South African-born choreographer Andi Schermoly, introspective and troubled over the status of women in the world, has created “Jane Doe,” a new piece for Smuin Contemporary Ballet that addresses the issue.
“Generationally, we seem to take two steps forward and three steps back sometimes, but not because of our own faults; there are a lot of cyclical hardships that I want to open a gateway to talk about,” says Schermoly, an international freelance choreographer and resident choreographer with Louisville Ballet since 2018.
“Jane Doe” premieres on April 17 in San Francisco’s Cowell Theater in Smuin’s “Future Forward” spring season, which continues through May 17 in San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Mountain View. The program also includes “Still Falling,” a premiere by Smuin Artistic Director Amy Seiwert (her 15th premiere for the troupe!), Katarzyna Skarpetowska’s “Sextette” and an excerpt from company founder Michael Smuin’s final San Francisco Ballet opus “Hearts.”
Schermoly, whose mother and grandmother were dancers, studied classical ballet at London’s Royal Ballet School. The former dancer with Boston Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater gravitated toward contemporary movement once she became a choreographer. The interest stemmed from her roots in South Africa, which has a vibrant contemporary dance scene.
“It’s a mixture of definitely having had that exposure early in South Africa with our schools — we had a lot of contemporary classes growing up, equal to our ballet,” she says, noting that African dance, and “so many different forms that are not classical” are popular in her home country and have played a role in her creative development.
Schermoly, who competed internationally on the South African National Rhythmic Gymnastics team and choreographed her own solos, cites Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Ohad Naharin and especially Jiří Kylián, whose dance videos she watched as a child, as influences on her dancemaking.
She adds, “Having danced and worked with Kylián and Nederlands Dans Theater was hugely influential on who I am as a person, too.”
She says Ailey, Naharin and Kylián opened her mind to something “innate” in her: “I really love classical ballet, still saw myself going to a classical ballet company, and my work is still rooted in that, but my soul’s expression gravitated toward the contemporary.”
“Jane Doe” is a series of vignettes that together paint a picture about a generic woman, and challenges facing women in general —the same issues that crop up every generation. While the piece is open to interpretation, Schermoly says audiences will pick up on its theme right away: “It’s like a film noir, a collection of bad dreams, and I’m exposing a few different journeys of women within the piece. A lot of my woes are interpersonally what I know, what I’ve seen friends go through, but then also universally, things that are going on with women’s rights being stripped away again, the Epstein files and just this troubling anonymity — it seems to be one story after the next that’s just anonymous.”
“Jane Doe,” for six female and six male dancers, is set to music by Vivaldi, contemporary Italian composer Marco Rosano and American composer Beth Anderson. Costumes are by Christopher Dunn and lighting is by Jim French.
Although Schermoly is wary of chairs and considers them to be a pedantic tool, in “Jane Doe” they have a useful role: “Our chairs serve as an extension of the women, so it becomes an interesting metaphor throughout the piece,” she explains. “I feel that the chairs are the best portal to open the dancers into, and they actually provide such a nice vehicle for creating movement that the dancers don’t feel like they are just doing steps.”
Though somewhat depressed and in a state of angst over what goes on in the world, Schermoly remains hopeful. She says, “Women are incredibly strong, and the men who are their allies, friends, companions and level-headed people who know how to move through the world with respect are also incredibly strong, so I just have hope that we’re not going to repeat endless cycles of damage.”
Smuin Contemporary Ballet presents “Future Forward” on April 17-26 at the Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Blvd., San Francisco; on May 1-2 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek; and on May 14-17 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. Find tickets ($25-$95) at (415) 912-1899 or smuinballet.org.