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 August 20th through the 24th, OBT will move their dance studios outdoors to Director Park in downtown Portland, offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to sneak a peek inside the choreographic process. Thanks to a collaboration with White Bird Dance, this year’s OBT Exposed will be a Choreographic Institute featuring international choreographer Pontus Lidberg. Dance lovers of all ages will have the opportunity to watch as Lidberg works with OBT dancers to develop a new contemporary work featuring music by Portland-born, Julliard-trained classical composer Ryan Francis that will premiere in April as part of OBT’s American Music Festival program (April 18-28, 2013).
 This project represents the first official collaboration between Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon’s leading resident ballet company, and White Bird, the sole dance-only presenter west of the Rockies. OBT Artistic Director Christopher Stowell and White Bird Co-Founders Walter Jaffe and Paul King agreed on the selection of Pontus Lidberg for the Choreographic Institute in light of his growing reputation as a gifted young choreographer who uses classical ballet as a springboard for inventive new work that he often combines with film.
Dancers will also be rehearsing selections from Swan Lake in preparation for their upcoming performance at the Oregon Symphony's Waterfront Concert August 30th.
Bring your lunch, relax with friends or treat your loved ones to the beauty and grace of OBT's dancers and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes to stage a ballet. A unique and energizing way to spend a summer afternoon, not to mention it's absolutely FREE!
 RSVP, Ask, Share, WIN!
Joining us for OBT Exposed? RSVP to the Facebook Event 
When you arrive at the park, you can "check in" to the event on Facebook and be AUTOMATICALLY ENTERED TO WIN a pair of tickets to the show of your choice in the upcoming season.
While you're with us, you can tweet questions about the rehearsals using the hashtag #pontus and get answers in real time from our team of dedicated balletomanes.
This is also the one event all season where you are not only permitted, you are ENCOURAGED to snap photos of our dancers at work and share with friends. Share them with us too by tagging us on Facebook or tweeting them to @oregonballet.
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OBT Exposed Sponsors
The Boeing Company
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The following schedule of events is preliminary and subject to change: |
11:00am - 12:15pm
Company Class
Watch the dancers take their daily class, designed to perfect their technique and develop the physical and artistic qualities required of classical dancers. The class begins with barre exercises and continues with complicated combinations of turns and jumps culminating in virtuoso athleticism.
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12:15pm - 12:30pm
Introduction of
Choreographer
Pontus Lidberg |
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12:30pm - 3:00pm
Rehearsal of a World Premiere
with Pontus Lidberg
/ Swan Lake Rehearsal
Choreographer Pontus Lidberg works with 6 company dancers to develop a new ballet to premiere in April.
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3:05pm - 3:35pm
Kids' Creative Movement Class - FREE!
The littlest Oregonians are invited to try their moves on stage in a free children’s class led by OBT’s Education & Outreach department. Participation is limited to 30 children aged 6 to 15 and will be available on a first come, first served basis starting ½ an hour before each class.
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3:45pm - 4:00pm
Ask Pontus
Audience members throughout the day will have the opportunity to submit questions for Pontus about the work being developed. Each day before the start of afternoon rehearsal a brief Q&A will take place where Pontus and Artistic Director Christopher Stowell and/or White Bird's Paul King and Walter Jaffe will answer the questions posed by the audience. A twitter feed will run concurrently throughout the day as well to keep audience members up to speed on what and who they are seeing, at hashtag #pontus.
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4:00pm - 6:30pm
Rehearsal with Pontus Lidberg / Swan Lake Rehearsal |
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 21
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Adult Class - FREE!
Intermediate and advanced adult students are welcome in this free class taught by Company Artist Grace Shibley. Participation is limited to 30 people on a first come, first served basis starting ½ an hour before each class.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22
8:00pm
Showing of The Rain - FREE!
Special Showing of The Rain, directed by Pontus Lidberg. Shot entirely on location in and around Stockholm, this 28 minute film has been so lovingly crafted and brilliantly made it reserves an important place amongst the best of recent dancefilm features.
