WELCOME TO WONDERLAND!

Principal Dancer, Preston Andrew Patterson, is the iconic Mad Hatter in Ballet Fantastique’s upcoming performance Alice in Wonderland: Remix. See the behind the scenes transformation as we escape down the rabbit hole.

MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND at the Hult Center for Performing Arts with High Step Society’s exhilarating, daredevil hot jazz score

Dancer: Preston Andrew Patterson / Makeup: Anna Maria Bursofsky / Music: High Step Society (Time for Tea) / Video: Daniel Olbrych, Jeremy Bronson *********************************************************

Get tickets to a show: https://hultcenter.org/get-tickets

Unveiling Wonderland

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Ballet Fantastique's Alice in Wonderland: Remix

As Mother's Day approaches, Ballet Fantastique is gearing up to transport audiences into a realm of enchantment with our electrifying performance of Alice in Wonderland: Remix at the Hult Center for Performing Arts. This exciting performance offers a fresh take on Lewis Carroll’s timeless tale featuring Eugene-based band High Step Society’s exhilarating, daredevil hot jazz score bringing the fantastic Alice characters to life. 

We had the opportunity to sit down with Chelsea Lovejoy, the talented costume designer behind the costume creation of this year's newest character, the White Queen. Chelsea shared insights into her creative process and what the collaboration process is like with Artistic Director, Donna Bontrager, to bring the White Queen's character to life.

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Interview with Chelsea Lovejoy: Crafting the White Queen's Costume

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became involved with costume design at Ballet Fantastique! 

Chelsea: I am an illustrator and artist that has been working in the arts locally for over a decade. I have also been an adult ballet student for the past 4 years at the Academy of Ballet Fantastique! During one of BFan’s Open Barre sessions, I spent a good deal of time with Hannah and Donna discussing all the amazing costumes I loved from past shows. When they learned that I’ve been a sewist for many years, they offered me an incredible opportunity to use my passion and creativity to design and sew some original costumes for BFan!

Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the design of the White Queen's costume for Ballet Fantastique’s performance of Alice in Wonderland: Remix?

Chelsea: I absolutely love that costumes bring depth and breadth to a character on the stage. Anytime I’m looking for inspiration, I want something that will add context, richness, and texture to the audience’s experience of the character. For the White Queen, I wanted my design to portray the gentleness, kindness, and compassion in stark contrast to the Red Queen! 

Q: Creating a costume from scratch sounds like a daunting process! Could you walk us through what this is like? How long does a project like this typically take and where do you find the materials to create it?

Chelsea: It starts with a meeting of minds! Donna and I come together with design ideas and I translate them into sketches. BFan has an incredible stock of fabrics and trims from previous shows and I’m all about getting the most out of every inch! Donna has great taste in fabrics and once we’ve hand chosen each of them for every part of the costume, I can start sewing! This design has more than seven fabrics and five trims to give it a regal, luxe feel. From the design process all the way to the final sewn garment, it took just over two and a half weeks for me to make this costume!

Beginning construction

Details being added, requiring both machine and hand sewing

Q: How do you collaborate with Ballet Fantastique Artistic Director, Donna Bontrager, to ensure the costume aligns with her artistic vision for the performance? 

Costume being fit to exact size of the dancer that will originate this role

Chelsea: Donna not only has great taste in fabrics, but also an immense wealth of experience to pull from. It’s been so helpful relying on her knowledge of which fabrics are good for partnering and which places on a bodice need more stretch. These garments don’t only need to look beautiful, they also have to function in a high intensity, athletic environment. Donna and I have worked seamlessly together to make sure that these costumes function well and meet her high artistic standards.

Q: Can you give us a sneak peek of the costume design?

Initial design phase, where Donna and I collaborate on ideas and fabrics

Costume almost completed and ready for fitting

Q: Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse into your creative process! We can't wait to see the White Queen's costume come to life on stage!

Chelsea: It’s been such a joy to use my creativity and skills to add a little extra sparkle and passion to this production. I hope the audience loves these costumes as much as I love making them!

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Don't miss your chance to see the White Queen’s costume come to life in Ballet Fantastique’s original Alice in Wonderland: Remix, May 9-12 at the Hult Center for Performing Arts, featuring High Step Society’s exhilarating, daredevil hot jazz score.

Exclusive Interviews for Cinderella: The Rock Opera

MEET THE ORIGINAL MEAN GIRLS

Brooke Geffrey-Bowler & Elizabeth Chapa play the naughty and fabulous Stepsisters, “Drizz” and “Stasia” in Ballet Fantastique’s upcoming performance Cinderella: The Rock Opera! 👑✨ Find out what it is like taking on roles that balance comedy with ridiculous technique (literally), and be sure to get your tickets to see them in action Feb. 29-Mar. 3 @hultcenter before they’re gone!

CINDERELLA: THE ROCK OPERA Feb 29- Mar 3 @hultcenter with LIVE 60S BILLBOARD HITS from Shelley James and The Agents of Unity

MEET THE ORIGINAL (FAIRY) GODFATHER 🪄

Preston Andrew Patterson dances Ballet Fantastique’s playful twist on the traditional role in our newest spinoff in this reimagined Cinderella! Find out how this character has been updated to fit this 60s-inspired rock ballet remake of the fairytale classic!

