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Smuin fans were out in force; prior to the curtain and during intermission, the audience was enticed not only by autographed toe shoes and the ubiquitous tee-shirt offerings, but two persons lent a community air in craft displays. A basket displayed hand carded and spun wool knitted into head bands and narrow scarves. A second person, native to Nice, created small soaps, some imbedded with pressed flowers, and optional boxes inventively covered and ornately embellished.

The program indicated four dancers from last season were no longer on the roster; two names turned up over the weekend on the revitalized Oakland Ballet roster. The three males were replaced by Darren Anderson, Ryan Camou and Shane Messac Tice, the latter the son of Ronn Tice and Megali Messac, former dancers with ABT. Shannon Hulbert remains on the roster.

Mozart with minis, men with shirtless suits was an immediate visual impression of Amy Seiwart’s pas de six, Been Through Diamonds is several notches beyond a La Ronde plot, but in each couple one, or both, yearn for someone else, all well interspersed with trios, quartets and a brief pas de deux at a lighthearted Amadeus clip. A premiere, it was refreshing, crisply delivered,, testimony not only to the dancers’ capacities, but Seiwart’s continuing choreographic skill and her decided penchant working with gesture. She testifies that classical aesthetics isn’t totally forgotten in the ensemble or repertoire.

Robert Sund’s Carmen is distinguished by Julie Allardice-Ray’s scenic design, like a period cut paper silhouette of a tavern with patio. Doubtless adapting the scenario to the Mile Davis music, the ballet opens with Jose on his knees behind a metal grille, Carmen making a brief entry down stage right, as a uniformed guard removes the grille. Micaela and Jose were initially seen as affectionate, danced by Erin Yarborough-Stewart and Aaron Thayer, blonde, American in character inflection. When Jessica Touchet arrives in red, Carmen is immediately on the make with any male flicking his gaze her way. The women fend her off expertly. There is no hint of Jose as a soldier, Carmen as a cigarette factory worker or of her being jailed; she’s simply a practiced trollop. Micaela makes a valiant effort in several passages, but obviously is no match for Carmen’s overt, aggressive sexual invitation. Jose’s wavering, clear choreographically, elicited Carmen’s almost immediate boredom after conquest. Ryan Canou as Escamillo conveyed contrasting machismo, his showmanship rousing Carmen, making Touchet closer to Carmen’s character.

Sund departed from the story with a face off between Micaela and Carmen, the former being defended and supported by the women, though getting roughed up. Yarborough-Stewart’s alternate despair, plucky defense and ultimate rejection of Jose were nicely drawn. The final argument between Jose and Carmen possessed some punch, Jose resorting to Carmen’s scarf rather than knife as death instrument. The ballet ended with Jose behind the grille again, rejected by the group, finally, by Micaela.

The company did well by Sund’s concept; I kept comparing it to Petit who came in first.

Smuin’s 1994 Dances with Songs, a string of popular tunes with the dancers silhouetted in the Prologue, demonstrated Smuin’s ability to leave taste behind the door and just how clever his dances can be. Tiny blonde Brooke Reynolds draped over a portable ballet barre in semi-seductive cum narcissism style to strains of Unforgettable. Ryan Canou was bare to the waist, executing multiple pirouettes and swift developpes for Heartbreak House.

In Fever, Robin Cornwell worked with a collapsible red metal chair matching her long-sleeved Milliskin unitard. Slithering, twirling and draping her physique over the prop, she lent Amazon-like dimension, managing to keep the piece several paces removed from burlesque. If cover up is sexy, Cornwell had it in spades. The Darren Anderson-Jean Michelle Sayag reading of Georgia with its lap dancing, low-slung cut shorts, and behind-the-barn air, made it easy to see why Sayag was to alternate as Carmen. In Penny Lane, Shannon Hulburt’s marvelous ability with taps and timing roused the audience to the evening’s most enthusiastic.