When Trey McIntyre started conceptualizing a ballet version of Peter Pan, he didn’t realize quite what he was in for. “I didn’t feel like I was making an epic production,” he remembers. “It wasn’t until we were really into it that I realized, oh gosh, this is a LOT of layers!” The story of Peter… Read More
“The Vitality of Swan Lake”: Christopher Stowell Updates a Classic by Looking to the Past
In 2006, Christopher Stowell had been at the helm of OBT for only three seasons, but he felt the time was already right. Portlanders were eagerly watching as their resident ballet company swiftly grew in scale and scope, and saw its artistic focus shift. Stowell knew it was the perfect moment to define OBT’s role… Read More
“We Are Portland”: Honoring Two OBT Dancers
Dancers know from the very beginning that they will have two lives: the first comprises the highly focused—some call it tunnel vision— years of training and performing, and then comes Part 2, which begins the day after the curtain falls on their final performance. The closure of the first mega-chapter of a dancer’s life brings… Read More
Lauren Lovette on Creating Space, Setting a Tone, and Being Present
“I love problems. Love them!” says Lauren Lovette. “The more the better. I’m kind of always in a state of curiosity. I love pushing my brain into new ideas. That’s just my personality and how I like to live.” Lauren’s emergence as a leading force in the dance world has been powered, in part, by… Read More
“There Is No ‘Fake’”: Presenting La Sylphide In The 21st Century
Frank Andersen estimates that he’s staged and produced La Sylphide more than 20 times around the globe, from Europe to North America and South America to Asia. And yet for him, the process is far from routine. “The steps are the same, the mime is the same, the story is the same. But the process… Read More