CULTUREPHILE: PORTLAND ARTS Blog

beyond the tutu

Interview+Slideshow: Adam Arnold on Designing for OBT’s Spring Show

The Portland fashion designer gives us a behind the scenes glimpse of the creative process for costuming a dance in OBT’s spring program, Chromatic Quartet, opening Thursday at the Newmark.

Posted by: Aaron Scott on Apr 18, 2012 at 08:00AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Choreographer Matjash Mrozewski takes members of the Oregon Ballet Theatre through the steps of The Lost Dance, which will be one of four dances in OBT’s Chromatic Quartet, April 19–28, at the Newmark Theatre. Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert

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Read our review of opening night.

OBT’s spring program, Chromatic Quartet, running from April 19–28, offers four short works that explore how surprising partnerships can make for unbridled inspiration. Opening with a love letter from George Balanchine to his mentor and creative partner, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, the program will also include duet by international contemporary choreographer superstar, Christopher Wheeldon, and an homage to the legendary humanitarian doctor Albert Schweitzer, Lambarena, that combines his beloved Bach with African rhythms. But we’re most excited about the world premier of The Lost Dance by Canadian choreographer Matjash Mrozewski, set to the soundscape of electronic music composer Owen Belton (listen to a preview of his dreamlike composition). Since Mrozewski is no stranger to beautiful costumes, for his Portland premiere, OBT suggested one of Portland’s premiere designers: Adam Arnold.

In between final fittings and filing his taxes, Arnold was kind enough to answer a few questions about the process.

How did this collaboration come about?

I received a call from OBT late last summer asking if I would be interested. Indeed I was! I learned that the choreographer had seen my work online and was impressed after a recommendation by Christopher Stowell for a local designers he should consider for his new work.

You’re a busy man. What excited you about the project enough to give it so much time?

Kind of a story. Back in 2007, I provided clothing for the campaign Who’s Your Dancer? that featured company dancers in fanciful shots, arranged by Alicia Rose. My studio was practically across the street at the time. The poster series lasted about a year as I remember, and at the end, I expressed interest in costuming a ballet for OBT. The coordinator at the time mentioned that what dancers wore was far different than what I did. Always ready for a challenge, and sort of the rebellious type, I designed and made a tutu and hung it in my window right across the street as if to say, “Look! Give me a chance!” I put that same tutu in the window of my current studio on MLK as a sort of celebration of this new work, and to bring it full circle.

So, yes, I am a busy man, but this was personal. And the premiere happened to coincide with the time that I typically have my spring show, so I thought, why not think of this as my spring show and do it?!

Since it’s a world premier, it’s not like you got to see the performance ahead of time. How did you come up with the designs and what served as inspiration?

I met with the choreographer last October, and we brainstormed a bit about the process and discussed a number of things he liked about my work. But it was really during the emails he and I exchanged over the next several months, while he worked with the composer, Owen Belton, that I was able to pull together ideas for the piece. I listened to the music over and over again and would sketch out ideas that came to my mind though the music.

I knew that I wouldn’t really know what the choreography was going to look like until Matjash arrived in the middle of March, but by then, I was definitely feeling a sort of anachronistic aesthetic emerging. He and I both wanted it to feel elegant, but sexy—a bit gritty, but not sloppy. I began surrounding myself with photographs of the work of Halston, with a touch of Rudi Gernreich. And because it was going through the Adam Arnold filter, there was a definite structured sensibility. Also, color became a focus. I used mostly neutrals with hints of color like persimmon, magenta, and the nostalgic grace of a color that I can only describe as pickled pheasant egg—a kind of greenish mustard gold.

Tell us about the actual creation process.

Being a sort of “method designer,” I decided that I should sketch the dancers as they practiced in their morning classes to get an in depth understanding of how they move, and to observe their natural movements. I also created the opportunity to have a couple of them try on some of my sample garments in the dance studio, have them dance, and see where the stress points were, so that I could design garments that were made for dancing, not merely costumes.

Knowing that time was going to be an issue, I decided that it would be necessary for me to create the garments in my studio, rather than hand it off to a costume department. I started with the fabric, which I draped on dress forms into pleasing silhouettes, and then, from the ones I liked, I would draft patterns and cut and sew them in the studio. I tried the sewn garments on the dancers in the OBT costume department, and then I would take them back to the studio to make changes.

My 95-year-old grandmother, who taught me to sew to begin with, was in and out of the hospital. I moved one of my sewing machines into her living room in Vancouver, so I could sew some of the costumes by her. I think all of the men’s shirts were sewn in her living room. It meant a lot to me to be able to share this with her.

Are there unique challenges to designing for dancers?

One of the biggest challenges came in the form of a men’s tailored dress shirt. Through those observations in the dance studio, I was able to draft a pattern for a dress shirt that allows for exceptional arm rotation, without the use of stretch fabrics or compromising the fitted quality I wanted in the final piece.

Also, the fact that more than one sized dancer might use the same costume, adjustments and certain kinds of engineering were necessary. For example, the same dress worn by a dancer who is 5’3", might also be worn by one who is 5’7". This required the dress to be made in two pieces, a bodice and skirt. Because of this, you might see the line where the bodice ended under the skirt, so I built underwear into the skirt to hopefully smooth that line. These are all things that would not be necessary in the design and making of a dress for a client, but it is the same kind of problem solving that any designer in any field knows very well.