WATCH PREVIEW
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 23
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Lecture & Demonstration
with Pontus Lidberg - FREE!
Gain insight into the choreographic process with this lecture demonstration exploring some of the movement vocabulary and creative impulses that drive Lidberg’s work.
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Photo by Wendy Whelan |
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
9:30am - 11:00am
Master Class with
Pontus Lidberg - FREE!
Take advantage of a unique opportunity to engage with contemporary choreographer and filmmaker Pontus Lidberg as he leads a master repertory class in Director’s Park. For advanced or professional dancers aged 16 and above. First come, first serve.
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Photo by David Amzallag
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ABOUT OBT EXPOSED
From 1995-2008, Oregon Ballet Theatre presented OBT Exposed in the South Park Blocks of downtown Portland. Each year, these free weeks in the park allowed the public to see the daily regimen of OBT’s dancers and artistic staff and enjoy a daily break with the ballet. After a hiatus in 2009 and 2010, OBT Exposed returned in July 2011, moving toDirector Park in the heart of downtown Portland.
ABOUT PONTUS LIDBERG
Swedish choreographer, dancer, and filmmaker Pontus Lidberg is most recognized for his award-winning dance film The Rain (2007). As a choreographer for the stage, Mr. Lidberg has been described in the Swedish press as "one of our great choreographic talents" and has created over 30 works for major international dance companies such as The Royal Danish Ballet, The Beijing Dance Theatre, The Norwegian National Ballet, 59° North: Soloists of the Royal Swedish Ballet, The Vanemuise Ballet of Estonia, Morphoses, and for his own group Pontus Lidberg Dance, which recently made its New York debut with his Faune at the Fall For Dance Festival at New York City Center. In December of 2010 NorrlandsOperan of Sweden commissioned Mr. Lidberg and Pontus Lidberg Dance to create a new dance work with an original score by Swedish composer B Tommy Andersson. That work, entitled Warriors, was named best dance performance of the year in northern Sweden. Lidberg's full-length work Duet for Dancer and Pianist, in collaboration with concert pianist Magnus Svensson, has been performed extensively on tour in Sweden, France and Estonia.
His first work for the camera was commissioned by Swedish National Television: Mirror has been screened on television as well as in dance film festivals in the US and abroad. His most recent dance film, Labyrinth Within, which features New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan and a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, received the "Court Metrange du Jury" prize at Court-Métrange Film Festival in Rennes, France in October 2011 as well as the Jury Prize for Best Picture at Lincoln Center's Dance on Camera Festival. Pontus Lidberg is the designated 2012 Resident Artistic Director for Morphoses. His new work, a multimedia piece including both film and live dance inspired by The Labyrinth Within, premiered during Morphoses' debut season at Jacob's Pillow in June 2012. Morphoses previously commissioned Lidberg to create Vespertine, which premiered at Works & Process at the Guggenheim in October 2010. Mr. Lidberg received his training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm, Sweden. Among other international dance companies, he has danced with The Royal Swedish Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, Le Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Gothenburg Ballet. He received the NOKIA Award for young talent in 2001 and the Stockholm Cultural Scholarship, also in 2001.
ABOUT WHITE BIRD
Founded in 1997 by Walter Jaffe and Paul King, White Bird is committed to bringing the best contemporary dance companies to Portland from around the world. In 14 years it has presented 158 dance companies and commissioned 29 works, many of them from Portland-based choreographers. In May 1998 White Bird presented Oregon Ballet Theatre as part of 4x4 The Ballet Project (with Eugene Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and San Francisco Ballet). Its many community engagement activities feature dance workshops and an Outreach Project with Portland Public Schools, reaching close to 3,000 students and teachers each year. For more information, visit whitebird.org.
Photos Left to Right: Haiyan Wu, Photo by Joni Kabana; OBT Corps de Ballet, Photo by Rachel Austen; Alison Roper and Brett Bauer, Photo by Rachel Austen.
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