Michael Smuin - RIP

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Moraldo Rubini
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Michael Smuin - RIP

Post by Moraldo Rubini »

It's with a great deal of sadness that I'm reporting the death of Michael Smuin. Smuin danced on Broadway and was a principal with ABT before returning to San Francisco as Director of the San Francisco Ballet from 1973-1985. His work with the San Francisco Ballet was often seen on PBS' Dance in America. His choreography for Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was the best I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot: Joffrey, Bolshoi, ABT, Royal Ballet, among others). The televised version of this won him an Emmy. After leaving SFB, he started his own company. He collapsed this morning while in rehearsal for his company's upcoming tour. His works were expressive and often evocative of the human condition. Man, I'm going to miss him...

Smuin became a favorite choreographer for local film makers. Francis Ford Coppola hired him to choreograph the sparkling dance numbers in The Cotton Club, as well as Rumble Fish and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He received special thanks from George Lucas for his movement work on Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. Other choreographic credits include Martha Coolidge's Angie; and A Walk in the Clouds, directed by Alfonso Arau.

RIP Michael Smuin. Your work will live on.
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