For those who want to see the show, but price is an issue, OBT offers a “Pay Your Age” discount for all patrons under 35 years old and also participates in Arts for All.

For more about Portland arts, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: Dance, Slideshow, ballet, preview

dance

Anne Mueller’s Ballet Memories

Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Principal Dancer reminisces about some of her favorite experiences as she prepares to retire this weekend.

Posted by: Aaron Scott and Anne Adams on Apr 28, 2011 at 06:00AM Speech Bubble 2 Comments

Anne Mueller and OBT’s Artistic Director Christopher Stowell share a hug. This weekend she retires as a dancer and takes a new role with the company.

This weekend, Anne Mueller will dance three pieces in Song And Dance: a noir-ish ensemble number with chairs (Left Unsaid ), an agressive hiphop throwdown pas de deux (Speak ) and a lighthearted full-ensemble romp to classic showtunes and jazz standards (Eyes On You ). Then she’ll hang up her toe shoes and retire from a 15-year dance career, ducking behind the scenes to serve as a teacher and repetiteur. Before she goes, Mueller takes the time to reminisce in this interview with Culturephile:

Tell us about some of your favorite memories from your time dancing with OBT.

Gosh, I have so many of these types of memories….I think I could talk for hours about all of them! To try and capture a few:

Moments
Many years ago we did a tour to Colorado. It was a pretty tough tour as we performed in 2 or 3 cities in just 3 or 4 days. We had to deal with dancing a really physical repertoire at high altitude with no time to adjust to the thin air. The morning we left, we had just spent a very short night at a less-than-glamorous Rodeway Inn (which came to be known in company stories as the Roachway Inn). I’m sure there are many lovely Rodeway Inns in the country, but this was not one of them. Our bus call was at 4:00 am on a Sunday morning, which happened to be my Birthday. We were on the plane flying home and I was deep into a really good book. A flight attendant came up to me and started bugging me. I had a short fuse and really just wanted to enjoy my book. Just as I was about to let this guy know how I was feeling about him, he handed me a glass of white wine (an actual glass,not a plastic cup) and a card. I opened the card and was so very touched to see that my fellow company members had not only remembered my birthday, but had taken up a collection to get me a very generous gift certificate at a fantastic Portland boutique. I felt truly loved by a lot of wonderful people.

Years later, I got engaged to my incredibly awesome husband. We had decided that we were going to line up all the marriage paper work and such but not plan a wedding of any kind. First we thought we’d get married on vacation in Puerto Rico, but the extensive bureaucratic mess that would have been discouraged it. We decided to just wait until the mood hit us, then tie the knot spur of the moment. With this plan, I think my co-workers were a bit confused about how to celebrate the event. That was the same year that OBT launched the “Who’s Your Dancer” campaign. Designer Adam Arnold outfitted all of us for those first posters. He then asked Brennan Boyer and I to be in his Spring fashion show. He made a polka dotted dress for me for the show. It’s wonderful, cream and strapless with a poofy skirt and the polka dots are like spumoni ice cream. Lars and I discussed buying the dress from him after the show since I was feeling like “if there was ever a wedding dress that suited me, this would be it”. The price was too high, so we let it go. About a month later I walked into the dance studio for morning class and had that feeling when I walked in the room like everyone had just been talking about me (that awkward silence). I looked over at my barre spot and hanging there, tied with a matching bow, was the dress, a wedding gift to me from my co-workers. I love that dress!!!!!!!

I’m not sure why both of these stories are about fashion. They aren’t really about dancing, but they are about the bond that develops among a group of people that work so closely together under very high pressure; it’s very special and I suspect one of the things I’ll miss the most.

Pieces
In no particular order…
Serenade (Everyone who’s danced it says that; it’s like participating in an ancient ritual or rite of passage)
Duo Concertant (with my dear friend Karl Vakili, also later with Lucas Threefoot)
Earthbound (We only did it once, but it was very special to everyone who danced it)
Just (There is a short, lyrical duet that I danced with Alison Roper. It’s a small section, but so quiet, lyrical, powerful, and feminine. We are very close friends and this was made on us by another friend, Trey McIntyre)
Concerto 622 (a really joyful, group experience)
Rite of Spring (my favorite role ever, so challenging, so primal)
Eyes on You (which we’re doing right now; I love to see all the cast members dancing beautifully while also being wonderfully funny)
Bolero (truly life-affirming)
I’m sure I’m missing a ton.

Music
Would probably be the same list. There is some music that I love that I never danced to, some selections by Satie, Ravel, and Arvo Part.

Audience
Definitely the first time I danced “Go Ask Alice”. I had just joined the company and I had come here from a more conservative community (in terms of audience reactions). The curtain went up and many of the ladies (including myself) in the company were pre-set onstage for the “Breathe” number. The audience went absolutely nuts at the start of that piece, like a rock concert. They were screaming and waving lighters in the air.

You must have imagined being a principal dancer in a professional company, your whole life. Once you got there, what aspects of the real thing were most different from your dream?

Actually, during my training I was exposed to several professional companies, but none were ranked so I didn’t really develop with the ranking system as part of my consciousness. I did, certainly, dream of dancing lead roles. I’d say the experience of dancing lead roles certainly matched my expectation in many ways, but when you’re dreaming you don’t think about the stress related to such things. It can be quite high pressure sometimes. Of course, that’s part of what makes it thrilling.

