© Howard Schatz Smuin Ballet reviews Renee Renouf reviews

In the foyer ecru sheets asked those attending to supply a favorite Smuin anecdote to add to the Smuin archive of memories. Shane Smuin, Michael and Paula’s son, had left nothing to chance.

I managed to slip into a seat between Joan Lazarus, the West Wave Festival producer, and Nancy Johnson, one of the early ballerinas of Lew Christensen’s era, seated close to the right aisle in the last row besides Steve Poulos, Nancy's husband whose career has embraced Indian culture, politics and US administration of such academic subjects. For me that was a double connection.

The stage was dominated by a large screen where images of Michael at various stages of his life flashed by, some repeated later in an absorbing program lasting from eleven to nearly one. At eleven the screen stated Song for a Dead Warrior, Michael Smuin, 10/13/38-4/23/07, punctuated by a ceremonial wail common to Amer-Indian ceremonies from Michael’s native Montana.

The program then proceeded chronologically, with screened images, then commentary by some one most appropriate: The Early Days by Stephen Smuin, one of Michael’s two brothers; The Dancer by Finis Jhung, studying with him in Salt Lake City, dancing in San Francisco Ballet; The Nightclub with observations by Paula Tracy Smuin; San Francisco Ballet in his capacity as co-artistic director by Evelyn Cisneros; Theater Work with designer Tony Walton; Film Work without commentary; Smuin Ballet observations by Patti Hume, President of the Smuin Ballet board; and the wrap up by Shane Smuin, Dad and Me. Just before Patti Hume’s comments Shannon Hurlburt danced Bells of Dublin and before Shane’s tribute Robin Cornwall performed When You Wish Upon a Star.

Before starting his comments, Stephen asked for the hands of those dancers who had studied with or under Michael or danced with or for Michael; fully one third of the audience in front of me raised their hands. Supported by images of grandparents and pictures of the trio of brothers, Stephen related Michael’s first stab at dancing - tap. After seeing a performance of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, the real fire first burst forth; Mrs. Smuin told Michael he would have to earn money for lessons, having deserted his early hoofing exercises. Michael did so; a paper route; mowing lawns; janitorial lessons at his teacher’s studio, etc.

The Smuins took Michael to Salt Lake City to be appraised by Willam Christensen; that fall, Michael at 15 left home to study at the University of Utah and to dance with Ballet West. He came to San Francisco Ballet under Lew Christensen’s direction at age 16. While not mentioned, Smuin was one of several young men San Francisco Ballet fostered and lost to New York companies; they later became artistic directors: Michael; Kent Stowell to New York City Ballet before Hamburg and then Pacific Northwest Ballet; Terry Orr to American Ballet Theater and ultimately to Pittsburgh. Before Finis made his remarks, the young Smuin at Stern Grove, dancing Divertissement d’Auber, captured his ease, elan and energy. Clips following captured glimpses of Smuin in Petrouchka; the first Fancy Free sailor; Ailey’s The River and Billy the Kid. Each set of images cemented the impression that Smuin’s intensity and energy overflowed, dominating his classical technique.

Finis, who paid tribute to Michael as the star, the one to emulate, remembers Michael saying to him when they first met that he’d never made a principal dancer because “You’re small, bow-legged and Asian.” He recalled double tour contests in class returning to a handkerchief that Smuin placed on the floor. They painted houses in the summer in Salt Lake City to pay for their keep; painting after class at 7 in the morning, followed by a class at night to end the eight hour day on a ladder. Michael’s loyalty, however, was unswerving. He arranged to have Finis audition for Lew Christensen; Jhung joined San Francisco Ballet, later the Joffrey and Harkness Ballets before switching to teaching and ardently following Buddhism.

 

Before Paula made her remarks, we were treated to an early Smuin exclusive bit for the TV show On Broadway, a spoof on James Bond. Opening shot; Paula in skin-tight glistening Milliskin draped on a bed, sporting horn rim glasses and a book titled Ian Fleming and Agent 007 on its cover; the image of a lady with a sexy shape and keen knowledge of its best uses. A lean, taut Smuin entered;the ensuing pas de deux draped Paula over his back and slithering down his legs to the floor. Ultimately, she gives him a key; he disappears, she returns to the bed, picks up book and glasses, one eye from behind the cover. Huge warm applause.

Paula recounted their departure to New York City, auditioning for ballet companies. She was accepted at New York City Ballet, he at ABT, but they wanted to be in a company together. They went to Broadway, he to work under Fosse, she to experience a Richard Rodgers musical. Then came their three-year stint as a night club act, which they replaced with seven years with ABT and the birth of Shane.

San Francisco Ballet was next. These were the years I knew them the most; the company, having survived the SOB campaign, was vibrant with the air of a open, well-guided collective. I remember Michael saying, “If someone wants to dance a role and goes to the trouble to learn it, they can have a shot at it.”

