I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some magic, wonderment, and joy in my life right now, and thankfully this weekend’s dance performances deliver just that.
BodyVox’s 20th anniversary celebration continues with Lexicon, a new collection of dances that marries technology and dance and also includes audience participation.
Jamuna Chiarini
NW Dance Project gets into the spirit with a double bill of Bolero and Billie. Bolero, choreographed by NW Dance Project resident choreographer Ihsan Rustem in 2016, is a reimagined, contemporary version of Ravel’s Bolero that ArtsWatcher Bob Hicks called a “bright and witty new Boléro, which he’s rescued from the graveyard of pop-culture banality and restored affectionately to its pedestal of seductively oddball expressionism.” If you’re interested in reading about Rustem’s artistic process, you can read my 2016 interview with him here. Billie, choreographed by the company dancers to the music of American jazz musician and singer-songwriter Billie Holiday, is a series of 13 vignettes that highlight love and interpersonal relationships.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker also opens this week at Oregon Ballet Theatre, along with a variety of other Nutcrackers that offer variations in ticket price and length of production; something for everyone’s budget and attention span. Longtime Oregon Ballet Theatre soloist Candace Bouchard will retire at the end of the run and will perform her favorite role Dewdrop on closing night. Don’t miss her final performance, and keep a look out for Heather Wisner’s interview with her for ArtsWatch.
At Reed College this weekend, dance majors and community dancers will perform new works by dance faculty members Carla Mann, Oluyinka Akinjiola, and Victoria Fortuna in Reed College’s annual winter concert.
Enjoy!
Performances this week
Photo by Steve Cherry, Polara Studio courtesy of BodyVox.
Lexicon
BodyVox
December 7-16
BodyVox Dance Center, 1201 NW 17th Ave.
BodyVox celebrates its 20th anniversary with the premiere of Lexicon, a new work by BodyVox directors Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland in collaboration with Italian avant-garde composer Ludovico Einaudi. Lexicon creates a new performance experience by marrying dance and technology and by having the dancers interact with infrared sensors, live video graphic generation, motion capture, virtual reality, and more, live on stage.
NW Dance Project in Bolero by Ihsan Rustem. Photo by Chris Peddecord.
Bolero + Billie
NW Dance Project
December 7-9
Portland State University, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 SW Park Ave.
See above.
Photo courtesy of Rainbow Dance Theatre.
The Nutcracker with Chamber Ballet of Corvallis
Choreography by Shelly Svobody with guest artists from Rainbow Dance Theatre
December 8-9
Corvallis High School, 1400 NW Buchanan Ave., Corvallis
This full-scale Nutcracker production under the artistic guidance of Shelly Svoboda will feature guest artists from Rainbow Dance Theatre, a dance company directed by former Pilobolus dancer Darryl Thomas and former Merce Cunningham dancer Valerie Bergman based in Monmouth, Oregon, at Western Oregon University. Rainbow Dance Theatre explores dance on multi-levels incorporating virtuosic concert dance, world-dance forms, aerial choreography, and technology creating interactive sets that use fiber optics and electro-luminescent technology.
Reed College dance students. Photo by Gordon Wilson.
Winter Dance Concert
Reed College Performing Arts
7 pm December 9
Greenwood Theatre, Reed College, 3202 SE Woodstock Blvd.
See above.
Candace Bouchard as “The Sugarplum Fairy” and Peter Franc as her “Cavalier” in Oregon Ballet Theatre’s 2015 production of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
Oregon Ballet Theatre
December 9-24
Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St.
To Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, little Marie parties hard, fights with her brother because he broke her new toy, sees a tree grow to the size of a building, fights off rats and travels to the Land of Sweets where she meets the Sugar Plum Fairy, witnesses dancing delicacies from around the world, and takes off in the end to places unknown with the Nutcracker Prince.
Photo courtesy of NorthWest Dance Theatre.