What was your takeaway from your recent collaborative choreographic effort, Stravinsky Project?

I was inspired most by working with the dancers and watching them work with the other choreographers. Dancers are the fuel that feeds choreographers most, I think.

There’s an emerging audience awareness (and appreciation) of ballet as a physically demanding sport. What was your worst “sports injury,” and your recovery process?

While I’m delighted by this new appreciation of the physical demands of ballet, I don’t like talking about the injury thing too much because, unlike sports, the point of going to the ballet is escaping to a visceral, transcendent place. It’s hard to do that if you’re imagining the dancers hurting or struggling with injuries. I have, though, had a ankle surgery and did spend about a year sleeping in a cast every night.

What’s next for you after OBT—in the immediate future as well as further along? Vacation? Teaching? More dance performances?

I’m delighted to continue my work for OBT as Artistic Coordinator. I’ve been doing this part time for the past few years and will transition to full time as I phase out the dancing part of my work. I love the work this entails (setting and rehearsing ballets, assisting Christopher, working with the administrative staff on tours and various projects). I am going to go on a Southern/Eastern Oregon hot springs trip that I’m very excited about.

For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: Dance, Interview, ballet

dance

Preview: NWDP

Northwest Dance Project set to present two new pieces.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Mar 17, 2011 at 06:00AM Speech Bubble 1 Comments

Northwest Dance Project is probably best known for intimate, innovative performances and a steady stream of new work. Looks like their show this weekend, which bears the ambitiously no-nonsense title Contemporary Ballet at its Best, will stay in mode, offering two new world premiers. One is a quintet choreographed by NWDP founder/director Sarah Slipper; the other, a piece exclusively designed for the company by revered French choreographer Patrick Delcroix. A sneak peek at a pas de deux reveals amazing fluidity of motion, and some unique holds:

Contemporary Ballet at its Best will be at the Newmark Theater this Friday and Saturday. For more about Portland arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: Dance, ballet, video, modern

dance

Stravinsky Slideshow

Posted by: Aaron Scott and Anne Adams on Feb 28, 2011 at 10:00AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

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Last week, in anticipation of OBT’s Stravinsky Project , we geeked out on some online videos of other ballet companies performing Firebird and Rite of Spring. But now, we can share some actual images from OBT’s latest, including the mysterious new choreographic collaboration. Click on the slide show to the left, to see some splendid costumes and transcendent stills. And if you haven’t yet, make plans to catch the fleeting Firebird and friends next weekend.

For more upcoming arts events, visit PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar, stream content with an RSS feed, or sign up for our weekly On The Town Newsletter!

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Tags: Dance, ballet, OBT

Visions of Sugarplums, Part II

Portland Festival Ballet’s Nutcracker

Posted by: Anne Adams on Dec 28, 2010 at 08:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Photo by Mark Richmond.

Last weekend, we caught OBT’s Nutcracker at the Keller, complete with large-scale special effects and the rigors of Balanchine tradition. Now we’re in Beaverton, trying to hastily park on a hilly sprawl for Portland Festival Ballet. Truth be told, we probably wouldn’t have made this trek at all, were it not for the New York-based Joffrey Ballet’s peskily unignorable good name.

Last spring, OBT hosted its annual fundraiser Dance United, showcasing an elite roster of world-renowned companies (San Francisco Ballet, Sydney Ballet, etc). All were standouts, but Joffrey Ballet’s modestly modern, technically supreme pas de deux stopped the Keller’s collective breath. ("Her feet ! My dance-expert friend continues to exclaim. “Ex quisite !”)

This winter, when PoMo’s calendar department received word of about six Nutcrackers in the greater metro area, one especially piqued our interest: the one that would double as Joffrey alum John Magnus’ directorial debut with Portland Festival Ballet. So here we are, wedging the car near some train tracks, and rushing into the Sunday matinee.

Compared to OBT’s pomp-and-circumstance opener, PFB’s opening scene feels sprightly and fast-paced—but both share a spirit of cross-generational camaraderie, since The Nutcracker‘s many roles accommodate even the tiniest and the eldest members of the dance family. These dancers rightly cede center stage to the primas in the second act, but not before duly reminding us that there’s life before and after the dance prime.

The child lead Marie (Sarah Whitehead) seems to be the only adolescent “tween” at the party, bringing the narrative more tension than a younger Marie would. We sense that the dancer, and hence her character, are in an intense growth phase. A few of the costumes (namely, what look like rental tuxes) raise a brow, but the “grandfather dance” formations are dispatched with near perfection, and throughout, the dancers handle themselves like real people attending a semi-formal party, making the scene believable and natural beyond what we expect from ballet. Meanwhile, the Grandmother, played by Tricia Dubay, resembles a friendly Mrs. Claus, pantomiming “let’s wrap this up,” with unmistakable clarity as she shoos the group from stage.

Photo by Mark Richmond.

Now, the light changes to a ghostly green, and the whole stage seems to emit a faint electric charge. Enter a mouse. Then another, as a gradual creep of mice invades the stage. Gadzooks, their costumes are cute—like chipmunks, or even sugar-gliders! But this is not important. What’s most noteworthy about these mice is their sense of presence, purpose, and consummate mousiness. From the tips of their little mouse fingers to the waggle of their loose mouse bellies, these mice are totally convinced of their own rodent status, and intent on winning their little battle. Watching each mouse leap and startle with a singular personality and a unified purpose, the audience is completely rapt, and thoroughly tickled.

