San Francisco Ballet - "Mere Mortals"

San Francisco Ballet
Mere Mortals
War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
May 3rd, 2026

This past Sunday, Bay Area dance audiences marked a moment in time as San Francisco Ballet danced the final performance of its current season. What a way to say goodbye! Or I guess more accurately, ‘see you later’ as they will be back in the Opera House before we know it. For this last program, Artistic Director Tamara Rojo programmed 2024’s Mere Mortals. Choreographed by Aszure Barton to an original score by Floating Points, the one-act, hour-plus performance was completely hypnotic, potent and mesmerizing. And though this was not the first time the work has graced the War Memorial stage, this was the first time I had seen it.

As Mere Mortals commenced, electronic music rumbled from the orchestra pit. Dry ice filtered onto the stage, alit with glowing red tones. Wei Wang took center stage in a slick black unitard (costumes by Michelle Jank). Hamill Industries’ celestial projections abounded. Everything about Mere Mortals was decidedly futuristic and you could hear a pin drop in the theater as viewers took it all in.

Mere Mortals has a narrative foundation, with its source material found in the Greek myth of Pandora’s box. Pandora is tempted by a jar that she is not to open. And when she gives into that temptation, havoc is released. Over the course of sixty-seven minutes, you could see that story arc and its characters, relationships, confrontations and consequences. There was emotion. There was desire. And plenty of manipulation at play.

San Francisco Ballet in
Aszure Barton & Floating Points'
Mere Mortals
Photo Lindsey Rallo

While I too saw the story unfolding, for me, Mere Mortals was most impressive as a conceptual science fiction adventure. Like a dance experience launching the viewer into an otherworldly atmosphere, introducing the inhabitants of a new land, a new place. With an eclectic mix of choreographic language, Wang (as Hope) welcomed us aboard this journey. His solo was peppered with flexed feet and superpassé, but also very classical developpés and mid-air rotations.

Then came the full cast; an army of dancers aggressively taking the space. They moved with urgency, their pulsing motions mirroring the score. Led by Joseph Walsh as Prometheus, stylized pedestrianism and pounding fists suggested militaristic robots, though it didn’t necessarily read as nefarious. More just the intense power that can be found in a committed collective. Nikisha Fogo’s Pandora emerged from the group, rising above and orbiting around them. Coordinating arms gave a decidedly reptilian tone; quizzical heads also suggesting other species. And Fogo’s series of promenade to passé reinforced themes of control and measuredness.

Mere Mortals had fantastic visual effects, though audience members who suffer from motion sickness may have had to look away during the lengthy, moving projection sequence mid-way through.

Now clad in lamé gold, Wang’s character reappeared in the last third of the piece, like he was bookending the experience. The ensemble, also now in gold, joined him, and the stage looked like a glowing sun. Earlier choreography for Wang and the corps returned, but the mood and tone was quite different. There was a peacefulness and calm, even in Barton’s staccato movements. And a slow rise in sixth position appeared to signal a new chapter, the beginning of another day or perhaps the conclusion of our journey to the land of Mere Mortals. 

San Francisco Ballet in Aszure Barton & Floating Points' Mere Mortals
Photo Lindsey Rallo

Smuin Contemporary Ballet - "Future Forward"

Smuin Contemporary Ballet
Future Forward
Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek
May 1st, 2026

In just a matter of weeks, Smuin Contemporary Ballet’s 2025/2026 season will reach its conclusion. And what a year it has been! Mixed repertory programs, premiere works, a holiday extravaganza and the launch of their new choreographic platform, Spring Point. Before heading to Mountain View, the final bill of the year, Future Forward, ran for a weekend at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek. It was terrific. Ahead of curtain, Artistic Director Amy Seiwert shared that the four ballets we were about to see were incredibly different, and that was not an exaggeration. Future Forward gave us storytelling. Topically urgent narratives. Embodied grace. And it highlighted the link between choreographic and musical form. It was a great night of concert dance and certainly had this viewer (and I’m sure others) anxious to see what Smuin has in store as it looks ahead to its future.

Yuri Rogers and Maggie Carey in
Skarpetowska’s Sextette 
Photo Maximillian Tortoriello

Katarzyna Skarpetowska’s Sextette (2021) took the first leg of the evening’s ballet tour. And it was a brilliant journey into compositional structure. The suite for six dancers (four women, two men) beautifully mirrors its Baroque score by J.S. Bach. A long era in music history (1600-1750, depending on who you ask), the Baroque style is known for certain characteristics. One is how voices exist as simultaneously independent and interdependent. Individual musical lines are strong in their own right, and at the same time, enter a conversation with others. Like in an invention or a fugue. That conversation continues and develops until the piece in question reaches its finale. 

So, with Sextette. It was an ongoing exchange between the classical and contemporary worlds. The music, of course, was classical. The white shorts and crop tops (costuming by Susan Roemer), contemporary. A courtly atmosphere. Pointe shoes. And this dialogue was especially pronounced in Skarpetowska’s choreography. Classical petit allegro was contrasted with parallel stances. Textbook arabesques cascaded into bird arms. Russian pas de chats and temps de cuisse were followed by inventive interpretations on the classic fish dive.

More or less, we stayed in the same historical era for Michael Smuin and Raquel Bitton’s Hearts Suite, a dramatic, theatrical duet that delves into the commedia dell-arte and operatic spaces. Here we experienced ballet as storytelling. Danced (compellingly) at this performance by Tess Lane and Dominic Barrett, Hearts Suite is unrequited love. Through its solo and shared moments, it conveys yearning, longing and desire, and as the pas de deux ends, the resolution is somewhat unclear. And I think that’s on purpose.

