Oregon Ballet Theatre

This is just a peep from us at OBT to say that we're working away over here getting the Left Unsaid program up to speed. Three of the four ballets are under construction right now, and actually the only one that hasn't been touched yet is Left Unsaid itself. The choreographer, Nicolo Fonte, will be arriving soon to start teaching and rehearsing the ballet.

Tarantella, though it's short, is a very tough little number. The two dancers go pedal to the metal nonstop throughout it and their energy can't ever flag. The choreography is quite revealing and if there's a dropoff in energy-output, it really would show! So the dancers are working on building stamina and really performing the pas de deux hard from start to finish. The tambourines that are a part of the piece sometimes get incorporated into company class if someone feels the need to embellish their grand allegro a bit with ribbons and percussion.

Vertiginous is also a killer, both athletically and technically, so that's being rehearsed with an eye towards developing stamina and a sense of pacing. Luckily, both of these ballets have music that really drives you forward and gives a lift of inspiration.

The Kudelka ballet, the world premiere on the program, is being created right now. James started working on it last week and will continue onward from here. I'm finding the originial musical score, set for two harps, to be really interesting. It can be a bit hard to find your way within it, but I'm sure it'll become clearer all the time. Hearing it performed live by two harpists is going to be lovely!

That's the state of things over at OBT lately. Right about now is when it's easy to be lulled into thinking we've got tons of time to prepare, but the days start ticking by pretty fast at this point. I'm quite looking forward to dancing at the Newmark again since I missed that opportunity last season and I love the different feel of that theater. And of course, having several performances in a row is a nice perk, too!