We are almost sorry when Marie ends the scene, conking the King Mouse in the head with a pointe shoe. As the pageant of sweets, snowflakes, and flowers begins, we see strong symmetry, and scrupulous epaulement from most dancers. My friend notices Cavalier Scott Trombo ’s invested, considerate partnering, and Sugarplum Fairy Melissa Framiglio ’s effortless suspension on pointe. But the sweet-scene stunners are Josie Buck and Josh Murray (second photo), whose Arabian/coffee pas de deux was hypnotically flexible and sensual.

As we’d hoped, Magnus’ version of the classic brings some unique creative flourishes—most notably, a whole different treatment of the Mother Ginger scene: In the conventional scene, a group of children emerge from under a woman’s giant cake-like hoopskirt. But in this version, the cake is replaced with a Chinese-style dragon, and the children who emerged sport rakishly-tilted chinstrap caps. “They look kind of like Rockettes,” my friend notices, theorizing that Magnus might be referencing his recent New York emigration. At any rate, changing gingerbread to ginger chicken brings an interesting twist, and affords Asian motifs extra time beyond the requisite “tea scene.” The candycane trio features tumbling and ribbon wands, and the Spanish dancers flounce around in romantic ruffle-dresses, rather than the more customary tutus.

As the ensemble gathers for the big finale, we take stock of our PFB experience. Where OBT’s Nutcracker felt like a midnight mass, PFB’s feels more like a family reunion, closing with a sense of joy as compelling as the other’s rigor for tradition. And Magnus’ purported emphasis on acting technique as well as dance, seems to have paid off in a believable and immersive performance. We might have to make this drive more often.

Enjoy reading about the Nutcracker? If you want, have a look back at Part One: Oregon Ballet Theater. Or browse upcoming arts events at PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar!

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Tags: Holiday Events, ballet, The Nutcracker

Visions Of Sugarplums, Part I

Oregon Ballet Theater’s Nutcracker

Posted by: Aaron Scott and Anne Adams on Dec 26, 2010 at 09:00AM Speech Bubble 1 Comments

“Dancer…dancer…” my Nutcracker date kept discreetly whispering as we surveyed the audience at the Keller. Here, a child’s head was elegantly aloft; there, a grandmother’s purse flashed a few sequins. Surely, many in attendance were members of the Dance Family. The Nutcracker is like the dance community’s midnight mass, my cohort explained—a celebration of tradition, community, and ritual pageantry, a place to break bread (albeit ginger) and retell an age-old story in the international language of leaps and bounds.

OBT’s faithful Balanchine re-creation of the Nutcracker opened with a grownup holiday party and trod through many formalities, before tripping off to full-blown fantasy-land. Adults and children took mock-minuet formations, while pantomiming a convivial, chatty party atmosphere. All of this seemed to take up a lot of time, culminating in the entrance of Herr Drosselmeyer (Kevin Poe), the mysterious and beloved magician who presents the Little Princess with a nutcracker toy. As expected, Poe brought a stern, cape-flapping command to the role; meanwhile, my dancer friend pointed out Brennan Boyer. “That’s really good pantomime; his head position and his acting are really nice.”

As the festivities continued, the Little Princess gradually emerged in the forefront. Anastasia Beller’s gestures were childlike and graceful, never grandiose, as the story began to follow her and the party scene drew to a close. She retired on a couch behind a screen, and was briefly visited by her mother (Andrea Cooper) in a ghostly billowing white nightgown.

After this, reality finally gave way to bizarre fantasy, as the Christmas tree spiraled into a huge glittering spire, and a (presumably dreamt) battle ensued between toy soldiers and giant mice. OBT’s mice proved less menacing than cute, and the battle scene felt brief—almost perfunctory—as though it was understood that for the pageantry of snow and sweets to begin, the battle had to be gotten out of the way. (The same was true of the Princess’s bed—which, though it moved on its own, seemed guided less by magic, than by student driver. My friend and I were amused by the rare technical glitch. “Bedknobs and broomsticks?” my friend said. “Battle Bots,” I countered.)

The snowfall, with dazzling lighting, pulled us back into the moment, even as The Snowflakes in this production brought a feather-light touch. Though their point work was tightly synced, their formations were dispatched loosely, with a nymphish ease. This stood in contrast to the Sugarplum Fairy (Kathi Martuza) whose posture and epaulement were technically exacting, and whose command of the audience was irrefutable as she shepherded the little angels through their scene, and even as she held an arabesque on a moving floor. Her Cavalier Lucas Threefoot, meanwhile, made several beautiful tours, flawlessly landing in fifth.

The other treats and sweets began their pageant, and each brought its own mood and tone. Standout moments included Martina Chavez‘s amazing show of flexibility in the Coffee/Arabian scene, Steven Houser’s ebullient hula-hooping (as Candy Cane), Justin Hughes’ delightful drag presence as the huge-hoopskirted Mother Ginger, and Brent Slacke-Wolfe’s excellent split jumps in the Tea piece. The children also did an admirable turn in the Mother Ginger dance, which was synced and spaced near-perfectly.

