San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
We profile Smuin dancer and choreographer Ben Needham-Wood
Like professional athletes, ballet dancers start their careers with the clock ticking loudly. For Ben Needham-Wood, the humbling knowledge that every body is subject to the vicissitudes of age and injury echoed with particular force when a severely injured leg threatened to end his dance ambitions before he even got started. The Smuin Contemporary Ballet star has beaten the odds, emerging as a magnificent dancer and promising choreographer. But the experience of near catastrophe has imbued him with uncommon foresight. Although he makes the most of every moment, Needham-Wood also keeps an eye on the long game, preparing himself for the day when he hangs up his slippers and steps into arts leadership roles.
The trouble that almost nipped his budding dance career started a few months before signing his first contract with the Louisville Ballet in the summer of 2008, when Needham-Wood “found out that my leg was broken in nine places,” he said. Despite knowing he’d most likely need surgery, he joined the company, figuring “I wanted to check that box. I’d worked so hard to show that I had the capacity to be a professional dancer.”
The Massachusetts native ended up flourishing during his five-year stint in Louisville, and by careful nutrition and a bone stimulation device “the fractures closed by the time I moved to the Bay Area,” he said. “My mom’s mantra was ‘Tomorrow is never promised and today is a gift.’ I’ve got that tattooed on my right arm. We never know if we’re going to be back in the studio tomorrow. Knowing that has guided my whole dance career.”
That sense of urgency has helped make the 31-year-old NeedhamWood a crucial part of Smuin. Since joining the company in 2013, he’s worked closely with master dance makers setting commissions for the company, like Trey McIntyre’s “Be Here Now.”
He’s dancing several roles, including Rex Wheeler’s new piece set to “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” for Smuin’s upcoming performances of the ever-changing holiday favorite “The Christmas Ballet,” running Wednesday through Sunday, Dec. 5-9, at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and Dec. 13-24 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
“I asked Rex to choreograph a new duet for two men, a technically bravura piece with Ben in mind,” said Smuin Artistic Director Celia Fushille. “He’s such an incredibly versatile dancer. He can do hip-hop, something jazzy or something super-contemporary. He’s often selected by different choreographers because of his willingness to come in without an agenda, to be a blank slate.” Needham-Wood came into the Smuin orbit via Amy Seiwert, the former Smuin dancer and longtime choreographer-inresidence with the company. She met him early in his career while working on the Louisville Ballet commission “Smiling Underneath” and was deeply impressed by his skill and curiosity. When she launched her own summer company, Imagery, Seiwert hired him as one of the first dancers and encouraged him to apply for an open spot at Smuin.
Last year, Sacramento Ballet hired Seiwert as artistic director, and she knew that new job’s heaping responsibilities meant she couldn’t keep Imagery going on her own. Needham-Wood was the obvious choice for a two-year stint as Imagery’s first artistic fellow, a position designed to provide on-thejob arts leadership training, Seiwert said.
“In this field, there’s such a big jump between being a principal dancer or choreographer and being an artistic director,” Seiwert said. “You’re expected to know how to read a budget and how to work with a board. Ben has all the creative ambition, and he could also see the value in knowing about the other side of the equation. He takes advantage of every opportunity to the nth degree and does so with joy.”
No project better exemplifies NeedhamWood’s enviable batting average when it comes to exploiting opportunities than “BaseBallet.” A collaboration with dancer Weston Krukow, the son of Giants’ broadcaster Mike Krukow, the 30-minute film documents their choreography on the field at AT&T Park, making a compelling case for the athleticism of ballet (and the graceful agility required for baseball).
“BaseBallet” earned a 2016 Northern California Emmy Award for outstanding achievement for arts/entertainment-feature/segment. Looking to build on their first home run, Needham-Wood and Krukow created Athletic Art Productions and produced the follow-up “BaseBallet: Into the Game.” Featuring a score by cellist Ben Sollee, the film was broadcast on NBC Sports Bay Area, earned four 2018 Northern California Emmys and various film festival honors.
A new film, “Avoidance,” is already in the can. Directed by Matthew McKee, who was at the helm for “Into the Game,” the eight-minute short features ODC’s James Gilmer and San Francisco Ballet’s Jennifer Stahl exploring “this
face as artists,” Needham-Wood said. “The film focuses on two people who are trying to discover something that’s missing in themselves.” Needham-Wood doesn’t sound like a dancer contemplating retirement, but he’s already built a deep foundation for his life offstage. “It’s unusual to find a dancer already thinking about their future,” Fushille said. “They often haven’t given a lot of thought about what to do when they’re finished. But from the moment Ben arrived he was saying I want to be an artistic director, I want to run a company. Just like a sponge, he’s been taking it all in.”