CINDERELLA: THE ROCK OPERA Feb 29- Mar 3 @hultcenter with LIVE 60S BILLBOARD HITS from Shelley James and The Agents of Unity

Cinderella: The Rock Opera

You’re invited to prom!

Step into a world where classic fairy tales collide with the vibrant energy of the swinging 60s! Ballet Fantastique's upcoming production of Cinderella: The Rock Opera is not your average rendition of the timeless tale. Instead of donning glass slippers to attend a royal ball, Cindy finds herself grooving at Prom! The Prince, looking for his sweetheart, hosts Prom, transforming the typical fairytale palace scene into a vibrant dance floor, adorned with dazzling lights and the sounds of rock 'n' roll. This sassy and powerful twist on the beloved fairytale creates an unforgettable experience for audiences of all ages.

As Cindy prepares for this epic adventure we decided to take a moment to reminisce about this iconic event from the 60s—Prom Night!  Read on to discover some of Ballet Fantastique’s dancers and artistic staff’s favorite memories from their own prom nights.

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Ashley Bontrager: Ballet Fantastique Principal Dancer, Cinderella

“My best friend at the time lent me one of her dresses for prom. I loved it— in fact, I loved it so much when I got asked to go to another highschool’s prom I wore the same dress again. Same dress, different date!”

— Ashley Bontrager

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Elizabeth Chapa: Ballet Fantastique dancer, Step Sister

“Prom was special because it was the beginning of what I hope is forever :)”

— Elizabeth Chapa

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Nicole Brown: Ballet Fantastique Soloist dancer, The Queen

“My wonderful friend Justin made me a painting when he asked me to prom. We had a shared love for art that always deeply bonded us. I remember laughing endlessly with him and all of our friends that night. The painting still hangs in my living room today.”

— Nicole Brown

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Donna Bontrager: Ballet Fantastique Artistic Director

“Well, I didn’t go to prom on a motorcycle, but I did go in a blue corvette…”

— Donna Bontrager

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Shelley James: vocalist/musician band leader for Agents of Unity

“Kind of like Cinderella and the ball, I didn’t think I was going to go to my senior prom. I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time but then 3 days before prom, my good friend Andy called me up and said let’s go have some fun with all of our friends! Life is full of last minute sweet surprises!”

— Shelley James

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Izzy Bloodgood: Ballet Fantastique Principal Dancer, StepMother

“By senior year I had known most of my friends since the 6th grade. We had truly grown up together and I remember prom feeling like this epic last chance to all be together knowing we would all soon go our separate ways.”

— Izzy Bloodgood

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Preston Andrew Patterson: Ballet Fantastique Principal Dancer, Godfather

“Prom. Little Remembered. Heavily romanticized. A poignant punctuation to a year I’ll never forget with people I’ll always miss dearly.”

— Preston Andrew Patterson

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Brooke Geffrey-Bowler: Ballet Fantastique dancer, Step Sister

“A Bella Swan type of prom.”

— Brooke Geffrey-Bowler

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We hope you are ready for a night you will never forget! Dust off your finest prom attire and join us for the Prince’s much anticipated Prom. Get your tickets to see Ballet Fantastique’s original Cinderella: The Rock Opera, Feb. 29-Mar. 3 at the Hult Center for Performing Arts, featuring Shelley James & the Agents of Unity band playing 60s billboard hits–hurry tickets are selling fast!

Some Holiday Magic: “Babes in Toyland” Welcomes More Young Stars

Interview with Ballet Fantastique Academy Student Emmy Stewart

Every year, the holiday season brings a sense of magic and wonder to the world of ballet, and Ballet Fantastique’s upcoming Thanksgiving weekend production of Babes in Toyland: A Holiday Story at the Hult Center is the jazziest of all!

And this year…something extra special is in the air: Forty children from ages 5 to 15 are getting ready to take the spotlight alongside our professional dancers on the beautiful Hult Center Silva Concert Hall stage!

This will be Ballet Fantastique’s fourth Babes in Toyland production run at the Hult Center. To mark this special occasion, BFan Resident Choreographer-Producers Donna Marisa and Hannah Bontrager have added new youth roles to the story for Academy of Ballet Fantastique students. 

“This opportunity to shine on stage is also an important opportunity for our young Academy students to learn, grow, and be inspired by the professional dancers who will share the stage with them,” says Hannah.

“We’re so proud of their hard work! Performing in a production on this scale and this stage is truly a memory for a lifetime. The magic of the children’s performance and bright spirit and energy gives back to our community and to our company. They have something so important to say about the meaning of the season—bright hope for the future at what feels like such a dark time in our world. Giving them this voice and chance to dance is a gift to us all.”

Academy of Ballet Fantastique Students IN 2022 Babes in toyland, PC Bob Williams

We had the opportunity of sitting down with one of these rising dance stars from Academy of Ballet Fantastique, Emelia (Emmy) Stewart, who will be performing as a Toy Soldier, Peppermint Candy, and Little Lamb in BFan’s Babes in Toyland!

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Emmy Stewart at the Philadelphia art museum

Q & A

Q: Emmy! Tell us a little bit about yourself—where are you from, what is your age, what roles do you dance in the performance?