But the evening’s magic was most purely reflected in Yuka Iino, The Dewdrop. The Firebird alumnus exuded a delicate, unaffected elegance as she danced among the flowers, her expression gradually blooming into a dazzling smile as she fluidly embodied each nuance of rhythm.

As the Nutcracker closed, encoring each of its acts for the Big Finish, my feelings of nostalgia also peaked. This is a performance that will happen every winter, in every city, and everybody will attend and enjoy it. The only things that ever change are the whos and the hows. Which is why, after the uproarious final applause, my dancer friend and I left the Keller with a plan: to catch another (smaller) Nutcracker the following weekend in Beaverton, and see what stood out there. After all—there has to be more than one way to crack a nut.

Enjoy reading about the Nutcracker? If you want, continue on to Part Two: Portland Festival Ballet. Or browse upcoming arts events at PoMo’s Arts & Entertainment Calendar!

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Tags: Holiday Events, ballet, The Nutcracker

Fall Arts Extra

NWDP Director Speaks Volumes

Today, Northwest Dance Project unveils NEW NOW WOW!
Sarah Slipper discusses the new work, new troupe—and new tropes.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Sep 30, 2010 at 12:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Culturephile note: Whilst gathering data for our Fall Arts Preview Anne Adams found that she had tons of material leftover from her interviews. Frankly, this stuff was too good to waste, so we decided to give our local arts spokesfolk a chance to tell us more about themselves in a series of Fall Arts extras called Speaks Volumes. Tonight, Sarah Slipper and NWDP will premier their latest piece, NEW NOW WOW!, at the newly-refurbished Lincoln Hall.

We’re observing a studio floor full of glistening, graceful people, sorted in informal clusters, figuring out what to do with themselves. Here, one backbends over another’s thigh. Over there, one demi-pliés, completes a movement, then retracts and redoes it. I’ve caught Sarah Slipper on a demanding dance day, workshopping with choreographers from her Pretty Creatives series and a large group of dancers she’s imported for the two-week intensive that is her Launch:4 project.

Rehearsal Sneak Peek: Loni Landon’s “If You Really Knew Me”

’There’s James Gregg up at the front," Slipper points out, “he’s with BJM dance, and he’ll be coming back to White Bird in the fall, but he’s really interested in choreography right now. He’s one of the winners of the Pretty Creatives. And Loni is gonna come in, who worked in Germany for four years, and went to Juliard—she’s American. Well, they’re both American, but they both have been dancing abroad. This Saturday, they’ll have an 18-hour workshop, and then they’ll present what they came up with in that time.” None of these arrangements, Slipper explains, are “business as usual” in the dance world:

Usually, there’s 200 people who’ve flown to New York, auditioning in a big room, and within 10 minutes, you’re asked to leave. They just tap you on the shoulder, and say you’re done. And that person I might have tapped on the shoulder because they didn’t have the perfect feet or the perfect height—might have been actually the one who could do my work the best. And you don’t see that until the end of the audition, where you’re doing material. So that doesn’t work for me, because you’ve somehow got to break through and see a dancer move.

Sometimes they don’t have the perfect body, or perfect fit, but they’re BRILLIANT. And you hear this all the time with artists. That’s what i’m interested in. These people [in front of us] are auditioning, but they’re so relaxed right now! I get them in Portland, get ‘em relaxed, they love it, they trust each other ’cause they’re laughing with each other, and then you start to see their talent. You learn a lot about their work ethic. Can they take 10 hour days? And how do they interact with each other? So you can see how useful this is. You’re developing everybody, you get to see them in the real environment, you get to see how they interact. It’s fantastic.

Rehearsal Sneak Peek: Ihsan Rustem’s “State of Matter”

The first week of the Launch Project, this group of dancers who’s auditioned for us works with all kinds of artistic directors, and they get a feel for their style, or what they’re looking for, or their material—and again, we work with a variety of directors from all over North America and beyond. Then in the second week of the project, the dancers work with the two winners of the Pretty Creatives competition. And those two winners work with them all week, and then we do a public showing. It’s so cool. It’s unbelievalbe. And from there, the idea is I get to see the dancers move in all different kinds of work, and I get to see the two choreographers and how they interact, and whether it’s a good fit for us. It introduces me to new voices. Last year’s choreographer competition winner was Maurice Cause, who’s already created two works for the company, and Lauren Edson, who’s done a short take and another work in the Summer Splendor show we just did.

Most of the group are from Canada and the US, and one of them is from Taiwan and one is from Korea. When I audition them, they have to show a little bit of technique, but then I audition them also moving in two pieces of work, so that I can see other styles. Not just the classical ballet. I get a feel of how else they can move. And that’s what i’m interested in: what else they can show. if they have a background in hiphop, or African, or tap, or jazz, it helps to see them move differently, or improv. It’s a great way to see a dancer. It’s pretty rare in auditions right now, but i can tell you a lot of other companies are starting to emulate us, because they can see the use in it.

