Fall.Art.Live last weekend was marvelous. It was a huge success in every way that I could tell, from the public turnout and satisfaction to the seamlessness of the events to the beautiful weather. (Perhaps the only unforeseen problem was the fact that leaves and twigs kept falling on the stage all afternoon, but that sort of added to the “au naturel” effect of the whole thing anyway).

One thing that seems most gratifying about such events is hearing stories like this one, posted on a blog about the Portland arts scene. The gist is that the key to opening up young peoples’ minds to the possibilities of the arts is introducing them in easy, casual, accessible ways:

http://cultureshockpdx.blogspot.com/

In other news, now that we dancers have returned to rehearsals it seems that the OBT 2009-10 season is officially under way! The first item on the agenda is preparing an excerpt from Serenade which we’ll be performing on Thursday night at the Oregon Symphony’s annual Waterfront Park concert. Serenade is an unbelievably gorgeous ballet, lush, regal, elegant and so very moving. Performing it outdoors with the Symphony playing Tchaikovsky’s heart-wrenching music is going to be an unforgettable experience.

The only thing that makes me sad is that we are only doing a short snippet of the ballet. There are many reasons why we can’t do the whole thing, but having just a taste of Serenade makes me crave that wave of emotion and movement that the full arc of the ballet creates. Alas… maybe someday.

Meanwhile, we’re also starting to put back together the scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the retrospective program in October, and soon the rehearsal schedule will be full of new ballets to learn and old ones to remember. It’s going to be an exciting several weeks as we retrace OBT’s history and prepare to celebrate it with our audiences.