A: My name is Emmy Stewart, I am from Eugene, Oregon, and I am ten years old.  In the Babes in Toyland performances, I dance the roles of a Toy Soldier, a Peppermint Candy, and a Lamb.

Q: What classes do you currently take at Ballet Fantastique? What is your week of dance training like? Do you have any favorites?

A: I take ballet technique class, pointe class, character, variations, jazz, acro, and theater.  Pointe class is my favorite right now, it’s with Ms. Ashley and Ms. Donna. We train five days a week and for about 2-4 hours a day.

Q: What excites you most about getting to perform in Babes in Toyland? 

Emmy performing in the academy showcase

A: I love the music, and I love getting to bring joy to the audience. I also love getting to dance with my friends and my teachers on stage. 

Emmy at the hult center stage door

Q: You have performed in other professional performances with Ballet Fantastique. Can you tell us a little bit about it and anything else about your experience on the big stage?

A: I love getting to dance on the big stage in front of so many people. I think it’s so fun we get to do this!  I have been watching these shows since I was two years old, and watching my teachers perform. It is really fun and a dream come true to get to dance next to them now in these shows.

Q: How has performing and rehearsing alongside the professional dancers inspired you?

A: I love getting to watch the professional dancers practice before we have our Academy rehearsals.  It inspires me to dance even more in my rehearsals.

Don’t miss seeing Emmy and the next generation of artists shine on the big stage IN babes in toyland!

Ballet Fantastique’s retroglam original Babes in Toyland: A Holiday Story is Nov. 25 & 26 at the Hult Center for Performing Arts, featuring Duke Ellington’s epic jazz Nutcracker, plus other jazz holiday classics! Ballet like you’ve never seen before.

Emmy with dance instructor & BFan dancer Cari koepplin

Dr. Barbara Mossberg's Transcript of Informal Remarks at the Barre

“Poe’s depiction of loss, of remorse, of what cannot be recovered, in this and many other poems, of our being HAUNTED by loss, of life struggling by being prematurely taken—and specifically habits of long lost green valleys, of nightmare pandemics, of what is NEVERMORE—are eerily prophetic.”

“When you feel remorse and grief, and haunted, your conscience—your soul—is honored; when you allow the imagination in, you are honoring our deepest and noblest humanity.”

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Dr. Barbara Mossberg | Fall 2023 | Dramaturg Presentation of Poe taster to NEVERMORE | Ballet Fantastique | October 6, 2023

Transcript of Informal Remarks at the Barre (City center for dance) by BFan’s RESIDENT HISTORIAN, Dr. Barbara Mossberg Professor of Practice, Clark Honors College, University of Oregon Eugene, OR

Hail remarkable Ballet Fantastique Team. Led by University of Oregon’s own Hannah Bontrager and Donna Marisa, this mother-daughter duo that is going to go down in cultural history. The work—or we could say, joy of this enterprise, not only to transform ballet into art and a way of speaking to humanity’s deepest springs of joy and awe as our brain/body rises to the occasion of being human, lifting us in flights of imagination. You are seeing tonight at the Barre an athletic prowess infused with spirit that gives legs wings, buoys the torso, so that we remember when we were birds and could fly, and still do in our dreams. You take extraordinary lives—on the human stage—larger than life--often forgotten or overlooked in our curricula—Cleopatra, Casanova, the Beast, Ichabod Crane, and do alchemy, transforming them into new beauty and truth and wonder and awe for our times.

The imaginative genius and brilliance of BFan married to the genius and brilliance of Edgar Allan Poe, who I want to say deserves this, comes amazingly at a moment in our history when we can perhaps for the first time, really get Poe. He arrives at our cultural shores as a refugee from a century in which he could play a pivotal role as an editor of various journals, the equivalent of being today’s Elon Musk or Robert Murdock—that kind of power to publish, to format; and yet, though he did publish, he was not regarded for his genius. He was so far ahead of his time, like von Newman who is the subject of a new book out called MANIAC, not only inventing genres we take for granted today, sci-fi, detective fiction, the short story, gothic, the origins of French symbolism leading to today’s modern literature, cosmology, cryptology, but prophetic in terms of today’s major issues and realms of knowledge we are grappling with and taking up the real estate of headline news, Supreme Court cases, and the work of countless nonprofits in environmental preservation.

We could say that the earliest recorded human literature, scratched in clay onto cuneiform, is about what have we done to earth and each other: Gilgamesh in 5th century Iraq loses his immortality for taking down Humbaba, Guardian of the Cedar Forest, and uprooting the trees all the way to the Euphrates. In most of our human literature and song and drama, across the world, we hear the strains of worry and anguish over what have we done? Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard shows the tragedy of cherries razed for development, Wordsworth says “a glory has passed from the earth,” Coleridge in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner describes the fate of a boat full of people: everyone is cursed to die because the narrator has killed an albatross—now near-extinct; the narrator is doomed to tell the story, so that no thing in in the kingdom of God should be killed. Scottish troubadour Robert Burns calls for the respect for nature, even a mouse: ”I am sorry man’s dominion has caused thee to startle at me, thy fellow mortal.” By the time we get to early 19th century America, forests, species, habitats, peoples, are being eradicated. At exactly the same time that Henry David Thoreau is going to the Walden woods to “live deliberately,” and not find out at the end of his life he has “not lived at all,” and write the words of such power that it is the genesis of the conservation and environmental and civil rights movements, Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most prominent writers and editors and newspaper men in the country, is writing about irretrievable loss, a doomed society, “The Masque of the Red Death.” In stories and poems, beautiful life dies prematurely and is grieved. What have we done?

