When Smuin Ballet opens its spring program, Future Forward, set to run April 17 – May 17, there will be two world premieres in addition to two reprisals from the past. Notably, Artistic Director Amy Seiwert has commissioned a new work from the internationally recognized Andrea “Andi” Schermoly.
Usually, a director would request that a choreographer new to the company set a work that has already proven to be a success by another organization. But on the strength of her portfolio, Seiwert felt confident that Schermoly could create an entirely new piece for her dancers despite never having worked with them before.
The guest choreographer said she feels that Seiwert wanted her because “I had good chemistry to bring out something in the dancers – to explore, highlight, and grow some of their individual personalities and talents,” Schermoly said. “What I find most rewarding about creating is getting to know other humans and being intuitive about what they want to share in their bodies and minds. I definitely give space for them to shine so that I can carve out a better version of that idea with them as opposed to imposing something on them.”
Born in South Africa, Schermoly explained, “My exposure was really broad there, and I think that has a lot to do with the way I choreograph.” She said her influences included exposure to African and Indian dance forms, flamenco, ballet, and rhythmic gymnastics.
The accompanying score for Smuin, as Schermoly describes it, “is quite a quilt of music.”
“I've injected some surprisingly jarring opposing sounds, and there is a soundscape by Gabriel Gaffney Smith,” she said. “There is also a mixture of choral hymns and Baroque music, and then some spoken word that is more like MeetBox, sort of cubist sounding poetry. Finally, there's a really zany section at the end that I won't give away.”
Smuin has also programmed a world premiere of Seiwert’s 15th ballet, her second work since taking up the reins of the company. She said the process made her realize how age has changed the way she approaches choreography
“As you get older, obviously your body can do less and less,” she said. “So, you're using your words and theories. You see the bodies in front of you more like you're painting with their bodies, as opposed to your own body, and putting it on them. So, to be more influenced by the dancers in front of me, as well as really exploring where my language has developed in the last 19 years leads me to think about what has both changed and what has stayed the same.”
The ballet features music for solo piano by Brahms. That choice of music comes from a suggestion founder Michael Smuin had given her nearly 20 years ago before his passing, when she was working on a different project.
“When you listen to that music,” she explained, “The chord changes are so unexpected, and with the solo piano, time is pulled and stretched and then snapped back into the rhythm... It can just be so fantastic. On the surface, it can look simpler, and it's not.” Smuin plans to have a live pianist at all but one of the San Francisco performances in Future Forward.
The other works on the program are Katarzyna Skarpetowska's Sextette for six dancers set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach, and an excerpt from Michael Smuin's Hearts (Le Ballet des Coeurs) inspired by Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), the French film by Marcel Carné.