Typically we work 24/7; it’s an extraordinary amount of work. I’m the kind of person who’s a doer. To run this organization, if I expect anybody to work for me, I want to filter down a work ethic. I would typically come here around 8:30 in the morning, teach a class, open up emails. I teach the company six days a week, and I’m almost always in the studio creating new work or watching the others create. There’s a world-wide connection, so there’s a lot of office work, a lot of database work. I basically run in and out of the studio all day long. I usually get out of here around 9 o’clock at night. In this economy, I’m very hands-on in the process of everything. It’s not necessarily to control, it’s just—there’s a huge investment in creation. I’m interested in lighting, I’m interested in working with collaborators who have lighting designers…if there’s not something, there’s something. Auditions, I travel, I have to watch a lot of video….I’m weeble-wobbling to get the best out of everyone.

I would say we’re contemporary ballet with an incredible range. They take a ballet class every day, but then it just gets pushed out there. You have someone coming in from Portugal, Montreal, Tucson—their backgrounds are going to be varied; they’re going to leave their mark. I’m really interested in that—the variety. I don’t want a company that’s Sarah Slipper; I really don’t. I love what I try to do, and I try to risk-take. I feel like NWDP is a risk-taking company. We’ll allow someone with a completely different voice to come in and share it. I’m really interested in a variety of voices, and to provide a platform for that. and to see what that does to an artist in the profession is extraordinary. And it makes incredibly valuable artists that then will go out and share it.

We’ve never bought a work. It’s almost like we never know what we’re gonna get. There’ll be kind of a soft ballet aesthetic, or a sharp, fast-paced piece. We’ve produced 85 works in seven years. Part of my role is to facilitate and allow that creative process, just to let the artist create. We don’t ever place expectations or restrictions on our artists.

No frills? Well—few frills. Typically it’s more about the dance. I think, yes. Because we should be able to do a piece not just in a giant theater with a helicopter flying in, we should also be able to do it on the street. And I’m interested in all different areas that you produce dance, as well, to catch people. So then it becomes also about a communication with your audience. It’s not just even about movement; we’re communicating with audience, whether it’s in a shop window, or on a proscenium stage with all the bells and whistles. I like to challenge people, like, "how can you change the space so you don’t need miles and miles of sets? And it’s amazing what you see these artists do.

I’m interested in work that’s scalable. It’s not Sleeping Beauty, it’s not typically going to offer tons of bells and whistles. But if somebody wanted, say, 52 oranges on the stage—we’ll do it. It’s just, the movie helicopter, the airlifted sets—is Broadway. But I am interested in the space where dance is presented. How does your environment challenge the work? How does it allow the audience to come into the work? If we said to a choreographer, “You’re coming in and you’re doing it in this room,” it may be surprising that they may have the audience stay outside, they may have you all in here and the dancers are outside—and that adds interest, and I love that. But we still allow them to come and create within that creative dynamic, whatever that canvas is.

We’ve had two seasons at PCPA at the Newmark, and at the new Lincoln Hall, we’re doing our New Now Wow! show—four amazing choreographers. It’s gonna be a show to watch. Those are gonna be the new stars of the WORLD. Not just here. Two choreographers are from Europe, and two are from the US. It’s gonna be an awesome show! We’re varying between the two theaters. We’ll do shows here in the studio, too, ‘cause there’s something about seeing dance right in front of you. Love it. And we’ve got the space, why not? We’ll get more creations out, so it’s awesome. We just tried hosting two weeks here, and those shows sold out! I mean, it’s awesome. This means the community’s coming in.

We did it on the street; we performed on the street out there. We’ve set up outdoor stages, too. We danced in Macy’s department store. We went into Macy’s and we danced in the bedding department, the escalators—people loved it. They loved it. We did it in the makeup department, you know, dancers popping their heads through the handles of the Handbags—awesome.

So we’re going to do these daring performances, but you’re also going to see fearless technique. For example, one of our company dancers, Andrea Parsons just received the Princess Grace Award, and one of her performances that really stood out, was a piece she did for us called Not I. She gets up onstage and she’s just making little movements, and then, out of nowhere, a gallon of water drops on her, and she dances for fourteen minutes, to spoken word, in the puddle. The floor is soaking, she’s soaked, and there’s a video camera, like an eye, watching every move she makes. And it zooms in right on her face, and we have three televisions at the front of the stage and it just looks like it’s her neck up, and it’s set to this incredible, brilliant, absurdist stream-of-consciousness monologue, done by Juliet Stephenson, just nonstop about this woman reflecting on her life.

To sustain a stage for fourteen minutes with no one else on it, and a camera, like this lone figure that just shoots her, that’s like the auditor. It’s a phenomenal task. You dont’ know if that’s gonna work. The audience might just go, “Oh, it’s whatever.” But I think it stunned the audience. First of all, they had no idea that this little waif was going to get doused. It shocked them. And then the stream of brutal nonstop verbiage, and just watching this woman struggle. I didn’t know what it was gonna do. Scott [NWDP Executive Director] kept hearing the rehearsals and said, “Oh, god. Halfway through there’s this wrenching scream that happens, and then it happens AGAIN. I can hear the audience just walking out.” I said, “If they do, they do—but we’ve gotta try it.”So we tried it here in Portland, and I’ve had nonstop feedback about this solo. The audience was stunned, in tears, so moved—I heard it after, she got this amazing review, she held the stage, and that was a risk. Never had done that myself either. Never done it.