Most famously in “The Raven,” we hear that the answer to whether the beautiful Lenore can come back—whether there is balm in Gilead—whether we can escape the gaze of the Raven, “Nevermore.” Abraham Lincoln read this poem: He’s in the middle of a Civil War, of such brutality of scale that on one day 26,000 people were killed. This war is his responsibility. As the grieving leader, is he alone in his grief, up at night with his books, looking for answers from ancient and forgotten lore? Is he asking, what has he done? And he reads this:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore— . . .

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

Lincoln first discovered Poe in the 1840s. Lincoln’s law partner later wrote that Lincoln, “carried Poe around on the Circuit—read and loved ‘The Raven’—repeated it over & over.” Poe’s depiction of loss, of remorse, of what cannot be recovered, in this and many other poems, of our being HAUNTED by loss, of life struggle, of being prematurely taken—and specifically habits of long lost green valleys, of nightmare pandemics, of what is NEVERMORE—are eerily prophetic. In our days of climate crisis, and extinction consciousness, BFan brings Poe once again to mind, brings him here, 150 years after the Civil War, with the moral soundtrack for our age . . .

This past July 4, I was in Concord, Massachusetts, at the Walden Pond Henry David Thoreau made famous, speaking to the Thoreau Society, a plenary speaker at a conference with the title, NEVERMORE, bringing Poe’s writing to an international colloquy of scholars on the topic of extinction. Poe is foundational to today’s scholars—and always has been to the public. My own mother who viewed my poetry career askance told me her favorite lines she carried with her throughout life were his poem, “Alone.”

He is a people’s poet. In “The Raven,” the narrator yells at the Raven, “Prophet, said I” . . . well, HE’s the prophet . . . We see Poe’s prophetic intelligence every day in science, the environmental movement, in literary genres he invented, in models of criticism.

Every place he ever lived and wrote is now a museum, writing awards are named for him, the Baltimore Ravens are named for his poem “The Raven.” He is credited with so many genius inventions—he is a puzzle maker and solver—Sherlock Holmes came out of his writings, Jules Verne built on his sci fi—his imagination was scientific (and prophetic in cosmology, said to describe the Big Bang 80 years before scientists came up with it), and most of all, the depiction of beauty, the fantastic—of the soul— . . . When you feel remorse and grief, and haunted, your conscience—your soul—is honored; when you allow the imagination in, you are honoring our deepest and noblest humanity.

This creative is who you are bringing to light, to life, to quantum immortality, in a production which carries on his tradition of the literal “fantastique.” You honor him, and by bringing his work to light, and flight, in this ballet story, you honor the human body and imagination.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of Poe’s death, his mysterious death which haunts our minds . . . Every day for sixty years the Poe Toaster left on the grave of Poe three roses and a bottle of cognac: I bring this now to you for your manifestation of being’s imagination: for all that this fantastic, ingenious, creative, beloved company gives to our community and our own creative way of understanding our world . . .Thank you. Thank you for the lift, thank you for what you show visibly and dramatically is possible.

. . . BALLET FANTASTIQUE, EVERMORE, TOAST! I CAN’T WAIT!

DANCING IN THE DARK

Portraying Roderick and Madeline Usher in “The Fall of the House of Usher”

This October, Ballet Fantastique brings to life five of Edgar Allan Poe’s most haunting, brilliant and disturbing works in Nevermore: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Today we take a closer look at one of these stories, “Fall of the House of Usher”.

“Fall of the House of Usher” is a timeless tale of mystery and macabre.  This haunting story, first published in 1845, delves into the eerie world of the Usher siblings, Roderick and Madeline, and is one of Poe’s most renowned works.  Read on to discover the process of how two of our Principal dancers, Hannah Bontrager and Gustavo Ramirez, embody the strange and spine-chilling characters of Madeline and Roderick Usher to bring these characters to life on stage.

Cari Koepplin & Gustavo Ramirez in Ballet Fantastique’s 2019 nevermore; photo by greg burns

Q&A

For those who might not be familiar with House of Usher, tell us a little bit more about your characters and how these characters have been brought to life from the pages of Poe to the stage.

Hannah (Madeline): In Poe’s original story, Madeline Usher is only a vision that passes through a room, faints, and then is buried alive—so she does not have a huge role or much agency. One of the first things we wanted to do as a female creative team is find a voice for the women in Poe’s stories.  I feel like we do this a lot in our ballet—Madeline Usher is one of my favorite examples. I love the role of Madeline in Ballet Fantastique’s version because we were able to give her character a voice. I imagine her feeling a sense of deep sadness about the fact there has been so much loss in the house.  In the House of Usher, the story is that someone dies every year…and I imagine [Madeline] has this sense of grief-stricken innocence.  She is still young, beautiful, and she has the hope and dream of living the rest of her life, but also she is surrounded by loss.

Gustavo (Roderick): I am portraying Roderick Usher, from one of Poe’s most famous stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher”.  Roderick has mental problems and hallucinations, and he has a hard time knowing what is reality and what is not.  The crazy part of the story is he ends up putting his twin sister into a coffin and buries her alive.  

