OBT staff members Linda Besant and Claire Willett sat down with retiring Principal Dancer Anne Mueller to interview her about her life and career. Over the next few days we’ll be sharing with you some of her stories and anecdotes – from her childhood as a touring ballet dancer, to the craziest photo shoot she… Read More
The Life and Times of Anne Mueller Part Two: Alabama School of the Arts
OBT staff members Linda Besant and Claire Willett sat down with retiring Principal Dancer Anne Mueller to interview her about her life and career. Over the next few days we’ll be sharing with you some of her stories and anecdotes – from her childhood as a touring ballet dancer, to the craziest photo shoot she… Read More
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… Read More
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,… Read More
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,… Read More