Before Evelyn Cisneros spoke on the years with San Francisco Ballet, scenes from the televised Romeo and Juliet, the Tempest and Songs for a Dead Warrior and Hearts reeled across the screen; Diana Weber, Jim Sohm as the Verona lovers; Cisneros with Tom Ruud in the Tempest; Antonio Lopez as the ill-fated Amer-Indian warrior; Daniel Meja with Russell Murphy and Cisnernos in Hearts.

Evelyn related her first impression of Michael upon arrival in 1976. Taking class, Michael arrived, arms filled with flowers. He gave each woman appearing in Romeo and Juliet a bouquet. She added this gesture was never repeated. She stated Michael had the ability to see a dancer’s potential, to create dances allowing the uniqueness to emerge in the same way Michelangelo said he released the angel from the marble.

Tony Walton followed Cisneros, but not before there was a substantive display of Smuin's work with Sophisticated Ladies, Cotton Club, Anything Goes, Canciones por mi Padre and Shogun. A sequence was inserted with Michael paired with the late Gregory Hines. In the opening sequence Hines and Smuin tapped side by side; then two solo sequences displayed Hines' virtuosic capacities. Rather than trying to top him, Smuin chose a variation on a buck and wing, moving laterally in near balletic form, as if to say, “and so on and so forth,” avoiding comparison. The second exchange elicited a similar response to the Hines footwork before the two concluded side by side, Hines leading a mutual bear hug as finale.

Walton delivered one of his ‘doggerels’ with asides and memories of Michael’s appreciation of women, telling the audience that Michael had told him he wanting to die either dancing or making love. He spoke of recommending Michael for Sophisticated Ladies "because it was doomed, and Michael was far away enough not to know that it was doomed.” Thanks to Michael, doomed became delight, making Smuin a hot property on the Broadway musical roster.

The section on Film Work included the devastating violence of Rumble Fish; subsequently relieved by glimpses of The Cotton Club and The Fantasticks,

Shannon Hulburt’s rendition of The Bells of Dublin owed much to Hulburt’s talents, but one could see Smuin’s assessment of Hulburt’s talent in there, plus his awareness where accents should be placed, relieving the straight body-arms-by-the-side correct Irish form with a sudden double tour, a graceful circle while tapping, an arabesque or an aerial turn, all accented by Hulburt’s beautifully straight back and elastic plie. The audience responded warmly.

The Smuin Ballet snippets preceding Patti Hume included layers of plumes from the Christmas Ballet with Cecilia Fusile-Burke, two Carmina Burana excerpts, Michael's recent classical essay to Schubert.

Patti Hume, serving as president of Smuin Ballet since its inception, related the impetus of the company stemming a Smuin request for assistance in a charity affair. She told Michael he had only one I.O.U. and what did he really want to do. When Michael said he wanted his own company “danced to recorded music,” Hume supported and stood by him to realize it. The depth of the connection registered in Hume’s difficulty in completing her comments.

Smuin Ballet member Robin Cornwall danced an exceptionally graceful When You Wish Upon a Star, seen earlier with Cynthia Gregory. As Smuin later remarked in clips of an interview in the format Smuin Ballet utilized that many more subtleties and nuances were required in the close up nature of the venues the company utilized. Cornwall, her lean physique still managing to appear lush, displayed excellent inflections in her port de bras and passing emphasis to arabesques and turns. The audience did everything but cheer.

After the images of Shane from babyhood through shared adventures, the last being jointly parachuting embracing each other, Shane’s comments were brief, reiterating how much his father worked and embraced working. Somewhere, whether in the interview or Shane’s comments Michael said that perhaps some of his works will live, that he would like that; also,that it would be nice if the company could become a nucleus for new choreographic work; that in his memory he’d like a performance and a party.

Then it was over; the older people, Smuin audience fans, began filing out, others clustered to greet long-separated colleagues and to speak to Paula Tracy and Shane Smuin: Gina and Tony Ness; Gardner Carlson; Jamie Zimmerman; Francia Russell, Kent Stowell, Christopher Stowell; Jim Sohm; Lynda Meyer; Carolyn Houser Carvajal; Katherine Warner; Virginia Johnson; Nancy Dickson; Alexander Topciy- one of Smuin’s most glorious Romeo’s; all had worked or studied with Michael in his first round with SFB. For the Smuin Ballet phase there was Nemesio Paredes; Amy Seiwert and Ikolo Griffin

While this account may seem overlong to ballet.co readers, Michael Smuin was a part of my ballet-going life from 1956, first joining San Francisco Ballet, until he and Paula Tracy left for New York City in 1961. Arriving in the Bay Area after his appointment as co-artistic director of San Francisco Ballet, Dance News was still being actively published. His 1984 altercation with San Francisco Ballet and Lew Christensen’s death occurred just 18 months after Helen Atlas ceased publishing Dance News. I had exchanged views at various points with Michael until A Song for Dead Warriors placed him on the film track and choreographing for musicals, a world beyond our one-time easy exchanges in the cramped, make-shift quarters on 18th Avenue.

Michael’s energy was unique, irreplaceable. He broke a mold, got San Francisco Ballet noticed, particularly via television. I did not always agree with him; I miss him nonetheless.