In this country, especially in this profession, there’s a need for new work. There’s very little out there right now. Even now, the economy’s ruling it all. I mean, you’re just fighting…to take risks means you might not have anybody in your audience. And this is a period where people need ticket sales, presenters need guarantees, so they want the hits. OBT did nothing new this year because of the economy. They didn’t have the money. So, they’re doing classic stuff this season, because that already has a proven audience. But I’m not all about the tried-and-true, and that either takes craziness, or confidence. And I think perhaps there’s a crazy risk-taking side of me, and I also have courage—it takes courage.

The long-term goal is to make new work that’s more exciting to younger people. There are people who don’t wanna go see classic works like Sleeping Beauty again and again. If I see another ballerina run up to the boy, then run away—like, no. Now what happens is, girl tackles boy. That’s the way it works now. This new work, especially by younger choreographers, is very immediate, very now. So hopefully younger people can relate to it, and that brings in a whole new generation. Because the strictly classical audience is dying out; we’re gonna run out of those people, and we need to replenish the dance audience.

I want you to come see our work. How’m I going to get you to the work? Maybe you can’t afford the ticket price of $30, so how else am I gonna get you to see the work? Well, maybe I can make it cheaper here, or maybe you’re gonna see the piece on the street, or in Macy’s. Or maybe you could do a class; our classes are for anyone. You could come and do a jazz class, Bhangra bollywood, core balance, or hiphop class. We have a huge roster of teachers here. 10, maybe? And some of our company members teach. We employ quite a few people here. And maybe one day, in 20 years, you’re still gonna want to come back.

There is no one in this country that’s doing this kind of work. James Gregg (from a Canadian company, Ballet Jazz in Montreal) just asked me, “What are you guys doing—three or four new works a year?” I said, “Since last year, since we walked into this new home [on N Mississippi Avenue], we’ve done 21 works, long and short.” That’s phenomenal. That is crazy. If you’d said to me last year, “You’re gonna do 21 new works,” I’d say, "no way. No, no one’s doing that." We do all these small projects as well. But even our big babies. I think you can do a lot with a little. In fact, you inspire creativity that way sometimes, when you don’t have everything to choose from. Some of the artist’s best work happens in a dingy studio with not much there, and they use everything to bring it out. I see that happen to myself, and I see that happen in incredible work that’s created anywhere, not just in dance. Sometimes where there’s the will, and there’s the heart, you’ve got to try to find a way to do it.

One of the first works that I created for this organization was in the Dungeon Studios of Jefferson, and it had an incredible journey. It started with nothing fancy, dank, dark, studios, hot, stuffy, windowless, you’re in there, you’re sweating buckets. It was shown here, and then it went to work with another major ballet company, and then it actually was nominated for the Benoit de la Dance, and was performed in Moscow at the Bolshoy. Would I ever have thought this would appear on the Bolshoy stage, going 32 encores? Never. And yet when I think back to the modest little beginnnings, it’s a great story, and it was a great journey for this piece, and it lives here; everybody’s trying to get it, other companies try to buy it, but it’s funny. I think it all comes back to what I talk about, how i’m interested in the essence of what you’re creating about, because then you have these life stories, and that’s the same with any artist.

And then the other secret is, you just ask. You just ask these brilliant people if they wanna come. When James Canfield comes to town, he teaches here. And many others. It’s not money; it’s not the money. When choreographers and artists come in, we offer them complete artistic freedom and we give them some of the best dancers out there. Our dancers have a good personality with the audiences, they do outreach, work with people, young people, older people. They have a talent to help teach, and have a graciousness with people. They put up with cold theaters, and—you know, they just say, “Okay, let’s get it done.” They’re not just clocking in and clocking out. That’s New York City Ballet; that’s a bank. That’s not us. There’s nothing that draws an artist like the freedom to do what they want with a brilliant canvas.

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Tags: Dance, ballet, speaks volumes, modern, NWDP

phile under: dance

NWDP Dancer Andrea Parson
Wins Princess Grace Award

Princess Grace honors Parson’s grace

Posted by: Anne Adams on Aug 03, 2010 at 12:00PM Speech Bubble 1 Comments

Andrea Parson braces herself for showers of accolades.

Andrea Parson, who has just been named one of six U.S. dancers to receive the prestigious 2010 Princess Grace Award, (founded by Princess Grace of Monaco, aka, Grace Kelly of the silver screen), may already be familiar to many in Portland, as the waif who took a dousing and kept on dancing.

In a recent conversation with Culturephile, Sarah Slipper, the serendipitously-named founder and artistic director of Northwest Dance Project, positively could not shut up about Parson, her protegee. Slipper oozed and effused about Parson’s presence, energy, skill, and subtlety—particularly in last fall’s performance of Not I, a do-or-die avant-garde number in which Parson held the audience spellbound.

“She gets up on stage and she’s just making little movements,” Slipper mimes, “and then, out of nowhere, a gallon of water drops on her! And she dances for fourteen minutes, to spoken word, in the puddle. The floor is soaking, she’s soaked, and there’s a video camera watching every move she makes, like an eye. And it zooms in right on her face, and we have three televisions at the front of the stage projecting her face from the neck up, and it’s just this incredible, brilliant, absurdist stream-of-consciousness monologue, done by Juliet Stevenson, just nonstop about this woman reflecting on her life.”

