The Stravinsky Project is Open! What Did You Think?

We had a wonderful opening weekend performance for The Stravinsky Project, along with a glowing review from Martha Ullman West at The Oregonian. Here’s an excerpt: Stravinsky rocks, and so does Oregon Ballet Theatre. That was abundantly clear on Saturday night when the company opened its spring concerts at the Keller with an all-Stravinsky program […]

Daily Dance Break: Congratulations to Natalie Portman

In honor of Natalie Portman’s best actress Oscar win, here is that beautiful/terrifying moment when she turns into, well, a Black Swan…

Daily Dance Break: Kinetic Sculpture

Do you need the human body for it to be dance? Or could these mesmerizing, shifting steel forms be considered to be “dancing?” Kinetic Art – Dynamic Structure 29117 from Willem van Weeghel on Vimeo.

Daily Dance Break: Inspired by the snow

Today’s Daily Dance Break is inspired by the snow on the ground in Portland. It’s the “snow dance” from Memoirs of a Geisha. Enjoy!

My Own First Firebird

by OBT Historian Linda Besant (This is an excerpt from Béjart’s <span style=”font-style: italic;”>Firebird</span>, performed by the National Ballet of China for its 50th anniversary in 2009) I was twenty-five and all by myself in Budapest when I saw my first ballet performance. I had worked as a music teacher in the Beaverton schools for […]

The Rite Riot: The Ballets Russes and The Rite of Spring

By Linda Besant On May 9, 1909, dancers who would come to be known as Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes gave their first performance at the Théatre du Chatelet in Paris. By the time the company dissolved upon Diaghilev’s death in 1929, the “Russian Ballet” had given work to Europe’s best dancers, choreographers, composers and artists, […]

Your Daily Dance Break: Trey McIntyre’s Stylishly Sexy Rite of Spring

Check out choreographer Trey McIntyre’s interpretation of The Rite of Spring. You might remember Trey from the Bloodhound Gang inspired “Speak” which is returning as part of our upcoming Song and Dance program. Enjoy! The Rite of Spring (The Engagement) – excerpt from Trey McIntyre Project on Vimeo.

“It’s Exhilarating to be Someone’s Creative Instrument” : The Creation of OBT’s Firebird

From the very beginning of his time with OBT, Artistic Director Christopher Stowell intended that the company would develop a repertoire of works “to scores written specifically for ballet. For the initial effort in that direction,” he says, “I asked Yuri Possokhov to choreograph Stravinsky’s Firebird in 2004. He felt a bit confined at first. […]

Your Daily Dance Break: Paul DeStrooper interprets Firebird

Paul Destrooper, who is quoted in our post about the creation of OBT’s Firebird and was Prince Ivan in the premiere of OBT’s version, retired from OBT at the end of the 2006-07 season to become artistic director of Ballet Victoria in Canada. He has choreographed his own Firebird. See what he’s been up to […]

Your Daily Dance Break: A Vintage Firebird

In honor of our upcoming production of Firebird, check out this video of the Royal Ballet’s Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, who was said to have been unsurpassed by any living dancer. This is an excerpt of the end of the ballet. It is based on Fokine’s original choreography from 1910. Our historian, Linda Besant, […]