Good morning, everyone, and welcome to June!

    I have two Oregon Ballet Theatre Playbill articles to share with you today. The earlier of the two was written (by me) to accompany the OBT premiere of "Wooden Dimes", a ballet that director Dani Rowe had originally choreographed as a film for San Francisco Ballet in 2020. Although "Wooden Dimes" was indeed always intended to be performed live, on a stage in front of an audience, the upended performance season of 2020 that we all remember only too well necessitated a swift re-imagining of the ballet for screen. It worked out wonderfully-- the film is theatrical and dramatic and very much not a simple dance video-- but given the chance, Dani jumped at being able to rework it once again back to the way she always envisioned it. Here's the article:

    The more recent article is about the three choreographers whose work will be presented as part of OBT's upcoming Made in Portland program. I interviewed Andrea Schermoly, Rebecca Margolick, and former OBT dancer Makino Hayashi. The three conversations had interesting overlap (the joy they find in a give-and-take creation process with the dancers; relishing a lighthearted studio atmosphere) but, naturally, they also gave me a nice picture of each person's how and why. I tried to bring that out in the three short profiles I wrote.

    When I spoke with Andrea, she'd just returned to her Portland hotel (she's based in Lousiville, KY, where she's resident choreographer for Lousiville Ballet) after getting lost on a shopping expedition in an unfamiliar city. She told me about growing up in South Africa and how living during the tail end of apartheid wove its way into her choreographic style, and that her ballet for OBT was inspired by a flock of crows. "Asyla" is about how a person can be both entrapped and protected at the same time-- whether that's in one's own head or in a physical place.

        Rebecca and I talked while she was in Vancouver, B.C., early one Sunday morning. She'd just gotten back from performing in Switzerland (she balances her life between freelance dancing for other choreographers, performing her own work, and creating works on commission). I learned that she loves the precision, musicality and aesthetics of ballet despite having moved into the contemporary dance sphere, listens to music obsessively, and in her ballet for OBT, "Unarmored," she's hoping to leave the audience with a sense of, yes, hope.

        Makino and I were in OBT at the same time, so talking with her about her new choreographic career was like catching up with an old friend. She's always loved to create things from scratch-- clothing, food, artwork-- and started making dances several years ago. She's done pieces for schools, individual dancers, and companies throughout the region and beyond, and since retiring as a dancer last year has broadened her scope even more with repeat commissions from Boulder Ballet. She wants to choreograph all over the world, for as many people and places as she can, and really loves collaborating with composers on original music for her work.

        Here are the three profiles: