by Linda Besant, Oregon Ballet Theatre Historian [Igor Stravinsky and George Balanchine in rehearsal while working on Agon in 1957. Photograph: Martha Swope.] George Balanchine made 40 ballets to the music of Igor Stravinsky—the two are considered to have been among the most fertile and brilliant teams in performing arts history. The fruits of their… Read More
Pina Bausch’s “Rite of Spring” **WARNING: This video gets NSFW (Not Safe For Work) at about the 4:30 mark***
NPR has a great piece today celebrating the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka (one of the world premiere ballets that will open our 2011/2012 season). Here’s a tidbit: in Petrushka, Stravinsky’s next collaboration with Ballets Russes, the young composer begins to uncover his true voice. Writer Jeremy Noble calls it “the ability to express… Read More
by OBT Historian Linda Besant The original Firebird premiered in 1910 for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris. For nearly twenty years, from 1909 to 1929, Diaghilev’s company of primarily Russian-trained dancers performed radical new ballets that gave equal expression to all the arts involved. Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes were among the greatest fruits… Read More
The original Petrouchka was a puppet at a carnival who discovered he had a soul and fell in love with a ballerina bimbo. It didn’t end well. Our 2011 production of Petrouchka is a world premiere adaptation from Nicolo Fonte that may or may not involve an actual puppet. But that doesn’t mean we can’t… Read More
