The crème of the international ballet community returns to Portland once again for Dance United, our celebration of the best of the best ballet performances from around the world. For each Dance United Christopher draws on his relationships with the national (and international) dance community to bring you an evening of performances you could only get from Oregon Ballet Theatre (or a ‘round the world tour!)

Wendy	Adrian	Jeanette	Renato	Maia
Tamás	Victoria	Temur	Garen	Dana

Guest artists include Jeanette Delgado and Renato Penteado (Miami City Ballet), Victoria Jaiani and Temur Suluashvili (The Joffrey Ballet), Maia Makhateli and Tamás Nagy (Dutch National Ballet), Adrian Danchig-Waring and Wendy Whelan (New York City Ballet) and Garen Scribner and Dana Genshaft (San Francisco Ballet).

Pas de deux to be performed by the visiting guest artists include Yuri Possokhov's Bells (The Joffrey Ballet), Christopher Wheeldon's Ghosts (San Francisco Ballet) and excerpts from George Balanchine's Stars and Stripes (Miami City Ballet) with additional repertoire to be determined. Oregon Ballet Theatre will perform a sneak preview of both the white and black swan pas de deux from next season's Swan Lake and a trio of short Kurt Weill inspired pieces: Christopher Wheeldon's There Where She Loved, Kent Stowell's Jenny and a world premiere work by Christopher Stowell set to Kurt Weill's tango-infused Youkali. Rounding out the program will be Balanchine's Who Cares?

Commemorate a Once in a Lifetime Evening with a One of a Kind Wine

Thanks to a generous donation from the Eastern Washington Private Estate of Ken Hick and Cheri Cooley-Hick, we are pleased to make available an extremely limited edition of 200 private label bottles of Oregon Ballet Theatre Dance United Merlot, hand signed by Artistic Director Christopher Stowell, hand-numbered, and featuring the signatures of all 10 Dance United guest artists, plus Oregon Ballet Theatre Principal Dancers Artur Sultanov and Alison Roper. With grapes sourced from the prestigious Boushey Vineyard in Eastern Washington, as well as Horse Heaven Hills in Yakima Valley and Ash Hollow in Walla Walla, this special vintage  features dark aromas of cigar box, cedar and spice, followed by rich flavors of black cherries, smokey roasted figs and dates and finished with lingering black pepper and brown sugar.

The first 200 people to support Oregon Ballet Theatre’s yearend campaign with a donation of $200 or more will receive a bottle of this commemorative wine as our gift. In addition, your new or additional gift of $200 or more by June 30th will formally induct you into the Celebration Society, a special community of ballet and wine lovers who will receive exclusive invitations to wine tastings, intimate ballet and wine events, plus first right of refusal on future bottles of commemorative ballet-inspired wine from top winemakers from around Oregon and Washington.

Will you join the Celebration Society with a new or additional gift of $200 or more? Click here to donate and claim your limited edition commemorative wine as our thank you.

Your gift supports the work Oregon Ballet Theatre does in the community, identifying young artists of exceptional talent from every neighborhood in Portland. Our outreach and scholarship programs ensure that every dancer with exceptional talent, regardless of background or financial means, has the opportunity to develop the discipline, grace, skill and drive towards excellence that makes for an extraordinary ballet dancer and an exceptional citizen of our fair city. Thank you for making this important work possible.