A Nutcracker Tea
NorthWest Dance Theatre
Artistic Directors June Taylor-Dixon
December 9-17
PCC Sylvania Performing Arts Center, 12000 SW 49th Ave
Complimentary tea will be served
An abridged Nutcracker, this version follows Clara and her prince through the Snow Kingdom and the Land of Sweets, showcasing beautifully crafted sets and costumes with choreography by June Taylor-Dixon.
NWDT is a youth ballet company in its twenty-seventh season.
Upcoming Performances
December
December 7-December 16, Lexicon (world premiere), BodyVox
December 9-24, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Oregon Ballet Theatre
December 13-17, a world, a world (work-in-progress), Linda Austin Dance, PWNW
December 15-17, New Expressive Works Residency Performance, Crystal Jiko, Tere Mathern, Madison Page, Wolfbird Dance
December 17, The Nutcracker, Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Live from Moscow
December 17, Fiesta Navideña, Hosted by Espacio Flamenco Portland
December 22-24, The Nutcracker with Orchestra Next, Eugene Ballet Company, Eugene
January
January 12, Love Heals All Wounds, Lil’ Buck and Jon Boogz, Presented by Portland’5 Center for the Arts
January 18-28, Fertile Ground Festival of New Work/Groovin’ Greenhouse
January 25-27, Rennie Harris Puremovement, presented by White Bird
January 28, Garden of Earthly Delights with Salem Concert Band (World premiere), Rainbow Dance Theatre, Independence
February
February 1-10, The skinner|kirk DANCE ENSEMBLE, presented by BodyVox
February 4, The Lady Of The Camellias, Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Live from Moscow
February 17-18, Pink Martini, Eugene Ballet Company, Eugene
February 21, Mark Morris Dance Group, presented by White Bird
February 23-25, Configure, PDX Contemporary Ballet
February 24-March 4, Alice (in wonderland), choreography by Septime Webre, performed by Oregon Ballet Theatre
March
March 1-3, Urban Bush Women, presented by White Bird
March 4, The Flames Of Paris, Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Live from Moscow
March 8-10, Jessica Lang Dance, presented by White Bird
March 14, Compañia Jesús Carmona, presented by White Bird
March 15-17, World Premiere’s by Sarah Slipper and Cayetano Soto, NW Dance Project
March 22-24, To Have It All, choreography by Katie Scherman, presented by BodyVox
April
April 4, iLumiDance, Rainbow Dance Theatre, Corvallis
April 5, Earth Angel and other repertory works, Rainbow Dance Theatre, Corvallis
April 5-7, Stephen Petronio Company, presented by White Bird
April 8, Giselle, Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Live from Moscow
April 12-14, Contact Dance Film Festival, presented by BodyVox and Northwest Film Center
Apr 14-25, Peer Gynt with Orchestra Next, Eugene Ballet Company, Eugene
April 12-21, Man/Woman, choreography by Mikhail Fokine, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Nicolo Fonte, James Canfield, Jiří Kylián, performed by Oregon Ballet Theatre
April 19-28, Early, push/FOLD, choreographed and directed by Samuel Hobbs
April 20-29, X-Posed, Polaris Dance Theatre, Robert Guitron
April 24-25, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, presented by White Bird
April 24-25, The Wind and the Wild, BodyVox and Chamber Music Northwest
May
May 4-5, Current/Classic, The Portland Ballet
May 10-12, New work premiere, Rainbow Dance Theatre, Western Oregon University, Monmouth
May 10-19, Rain & Roses (world premiere), BodyVox
May 11-13, Compose, PDX Contemporary Ballet
May 16, Ballet Hispȧnico, presented by White Bird
May 17-20, CRANE, a dance for film by The Holding Project
May 23-June 3, Closer, original works by the dancers of Oregon Ballet Theatre
June
June 8-10, Up Close, The Portland Ballet
June 10, Coppelia, Bolshoi Ballet in Cinema Live from Moscow
June 14-16, World Premiere – Ihsan Rustem, MemoryHouse – Sarah Slipper, NW Dance Project
June 15-17, New Expressive Works Residency Performance
June 24, Salem World Beat, Rainbow Dance Theatre, Salem