“To sustain a stage for fourteen minutes—it’s a phenomenal task. You don’t know if that’s gonna work. You might just go, ‘Oh, it’s whatever.’ But I think it stunned the audience. First of all, they had no idea that this little waif was going to get doused. It shocked them. And then the stream of brutal nonstop verbiage, and just watching this woman struggle. I didn’t know what it was gonna do. We kept hearing the rehearsals and Scott [NWDP’s Executive Director] said, ‘Oh, god. Halfway through there’s this wrenching scream that happens, and then it happens AGAIN. I can see the audience just walking out.’”

“I said, ‘If they do, they do. We’ve gotta try it.’” recounts Slipper. “So we tried it here in Portland, and I’ve had nonstop feedback about this solo. The audience was stunned, in tears, so moved—I heard it after, she got this amazing review, she held the stage, and that was a risk.”

It would seem that for Slipper, Parson, and Northwest Dance Project, recent artistic risks have paid off—in this case, with a generous fellowship and an invitation from The Princess of Hanover to NYC for the Princess Grace Awards Gala.

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Tags: Dance, award, ballet, NWDP

phile under: weekend

Weekend Picks!

Ballet dance, barn dance. Opera film, phantom film. And a few tasteful nudes.

Posted by: Anne Adams on Jul 23, 2010 at 12:00PM Speech Bubble 2 Comments

Uprising! of OBT
Sat-Sun 7pm Chamber-folk veterans Weinland and Laura Gibson will fuse their reedy croons with the swoops and leaps of ballet dancers from OBT, to elevate both art forms into a swoon-inducing crescendo. While these folk-fusion events are myriad lately in Portland—in the world, they are relatively rare. Get over to The Aladdin Theater and catch one while you can.

Here’s soom footage of a prior Uprising! event, which featured the music of Horsefeathers:

Sauvie Island Barn Dance
Sat 5:30pm If the aforementioned ballet-folk-fusion proves too “cityfied” for your down-home style, take a short scenic drive to Sauvie Island, for the Annual Barn Dance. This time-honored summer event provides a live hootenany band (think fiddles, banjos, possibly some washboard/jug-type claptrap) and all the hay-bale authenticity you can handle. Can’t dance? Not to worry. They’ll have a competent square-dance caller, to help you do-si-do it.

Filmusik: Gulliver’s Travels
Fri 7pm The cheeky opera-kitschfilm collab is back, this time syncing not only song, but also voice acting and Foley (aka, film noisemaking) to the 1930’s animated feature film. Originally penned as a parable about bureaucracy and small-mindedness, this story has taken on a more whimsical life as a fairy tale. Filmusik will likely lighten it up even further.

Backspace Gallery
Through July 31 There doesn’t have to be good art on the walls, for me to enjoy my coffee. Coffee shops know this, and so often when they see me coming, they whisk all the good art off the walls and tack up something unremarkable. However: yesterday as I happened into Backspace, I noticed several starkly beautiful pieces by Alexandra Becker-Black. Large expanses of white space and delicate splashes of monochromatic watercolor combined for surprisingly fresh depictions of the most classic subject: the female nude. Part of a show that will disappear at the close of July, these works seem worth visiting—even if you aren’t looking for a latte.

Fred?
Sun, 11:30am According to its creator, brand-new stop-motion film Fred will premiere at the Living Room Theaters this Sunday at 11:30 am. But when reached by phone, the box office could not confirm the screening. LAIKA (Coraline) alum Misha Klein, whose credits also include Celebrity Deathmatch and Robot Chicken, spent 10 years tinkering with the film, but wrapped it in at Portland’s Studio 13 last winter, and then allegedly took a long-deserved nap on the floor. The lead puppet, Fred, is a reluctant stage performer, harried by an angry boss and riddled with his own self-doubt. With the comic pathos of a hobo clown, Fred anguishes over his stage-fright and awaits his cue. Will the show go on?

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Tags: Art, stop motion, Misha Klein, ballet, chamber, Film, Weekend Plans, Dance, Theater, life drawing

Charity Event

Tonight: Many Hats Collaboration Fundraises For Rock Ballet

And here comes Holcombe Waller

Posted by: Anne Adams on May 26, 2010 at 12:00AM Speech Bubble 1 Comments

Many Hats Collaboration, a small dance and theater company which counts among its directors choreographer Jessica Wallenfels (most recently of Gracie and the Atom), presents a fundraising concert tonight for an upcoming rock ballet, Find Me Beside You, scheduled to open in August. Along with some rumored preview skits is a varied musical bill, featuring bohemian folk, psychedelic dance rock, and the troubadour stylings of local folk singer and performance-art impresario Holcombe Waller. It’s an event that promises to highlight not only the pending production, but also Many Hats’ unprecedented knack for pulling a wide range of artistic expression from its tasteful chapeau. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.

Many Hats Collaboration Highlight Reel:

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Tags: Dance, ballet, musical

CULTUREPHILE: PORTLAND ARTS

Interview+Slideshow: Adam Arnold on Designing for OBT’s Spring Show

Anne Mueller’s Ballet Memories

Preview: NWDP

Stravinsky Slideshow

Visions of Sugarplums, Part II

Visions Of Sugarplums, Part I

NWDP Director Speaks Volumes

NWDP Dancer Andrea Parson
Wins Princess Grace Award

Weekend Picks!

Tonight: Many Hats Collaboration Fundraises For Rock Ballet

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