The days grow short in September, but for dance enthusiasts fall’s approach brings bountiful opportunities to experience the Bay Area’s wealth of terpsichorean offerings. Here’s a look.
New at Smuin: The unveiling of Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s next chapter under the director of Amy Seiwert is one of the season’s most eagerly anticipated events. After a carefully choreographed leadership succession, the company opens its fourth decade with Dance Series 1, which features two world premieres. After her groundbreaking career as a freelance choreographer and pandemic-preempted head of Sacramento Ballet, Seiwert has gracefully taken up the reins at Smuin, where she rose from standout dancer to choreographer in residence from 2008-18. Her new work “Renaissance,” which premiered in July at the Joyce Theater, is set to Balkan music by the Bay Area’s great all-women vocal ensemble Kitka, and in hailing the piece the New York Times said it “catches some of the mystery in those otherworldly sounds.”
Running from Sept. 13 – Oct. 20 with shows in Mountain View (Sept. 13-15), Walnut Creek (Sept. 27-28), and San Francisco (Oct. 11-20), Smuin’s fall season also features world premieres by two illustrious choreographers. In her Smuin debut, Jennifer Archibald presents “ByCHANCE,” a dynamic work exploring how chance encounters can spark emotional epiphanies. And BalletX co-founder Matthew Neenan makes his company debut with “The Last Glass,” a series of compact narratives set to a score by the indie-rock band Beirut.
Details: For tickets ($25-$92) or more information visit smuinballet.org.
Revisiting ‘Jane’: Jo Kreiter’s aerial dance company Flyaway Productions and the Tenderloin Museum present the world premiere of “Ode to Jane,” Oct. 4 – 12 at the Cadillac Hotel. Inspired by the underground abortion network named “Jane” that operated in the years before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationally in 1973, “Ode to Jane” explores what the emerging resistance movement looks like today in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision. Featuring seven dancers and an original sound score by Xoa Asa, “Ode to Jane” unfolds on the fire escapes and walls of the Tenderloin’s historic Cadillac Hotel.
Details: Oct. 4-12, The Cadillac Hotel, San Francisco; free; flyawayproductions.com.
Looking for clues: Experts at combining literary sources with narrative dance, sister choreographers Megan and Shannon Kurashige’s Sharp & Fine premieres “A Detective Story,” a dance noir production that aims to turn the familiar formula of the detective genre inside out. Featuring a cast of three couples with one member missing, “A Detective Story” combines the genre’s visual tropes like trench coats, typewriters and McGuffins with high energy modern dance while following a detective as she as her missing-person investigation takes a surreal turn. Drummer Jordan Glenn performs his score live with cellist Ben Davis, reed player Cory Wright, and acoustic guitarist Matt Wrobel.
Details: Oct. 18-20, Z Space, San Francisco; $20-$80; sharpandfine.org.
Tracking a legend: Under the direction of Kim Epifano, San Francisco Trolley Dances became a centerpiece of the Bay Area dance season, activating outdoor spaces around San Francisco with bursts of site-specific dance. With her two-decade tenure as Trolley Dances’ founder and producer coming to an end, her Epiphany Dance Theater company premieres a feature-length film covering the history of Trolley Dances, “Dancing With Muni,” and the more than 1,000 artists who’ve participated over the years. The free celebration includes live performances and a giveaway of costumes, props and other sundries.
Details: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts lobby and Forum; Free.
Great Migration in dance: Washington, D.C.’s celebrated step dance company Step Afrika celebrates its 30th anniversary with “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence,” an evening-length work inspired by painter Jacob Lawrence. Capturing the energy and dynamism that fueled the Great Migration of Black people out of the South in the first half of the 20th century, the production combines kinetic theatricality and African American dance forms such as stepping, tap, body percussion, and modern dance. The vivid décor is based on Lawrence’s famous series of earth-tone canvases from the early 1940s exploring the Black migration experience. Set to a score that includes soaring gospel music, West African drumming and pieces by Nina Simone and John Coltrane, “The Migration” is part of Cal Performances Illuminations “Fractured History” programming for the 2024–25 season.
Details: Nov. 2-3, Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley; $37-$108; calperformances.org.
A new ‘Rite’: Since premiering in 1913 as the score for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, no piece of modern music has played a more important role in contemporary ballet and modern dance than Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Renowned Chinese choreographer Yang Liping and Peacock Contemporary Dance present the U.S. premiere of her “Rite,” which was co-commissioned by Stanford Live. Featuring elaborate set design and exquisite costumes, the production evokes a recursive universe of endless reincarnation by combining Chinese culture with Tibetan concepts of nature and life.
Details: Dec. 6-8, Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University; $15-$140; live.stanford.edu.
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
