Quickly gaining a reputation for pulling some of the world’s finest choreographers to San Francisco, Smuin Ballet’s world premiere of Trey McIntyre’s Oh, Inverted World is a stunner. Set to music by The Shins, McIntyre fully lives up to his reputation as one of the most sought-after choreographers working today.
Set in the center of the program (after Smuin’s Brahms-Haydn Variations and before Bluegrass/Slyde with its excellent pole dancing a la Bela Fleck), the energy shifts abruptly from the classic pretty princess arabesques to something that crackles with electricity. The company appears in shorts (with nary a tiara in sight) and McIntyre’s vibrant talent swallows the stage. Running and springing and using each other’s bodies to propel themselves into ever more beautiful lines, the dancers exude a joy in motion that seems to both glorify and epitomize the way the human body can move. You’ll grin like a maniac the whole way through.
Through October 9. Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon Street. Tickets are $20-62 at 415-978-2787 or smuinballet.org.
