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BY CATHERINE THOMAS see dance calendar Portland's 1997-98 dance season upheld high standards for avant-garde style and choreography. This was exemplified by Portland Opera's and Oregon Ballet Theater's unique versions of Carmina Burana, two powerful productions that aimed to free ballet from its traditional constraints and gave it an apocalyptic presence. Artists and audiences are primed for more of the same--dance that travels beyond the boundaries of the distinctions of "classical/romantic ballet," "modern" and "contemporary" and into innovative forays noted not so much for their gratuitous shock-appeal as for their singular vision, emotional resonance and amalgamation of form. Traditional and experimental choreographers and dancers of local, national and international origins are bringing diverse visions to Portland stages this season. Among the highlights are Le Ballet National du Sénégal, Luciana Proaño, the Guest Artist series of the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), White Bird's inaugural subscription series and Oregon Ballet Theater's Moving Signatures. Le Ballet National du Sénégal, a 38-year-old West-African dance company, gives made-for-stage performances that tell a story through vibrant traditional dance and pulsing rhythms. Led by artistic director and choreographer Bouly Sonko, the company dissolves cultural boundaries and offers authentic West-African culture, legends and dance traditions with joyous energy; audience members are frequently inspired to join dancers and drummers onstage in the African tradition of a celebratory community dance finale. The company's energy and rhythm will find a reflection in Luciana Proaño's Chaski, which carries the spirit of community to a more personal level. The Peruvian-born Portland dancer, choreographer and musician says, "My shows are not about steps or rehearsing. They are about connecting with the audience in the moment of communion, which is the moment when art is happening. Art is communion." Rather than a finished product or a tacit dialogue directed at a passive audience, Proaño focuses on action: "My movement is raw. I want it to be exposed, not veiled. I want the audience to participate, not hide the process from them. There should be no division between the audience and the performer." Proaño's works are typically performed in short runs; basic elements such as images (abstract video imagery providing constant movement), percussion and music are present in all of her works, but the themes themselves are a continuing exploration of her own philosophical and spiritual evolution. As Proaño says, "The elements remain, but they evolve and shape themselves from deeper awareness." Her path to awareness is improvisation, both through movement and percussion. "Improvisation is constantly an alert reaction," Proaño says. "The environment I create with image and music puts me in a frame of mind ripe for transformation, and the environment is likewise created when all of us, performer and audience, are brought together in a certain mood." Proaño calls her works with her husband, the composer and guitarist John Butler, "dual performances, not solo"; she also collaborates with her 19-year-old son, a drummer. Two local dance organizations, White Bird and PICA, will host innovative performances in the upcoming season, focusing their efforts on introducing a broad spectrum of distinct styles. White Bird, created by Walter Jaffe and Paul King and now in its second season, brings innovative national companies' modern dance to Portland. Its subscription series includes performances by the acclaimed Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Parsons Dance Company and America's seminal modern troupe, the Limón Dance Company. Limón will celebrate its 50th anniversary with works by its founder, the late humanistic choreographer and dancer José Limón, as well as innovative works by some of the most exciting choreographers working today. It begins with Odd Duck Lake by the local Gregg Bielemeier Dance Project. Bielemeier characterizes his work, perhaps not surprisingly, as "entertaining, intelligent, smart modern art"; he has carved himself a niche with his trademark humor. "I'm proud that I'm able to bring humor into contemporary dance," he says. "It's subtle, it's real, it's serious and it's intimate." He cites the appeal of his dances as deriving from "strong technical dancers who are personally mature in their approach to performance. They interpret my movement uniquely and interestingly." Of his influences, the choreographer says, "I don't make dances about a poem I read. It's about a lot of things, from the fresh air outside to a fabulous painting I may have seen, or something that fell out of someone's pocket while walking down the street." While White Bird brings work from larger and better-known national and international dance companies, PICA offers a different focus, bringing experimental contemporary dance, theater and music. PICA's director of marketing and outreach, Kathy Budas, describes PICA's vision as "bringing in a variety of emergent artists who are making significant strides within the contemporary dance discipline, who are cutting-edge or pushing the boundaries of dance." As part of its dance series for the upcoming season, PICA presents works by Ann Carlson, Lucy Guerin and The Bebe Miller Dance Company (PICA's artist-in-residence). Given the constraints of arts funding, Portland's dance community makes wise use of its resources. Newer dance organizations such as Conduit and White Bird and larger organizations such as PICA and OBT cross-collaborate with local dancers and choreographers, including Bielemeier, Linda K. Johnson and Mary Oslund; they also avail themselves of the talents of local musicians, composers and conductors in venues as varied as Echo Theater, Conduit, Portland State University, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and the Civic Auditorium. The dedication of Portland's local dance community to building a thriving local and national dance presence is laudable; the sheer variety of dance style, form and venue available to a city of Portland's size continues to expand opportunities for individual artists to create and perform new work.
originally published September 9, 1998 |
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