers) and the woman he loves (Claire Buehler). “Pagliacci” taught us that such a story never ends well, but Smuin and Raquel Bitton’s ballet isn’t as tragic as Leoncavallo’s opera in which the wife and lover are murdered. Still, there’s a natural sense of melancholy that comes from hearing Édith Piaf singing over the action. Buehler and Rodgers have wonderful chemistry, with the latter only outshining the former simply by having more stage time.
The first world premiere is Andi Schermoly’s “Jane Doe,” which should have been prefaced with a trigger warning for domestic violence. The loose story of Schermoly’s ballet features six femme dancers moving rigidly around wooden chairs as if tethered to them. At one point, the ladies are treated as literal marionettes by the six masculine dancers. It looks as if things will take an inspirational turn when one of the ladies (Tessa Barbour) defiantly takes a literal and figurative stand, but then it takes a darker route. The men don boxing gloves and shorts, smiling all the time as they use the women as their opponents.
There’s no debating the narrative power of Schermoly’s piece, and I was grateful that its portrayal isn’t graphic. Nevertheless, it’s the sort of topic that calls for a warning.
The show concludes with its second world premiere, Amy Seiwert’s “Still Falling.” As if to act as the thesis statement to the previous three pieces, it begins with a sport coat-wearing dancer (Ricardo Dyer) seeming to fight through depression. He finds physical intimacy with others, but the pained expression on his face suggests he does this more out of habit than pleasure. The only sense of understanding seems to come from another dancer (Maggie Carey) who seems equally disconnected. That the two reflect one another, with Carey ending the piece similar to how Dyer begins, is as touching as it is sad.
If the overall point of “Future Forward” was moving beyond one’s limits, the dour endings of its latter half seem to contradict that idea. In fact, they make it seem as if tragic ends are inevitable. However, if the point of the show is that Smuin Ballet’s past and future are defined by recognizable talent, then they’ve succeeded. A skilled troupe of dancers and motivated choreographers have created a well-crafted quartet of ballets. Just be forewarned: the show takes an uncomfortably dark turn after the intermission.
Smuin Ballet’s “Future Forward” runs through Apr. 25, at the Cowell Theater at Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd, Ste 260. The production will then run May 1 through May 3 at the Lescher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Dr, Walnut Creek. It will conclude its run May 14 through May 17 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St, Mountain View. Tickets are $28 to $95.