Roderick and Madeline Usher are not your usual characters seen in a ballet. There are times when you need to be “ugly” to portray the psychological aspects of your characters. How have you approached embodying these characters? What are some of the thoughts and emotions you have going on in your head while dancing these roles?

Hannah (Madeline): It is so fun to be released as a ballerina from the need to be “beautiful” onstage. I want to communicate to my audience these moments where I have different flashes of different feelings. I am alternating between feeling surrounded by the sadness in my house and the sense of decay that's growing, and then balancing my acceptance of my brother's worsening mental condition with the horror of being buried alive, and wondering and realizing that he did it and how this happened…it’s this arc, and it's really emotionally draining. It has been challenging as an artist to take the character “off” at the end of the piece.

Gustavo (Roderick): It is funny, because when you say “ugly” that is exactly how it feels!  Usually when you're dancing in a ballet you're trying to be pulled up and become this prince, but in this piece I am thinking the total opposite.  I think of being hunched over and really grounded. In my brain, I imagine how someone like that would move and try to portray that by moving my head suddenly and putting my head places that I would never normally do. I took a lot of inspiration from the Joker.  The first time we did the show back in 2019, The Joker had just come out and I remember going to the premiere of that movie and thinking my character had many similarities with how the Joker was feeling.  There are a couple of scenes where he is dancing around and I took a lot of inspiration from these scenes.

Gustavo, you danced Roderick back in 2019 when Nevermore originally premiered. What is it like coming back to this role a few years later? Do you feel like you have approached this role differently since originally performing it? 

Artists of Ballet Fantastique in BFan’s 2019 Nevermore; Stephanie Urso Photography

Gustavo (Roderick): I am trying not to approach the role differently.  When I watch myself in the 2019 version, as ugly as it felt dancing it, I feel like it’s one of my best works. I am very proud of how I performed the role in 2019 and now rewatching it during rehearsals, I do not want to change my approach. I am trying to improve a few of the more technical parts, but otherwise, I want to keep pursuing how I performed it originally and keep the emotions fresh.

Hannah, this will be your first time performing the role of Madeline Usher.  What has this experience been like for you? When performing a role set on another dancer how do you find your own way of approaching the role? 

Hannah (Madeline): It’s amazing to be getting to do this part because I was actually cast as Madeline back in 2019 before I found out I was pregnant with my son, Finn.  Since some of the lifts are so dangerous and involve being lifted from your abdominals, and with the complications in my second trimester, I wasn’t able to perform it the first time. It’s meaningful to be performing it finally! It’s exciting and a little intimidating to know a dear friend of mine’s past performance [BFan’s Cari Koepplin; Madeline in 2019]—and see how beautifully and powerfully she embodied the character. Allowing myself to find my own interpretation has been important to me. Big shoes!

What has been the most challenging aspect of portraying your respective characters?

Hannah (Madeline): There are two difficult parts of portraying my character that are both in the running for the most challenging I have ever had the privilege to dance. One of them is how fast the narrative arc shifts. Because it is not a full length ballet, but a short story, the journey is pretty fast for how dramatic it is.  From being happy in a parlor dance that reminds me of the “good old days”, to then dramatically worsening fainting spells/being unwell which happens almost immediately.  Also, the death faint that convinces everyone that I finally die is challenging…the choreography is not an obvious stage death. It’s a faint where I am still being held up, so it’s technically and emotionally challenging, unexpected. And I can honestly say that this is my first time in a coffin…

Cari Koepplin in Ballet Fantastique’s 2019 nevermore; photo by greg burns

Gustavo (Roderick): This character is very hard because you have to be in the right mindset to be insane for 25 minutes.  It is definitely hard to jump in from being a normal human to then be hunching over and looking around.  That’s the most challenging part, getting in and out of character. It can be exhausting. 

What do you hope audiences take away from your performance in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?

Hannah (Madeline): One of the themes in the “Fall of the House of Usher” is that no matter how great you are—the mighty fall, and that relationships are everything. Our relationships with our family and the people that we make part of our family are so important.  I think that it is an important message—even though like in so many of Poe’s tales this story is wild and kind of unrealistic—is that there is still so much humanity in the characters and what they are feelling.  During a time when our world has been through so much grief and loss, it’s important for us to have artistic ways to process these emotions as a world, a culture, and as human beings. By portraying those feelings and unleashing that raw emotion, we can connect through the power of live performance.

Gustavo (Roderick): That we all have a little bit of craziness in us and we can channel those crazy feelings sometimes. 

Don’t miss Hannah and Gustavo bring Madeline and Roderick Usher to life with chilling and incredible artistry in Ballet Fantastique’s original Nevermore: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Oct. 19-22 a the Hult Center for Performing Arts, featuring dark classics from Rachmaninoff, Satie, and Chopin, performed live by Sergei Teleshev, Dale Bradley, and Elizabeth Dorman of the San Francisco Symphony.

Where in the World are Our Dancers: A Summer of Artistic Adventures

As the curtains temporarily closed on the Ballet Fantastique stage this summer, our dancers got the chance to take a break from the intense season and embark on artistic adventures during the summer layoff.  From dancing out of town, to collaborating with local companies, to working as resident assistants at summer intensives, BFan dancers seized the time “off” to embrace new challenges. Here, several BFan dancers share how they spent their summer layoffs and the artistic growth they experienced.

