I reviewed the Smuin Ballet for today’s Chronicle:

“Death privileges the living. Had Michael Smuin survived the heart attack that felled him during company class in April, he would be incensed to see me reviewing the latest Smuin Ballet show. Never a darling with the critics, Smuin was happy to return the disdain, but he and I were a special case. As a young dance writer itching for a nemesis, I was only too pleased to sneer at his populism. I hope if he could read these words he would also take satisfaction in seeing me apologize for my tone.

I hope too that he’d be happy to know the Smuin Ballet program that opened Friday and continues this week at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre may be an ideal representation of his legacy. It proves why thousands of fans sell out his company’s engagements, and why reviewers routinely harped on his unsubtle ways. It also proves that to fault Smuin’s choreography for lacking nuance and sophistication is to miss the point.”

Click here for the full review.