Having premiered on San Francisco Ballet in 1986, Hearts Suite is forty. The three other works in Future Forward are from the current decade. Programming something from somewhere in the middle might have been an idea to consider. But regardless of its age, Hearts Suite served as a reminder of how incredibly intricate Michael Smuin’s choreography was and is. It looks lyrical and easeful, but at its core, it is both technically intricate and deeply layered.

Andi Schermoly’s Jane Doe opened with a non-descript egalitarian quality. Six couples, costumed by Christopher Dunn, in black; charcoal chairs dotting the space. Each woman stared ahead stoically, with dread, and immediately, I was concerned for them. As the world premiere continued, it was clear that the concern was well-founded. An urgent narrative was unfolding – the treatment of women by men. Their limbs were manipulated by their partners. Palms were violently grabbed. Dancers were aggressively dragged across the floor. Hands clasped over mouths. It felt perilous. And then a potent shift. In a physical statement of defiance and strength, the six women came together in a determined, grounded variation, complete with staccato, body percussion. Jane Doe’s first two-thirds confronted the audience, and it was powerful.

As Jane Doe went on, it ventured a little into the Dance Theater realm – adding elements like additional costuming, music, props, scenework and intentional absurdity. But dipping into that genre for a short time doesn’t always read, and in this case, Jane Doe’s thread got a bit lost. 

Eleanor Prince & Dominic Barrett in
Seiwert's Still Falling
Photo Maximillian Tortoriello

Future Forward closed with another world premiere, Seiwert’s Still Falling. Set against Jim French’s ombré cyclorama, Still Falling was a multi-chaptered suite where elegance reigned supreme. Whether in solo, duets, trios, quintets or full cast expressions, every movement, every moment, was polished and refined. And it featured Seiwert’s singular way of exploring the possibilities that ballet vocabulary and technique have. Elegance was certainly the throughline, but there were plenty of moods and tones at play. Some chapters were sweeping and expansive, others delicate and soft. A broad dynamic spectrum was on full display. Smooth, legato variations against sprightly, precise gestures. Still Falling was ravishing and I cannot wait to see it again.

 

Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Alonzo King LINES Ballet
Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
April 18th, 2026 (matinee)

It’s been a minute since I last saw LINES Ballet in performance. Schedules just weren’t aligned in the last few years, and so I’ve missed a number of their recent engagements. Luckily, things did line up this year and I was able to take in the company’s 2026 spring home season which paired the world premiere of Legacy with an encore of 2024’s Ode to Alice Coltrane. Even with the passage of some time, the program was everything I remember LINES to be. Collaboration was central with both works celebrating the marriage of music and movement. The company, including some newer faces, is as technically astonishing as ever. And there is an air of exquisite elegance. In Artistic Director Alonzo King’s choreography. In the dancers’ interpretation of that physical syntax. In the artistic dialog that sang from the stage. Such a delightful afternoon at the theater!

 Dancer Maël Amatoul and musician esperanza spalding in King's Legacy
Photo Chris Hardy

The debut of Legacy was the centerpiece of LINES’ 2026 bill, a sixteen-piece suite that brought the company into a living conversation with bassist, singer and composer esperanza spalding. Dancers in sparkling, glittery, sequined costumes entered and exited the space with graceful, expansive, sweeping limbs – arms and legs seemed to extend to infinity and beyond. Wearing a gorgeous flowing gown, spalding and her upright bass took the downstage right corner. A brilliant combination of recording, looping, live strings and vocals imbued the atmosphere as the dancers continued their statements of artistic strength and physical wonder. There were directional shifts. Lightning-fast motion. Undulating torsos and off-center balances. Deep, deep plié and wide standing postures. The aesthetic was undeniably Alonzo King choreography. Undeniably LINES Ballet.

As the thirty-minute work continued, there was a special chapter that stood out from the rest. Costumed (by Robert Rosenwasser) in white, feathery cropped pants, company artist Lorris Eichinger emerged from the wings, and from the start to the end of his variation, was completely locked in with spalding. Theirs was a moment for statements, answers, questions and exclamations and it made at least this viewer, yearn for more such connections. Legacy was clearly a live, performative conversation and for much of it, spalding seemed relatively alone in that endeavor. She certainly made a visible and earnest effort to connect with the dancers onstage and when it did happen (like with Eichinger), it was magical. 

Rounding out LINES Ballet’s 2026 spring season was 2024’s Ode to Alice Coltrane, a second meeting of score and physicality. Set to recordings from jazz musician and composer Alice Coltrane, the multi-episode work featured much of the signature LINES style. Huge leaps met with extended jazz lay-outs, as did fouetté turns with some truly phenomenal demi-pointe balances. 

Tatum Quiñónez and LINES company in King's Ode to Alice Coltrane
Photo Chris Hardy

The beginning and ending of Ode to Alice Coltrane were dramatic and deliciously charged. As the piece opened, dancers slowly crawled like cats in front of a large, transforming black scenery flat. Harp music, atmospheric haze and Rosenwasser’s filmy, gauzy costumes added a decidedly ethereal tone to the space. And the juxtaposition of that lightness with King’s grounded movement provided an interesting textural depth. Ode to Alice Coltrane’s final sections brought an updated interpretation of Dvořák’s New World Symphony to the table. Everything about those final moments was uplifting and otherworldly. Like a sumptuous journey of discovery. 

At nearly fifty minutes, Ode to Alice Coltrane felt on the lengthy side. For me, the middle sections seemed to abide in a fairly similar space – dynamic- and movement-wise. But lengthy or not, the choreography is beautiful, the dancers are stunning and the experience is one to remember.