Izzy bloodgood with adam bloodgood on the sand harbor stage in Lake tahoe, nv

Summer Guesting

When BFan season ended in May, Ballet Fantastique Principal Dancer Izzy Bloodgood headed down to Reno, NV to start rehearsals for Sierra Nevada Ballet’s The Last Unicorn.  SNB is a Reno-based company led by Artistic Director Rosine Bena performing across NE California and NW Nevada. While a full-time company, SNB generally brings in several guest dancers to perform in their annual summer performances. “This is my fourth season performing with SNB for their summer season, and every year it is a pleasure to return!” says Izzy.  Dancing with a different company can be a difficult endeavor—there might be another style of ballet asked of a dancer or new artistic expectations—but Izzy appreciates this challenge saying, “I think being taken out of my comfort zone gives me the opportunity to grow as a dancer and build new skills.”  Jumping right back into rehearsals can also be its own mental and physical challenge, one that Izzy acknowledges. “Although I am dancing most of the summer, I really try to find the time to rest, get massages, and cross-train, so I’m ready to begin the BFan season in shape and ready to go,” she says. 

Dancing on Home Turf

ana brooks in rehearsal with #instaballet

While some dancers travel out of town to dance, others choose to remain in Eugene and collaborate with local dance projects. Company Artist Ana Brooks remained in Eugene this summer, where she worked with #instaballet.  Formed by Eugene-based dancers Suzanne Haag and Antonio Anacan, #instaballet combines professional dancers and a community audience to create a unique way to experience ballet.  During the strenuous and busy season, dancers from different ballet companies don’t always get the opportunity to collaborate.  #instaballet offers dancers from different backgrounds an opportunity to work together. Of the opportunity, Ana says, “There is so much to learn from all types of dancers in our community. Eugene has such a rich arts scene. #instaballet also lets a non-dancer audience choreograph, which comes with its own unique set of joys and challenges.” During performances, the dancers include the audience in the creation of dance. “Our mediator, Antonio, helps audience members create the kind of art that they want to see, to get a hands-on approach to making ballet. It gives a rare inside look to the creative process. The most rewarding collaboration was for Circle of Friends, which serves children in our area with complex disabilities.” 

Guiding the Next Generation

BFan Company Soloist Nicole Brown donned a different hat this summer, serving as a resident counselor at Pacific Northwest Ballet’s (PNB) five-week summer intensive, where the prestigious PNB hosts serious pre-professional ballet students from across the globe. Most attending students room together at the dorm and spend their entire day training, dancing, and learning the skills it takes to become a professional. “Being a counselor for the PNB intensive was a wild and rewarding experience. While it was a lot of responsibility, it was also incredible to watch the future generation of dancers take their training to the next level. It made me nostalgic for my own intensive days!”

nicole brown in seattle, wa

When Nicole wasn’t busy nurturing the next generation, she took the time to explore Seattle. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with Seattle the way I did! I enjoy city life and it was reminiscent of my home in Minneapolis. I spent a lot of my free time thrifting and exploring fun cafes or going on walks along the canal.” Nicole also had the chance to take PNB’s daily morning open ballet classes. “Taking class from such renowned instructors was nourishing. As dancers, we never stop learning, and the Balanchine style was a great push to help my precision and attack on certain steps. It was also nice to be around taller dancers like myself!”

A new role in Eugene

Amidst these remarkable journeys, one of our dancers chose to stay in Eugene, contributing to Ballet Fantastique in a different capacity. Principal Dancer Ashley Bontrager began her new role as Director of Development at Ballet Fantastique this summer, working to secure corporate sponsorships and actively participating in production meetings for the upcoming 23/24 season. “I’m a creature of habit, so it’s very easy for me to settle into my usual routines and never seek out change. When I took on this new role I realized how refreshing it was to push myself outside of my comfort zone. It turns out shaking things up was exactly what I needed. I’m so excited to see where it takes me!” Ashley’s involvement in production meetings for the upcoming season has also brought a fresh perspective to the creative process.  Her multi-layered experience as a performer adds unique insights into what it’s like to be in the actual pieces you see on stage. In many cases, she was able to help smooth transitions and tighten up the overall production. “Edgar Allan Poe is a legend. He has so many incredible poems and stories that choosing just a few was practically impossible. When someone tells me to think of a couple of his most famous works so many come to mind. For that reason, we didn’t feel like we could leave out any of the 5 vignettes that we chose for Nevermore. There was simply no way; however, we were able to keep the show flowing and minimize a lot of the transitions and narrations so that what you’re left with is very bite-sized but still epically powerful Poe stories. They will leave you haunted, but never bored.” 

Ashley Bontrager & Gustavo Ramirez (bob williams)

As the summer sun sets, Ballet Fantastique dancers return to our studios with newfound experiences and a renewed passion for their craft, feeling fresh and energized for the start of our 23/24 season! We know you eagerly await their return to the Hult Center stage and we are so excited for all this season has in store. 
Tickets are now on sale for the 23/24 Season—Imagination Unleashed!

Ballet Fantastique heads to the Emmy® awards!

