The word “wow!” just about covers it. \u00c2\u00a0What an incredible evening of artistry and generosity on the part of 50 of the finest dancers in North America, the stagehands and administration of Keller Auditorium, all of whom donated their services.<\/p>\n
I’ve read the phrase “they danced their hearts out” but until now, I’d never fully appreciated what that would look and feel like in-person. \u00c2\u00a0From beginning to end, that’s what the near-capacity audience witnessed.<\/p>\n
I’ve always been one of those people who has had a very visceral\u00c2\u00a0emotional response to dance, especially classical ballet, and that made for some very moving moments Friday night. \u00c2\u00a0The OBT dancers more than held their own in some pretty heady company – they were dancing right alongside some of the best dancers from the most revered companies in the business. \u00c2\u00a0They should be immensely proud of their showing Friday – I know that the crowd in attendance certainly was!<\/p>\n
Some highlights: \u00c2\u00a0The amazing virtuosity and hang-in-midair feats of the duo (Megan Fairchild and Daniel Ulbricht) from the New York City Ballet, who danced Ballanchine’s Tarantella<\/em> with such joy and exuberance. OBT’s Almost Mozart<\/em>, that brought such depth of emotion to a wonderfully evocative choreography – and with the amazing Alison Roper in great form after her maternity leave, no less! \u00c2\u00a0The incredible discipline and beauty of the incomparable White Swan<\/em> pas de deux from Swan Lake by Ballet West’s Christiana Bennett and Christopher Ruud). \u00c2\u00a0BodyVox with their amazing physicality in the haunting Falling for Grace<\/em>. \u00c2\u00a0And perhaps the most stunning work of the evening was by a pair from the Boston Ballet, who just blew the roof off the Keller with Zero Hour<\/em>, set to the first movement of\u00c2\u00a0Winter<\/em> from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons<\/em> – most amazing fact? \u00c2\u00a0The duo (Melissa Hough and James Whiteside) also choreographed the work!<\/p>\n The entire lineup was so well done that it took some work to pull out highlights, and I mean no disrespect to those I did not mention – all the dancers were artists of the highest caliber.<\/p>\n What ended up being the most moving to me was the sheer energy and intensity that these dancers brought to their performances. \u00c2\u00a0They were honoring OBT by bringing their ‘A’ game, and seeing some of these superstars of the ballet world doing their best on behalf of our local ballet company (with a growing national and international reputation for excellence) really made my heart swell with pride for what Christopher Stowell and his company of dancers have been able to accomplish in such a short time here in Portland. \u00c2\u00a0Bravo – and let’s see that $750,000 goal reached asap!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The word “wow!” just about covers it. \u00c2\u00a0What an incredible evening of artistry and generosity on the part of 50 of the finest dancers in North America, the stagehands and administration of Keller Auditorium, all of whom donated their services. I’ve read the phrase “they danced their hearts out” but until now, I’d never fully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1335],"tags":[926,1633,277],"class_list":["post-2687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dance","tag-bodyvox","tag-oregon-ballet-theatre","tag-performance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-Hl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2651,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/07\/obt-season-ending-performance-dazzles\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":0},"title":"OBT season ending performance dazzles","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My wife and I attended the Sunday matinee of Oregon Ballet Theatre's final performance of the 08-09 season.\u00c2\u00a0 It was an amazing show all around.\u00c2\u00a0 First of all, the sets and lighting were phenomenal.\u00c2\u00a0 The orchestra, under music director Niel DePonte, sounded as good as I've ever heard them, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obt_thermometer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/obt_thermometer-200x260.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2298,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/06\/obt-pit-goes-dark\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":1},"title":"OBT pit goes dark","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From today's Oregonian: In yet another round of bad news for Portland's arts scene, Oregon Ballet Theatre is cutting its budget 28 percent. The ballet will go on. Just don't expect a live orchestra at any OBT performances or quite as many dancers on stage next season. Approved by OBT's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3262,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/14\/obt-doing-well\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":2},"title":"obt doing well","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm guessing that Oregon Ballet Theatre is doing very well with their ticket sales for their Emerald Retrospective this week - I tried to buy tickets to their Friday night performance and the only tickets available were over $100 each - too rich for my blood!\u00a0 I'm glad that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1906,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/12\/fearnomusic-disjecta-friday\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":3},"title":"fearnomusic @ DISJECTA friday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Agniezka Laska Dancers - Photo: Chris Leck Fear No Music will be presenting its second concert of the season, Home Grown: Fresh, Delectable Sounds by Oregon Composers, at Disjecta (8371 North Interstate Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97217) this Friday February 13th at 8 p.m. It should be a fascinating and enjoyable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ald","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/ald.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2592,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/27\/whither-obt\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":4},"title":"whither OBT?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A harrowing and sobering article in today's Oregonian about the beyond precarious financial position of the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT).\u00c2\u00a0 They need to raise $750,000 by June 30 or they may have to shut down.\u00c2\u00a0 Completely.\u00c2\u00a0 This on the heels of jettisoning the OBT orchestra for next season, which apparently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"obtlogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/obtlogo-400x50.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4148,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/28\/obt-orchestra-returns\/","url_meta":{"origin":2687,"position":5},"title":"obt orchestra returns","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Bob Hicks (a.k.a. Mr. Scatter) has a review of the Oregon Ballet Theater's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which featured the return of the OBT orchestra after being absent due to budget cuts for all of the 2009-2010 season.\u00a0 Here's the portion of the review that deals with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dance"","block_context":{"text":"dance","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/dance\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/obtfb-400x47.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}