In 2014, Ballet Fantastique finally earned Hult Center Resident Company status and proudly premiered our first holiday ballet: American Christmas Carol. The vision: In true BFan form, Donna and Hannah wanted to remix a classic story with great music and a thoughtful twist. The mix: Charles Dickens’ Victorian best-seller, set in the US in the 1940s and told via live jazz + new dance theater. Local star and Grammy-nominated jazz singer Halie Loren set the score (Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday), and the rest… was BFan history.

Performances and tours in 2015 and 2017 followed.

Then, something happened.

As the world shut down in 2020, BFan principal dancer + filmmaker Gustavo Ramirez brought Donna and Hannah and idea: What if we created a movie version of BFan’s Christmas Carol? We’d film in quarantine bubbles on shuttered iconic NW locations (Oregon Electric Station, J Michael’s Booksellers, Masonic Cemetery, Portland’s Trinity Episcopal Church, and all sorts of sidewalks and train platforms in between).

After Ballet Fantastique’s American Christmas Carol: A Ballet Movie aired on NBC/KMTR on 12/25/22, BFan is now (beyond) thrilled to share this project— produced in collaboration with brave, talented filmmaker Jeremy Bronson— has now been nominated for a National Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences Northwest Regional Emmy® in four categories, including “entertainment.” This prestigious nomination is SO EXCITING and a testament to the talent and dedication of the entire BFan artistic and creative teams. The nomination in the Entertainment category at the NATAS Northwest Regional Emmy Awards recognizes the exceptional artistry and innovation demonstrated by Ballet Fantastique and their collaborators. Just four finalist nominees are chosen for each category.

Interview with Liza Carbé, Robin Hood Composer

This Mother’s Day weekend, Ballet Fantastique brings our world premiere of Robin Hood & Maid Marian to the Hult Center stage.

In production process for a full three years, Robin Hood & Maid Marian represents exciting firsts for BFan’s in-house creative team, including the company’s first ever full score commission. BFan often works with original music and world-class composers, but has never before had the honor of having music written specifically for one of our stories! From the first incredible news that we had received a competitive Hult Endowment grant for this score commission, Ballet Fantastique Resident Choreographer-Producers Donna and Hannah Bontrager knew they wanted to work with longtime BFan collaborators Liza Carbé and JP Durand. This LA-based team has written music for Entertainment Tonight as well as Paramount movies and TV. Liza’s brand-new compositions and arrangements for Ballet Fantastique’s Robin Hood & Maid Marian premiere have been uniquely written to match Donna and Hannah’s intricate choreography and the story libretto crafted by BFan’s creative team. The score heightens the story’s drama and brings these heroic characters to life!

We wanted to reach out to Liza to hear her inside perspective on performing alongside BFan’s artists, learn about her career in music, and discover more about the process for creating the brand new score for Ballet Fantastique’s Robin Hood & Maid Marian.

In the 21st century, it’s incredibly unique to have a new score written for a new ballet.  How unusual is it in the world of music?  How is this project special to you?

First, I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity and thankful to Donna and Hannah for choosing myself and JP, my husband and musical partner, to be part of this collaborative experience.

Writing a unique score for a ballet is something that doesn’t happen very often for many reasons. There are usually budget and time constraints and it’s just easier to focus on choreographing to existing music. There are dance companies that push the boundaries and are willing to take on the challenge, like Ballet Fantastique, of writing a grant and coming up with something completely new.

Working with BFan is something that I always look forward to! Seeing our music put to dance is always very exciting! Being a part of a joint creative process with BFan and writing the music to their vision is unique and exciting. This project has not just been about composing the music, but about understanding and creating music that supports and enhances BFan’s visual concept and storyline, while still being true to my artistic sensibilities. 

We’ve also been very fortunate that by some serendipitous stroke of cosmic intervention we have the perfect team of musicians to perform this music. Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter not only masterfully play many of the unusual instruments that are part of the score but live in Eugene and just happen to be very dear friends of JP and mine. Completing our team is flutist and violinist Eliot Grasso, a professor at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, whom I have not yet met in person.

LisA LYNNE

ARYEH FRANKFURTER

an instrument being played during robin hood

Tell us about your career in music! Where did you get started?

Both my parents were musicians, and my father was a visual artist from Sicily, so I grew up in the arts. I sang in my first musical when I was 6 and then started taking Spanish guitar lessons at age nine and accompanied myself singing folk and pop songs—then eventually started writing my own. I attended Cal State Northridge, where I got my Bachelor of Music with emphasis on classical guitar and voice. I studied a lot of composition and performed from renaissance to modern classical on guitar and voice as well as singing in Madrigal choirs.

During college, I started to play the bass and performed in rock bands all over Los Angeles. When I graduated from college, I went on the road with the female metal band Vixen. Then went on to do a world tour with R&B artist Leon Patillo, then did a two-year tour with Lindsey Buckingham (guitarist of Fleetwood Mac). Somewhere in the midst of all that, I had an original trio called Red Van Go. We put out a self-released CD and did two tours of Japan. There were all kinds of other crazy musical adventures throughout the years. Then in 1993 I met my husband, Jean-Pierre Durand, and we started writing music for Entertainment Tonight. We wrote hundreds of cues that eventually went into the Paramount music library. This led to us writing for more music libraries and scoring for TV shows and film (something that we continue to do). We have placements in the hit comedy Bridesmaids, Law and Order, Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, the popular video game Far Cry 3 just to name a few.

Somewhere around 1999 we started our current world music group, Incendio, with our long-time partner Jim Stubblefield. We currently have eleven albums out and have toured and continue to tour all over the world. 

JP and I started playing acoustic duo guitar versions of popular songs as well as originals and people were really enjoying the music, so started our “Carbé and Durand” duo. We have a couple of albums and quite a few singles as well. In 2022 we scored the Star Trek: Picard audio drama “No Man’s Land” featuring Jeri Ryan and Michelle Hurd and written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson. Kirsten Beyer is the co-creator of Star Trek: Discovery and one of the writers for Picard and a lovely human! During that year we also wrote and recorded a LoFi and a Metal album for IFM music library.

When I write this all down it looks impressive or schizophrenic. I’m not sure which. Probably both.

You are working currently alongside your husband and partner, JP Durand.  What is that collaboration like and how has this partnership influenced your creation process for this new score for Robin Hood & Maid Marian?

I have the extremely good fortune of having an incredible personal and professional partner. We met playing in a band, so our partnership started out on a professional note. 

We found out that we worked very well together (and fell in love) both having different strengths that complement one another. Any type of creative collaboration is very tricky—you need to have a partner that not only shares and understands your sensibilities but one that you trust. We are both thankful to have that in each other! We rely on each other to review each other’s work and listen and look for anything the other may have missed. 

We collaborate in many ways. Sometimes we sit down and write a piece together from the start. Other times, one of us has an idea and we use that as a starting point. We both come in with songs that are close to being complete and the other will add something to it, perhaps a countermelody or another production idea. Then there are other times when one of us will pretty much work on our own. 

This project was one like that for me. This type of orchestration and style is more in my wheelhouse, so I wrote all the music. JP helped with the production and did all of the mixing, mastering and technical support. He is also my other set of ears catching things that I missed, which is invaluable! Most importantly he supplies me with red wine and chocolate, and I listen to his obscure facts and stories.

What will audiences love about this show?

Well, I hope they love the dance, music and story, obviously (laughs)! BFan productions are always an immersive experience. They design and create their own costumes, which are always colorful and perfect for the production; they hand-pick or help direct the music production for each scene; they are meticulous about the stage design and lighting; and of course, they are master choreographers. It’s an amazing vision that they have developed over time, as well as developing a loyal audience. So, with the care and commitment they always deliver, I am sure that the audience will feel like they have been transported back to the medieval period. Their dancing and energy are so inspiring!

The band Incendio, who you helped co-found, performed with Ballet Fantastique at the Hult Center in 2011, 2013, and for the company’s sold out ZORRO® in 2018.  What are you most looking forward to in this next BFan collaboration?

In the previous shows BFan choreographed to music that was already written and recorded, and that we had all played for years. This is a completely different situation. This is all new music that has never been performed or available. The album with all the artwork is just being made. I am looking forward to the experience of playing and performing the music live with all these incredible musicians and seeing the choreography with the costumes and lighting. Really seeing the whole thing come together is so exciting!

Our dancers are very excited to get to perform to your live music! Does working with dancers influence how you play as opposed to performing a concert solo? 
Absolutely! You must make sure that the timing and arrangements are exact! You can’t change the tempo or extend a solo. We also are watching for the cue from the ballet to start the piece. It’s all very exacting in a way that we don’t ever really worry about when we play without the ballet.

Our Robin Hood & Maid Marian performance is set in the 12th century.  How has this time period influenced the score you created? Tell us about the process of choosing instruments to compliment a more contemporary ballet while also staying true to the time period in which the story is set.

Donna and Hannah had a very strong idea of what kind of music they wanted. When COVID hit, the direction changed. Pre-COVID, they were wanting music that was a bit more like Pirates of the Caribbean, but I think COVID was an awakening to what the reality of that time was, which was pretty dark and sad.

So I am pretty familiar with renaissance and medieval music, having studied and performed it extensively in the past. I really love that style as well as modal music. We have some older folk instruments, the tres, charango, mandolin and I bought a saz from Turkey for the project. The nylon string guitar has a lot of similar qualities to the lute—we also used steel and 12 string guitars. We tuned the guitars to an open D tuning for quite a few pieces as the music in that time period was modal. This period is before Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier.” Lisa plays the Celtic harp, cittern, bass and percussion. Aryeh plays the fiddle, nyckelharpa, violin, cello and harp, and Eliot plays all forms of flute and fiddle. Did I mention how amazing it is to have all these musicians? Most people don’t even know what a Swedish nyckelharpa is, let alone play one! The music is very much centered around a D modality, with some pieces being in E and G, but mainly modal are though there are a few diatonic pieces. The instruments from that period are designed for that music so if I’m writing for them there is not going to be a lot of chord changes or modulations. 

We also wanted to marry that style to much bigger drums and some very big orchestration that wasn’t going on at that time. Adding big drums is always fun and impactful. If I was writing more full orchestrations or diatonically I could not include certain instruments. 

This kind of “fusing styles together” is what we’ve been doing with Incendio for years. I just had to conform that process to these different styles of music.

For Ballet Fantastique, collaborating with you to create our first-ever full-length score has been a dream come true. What has it been like for you to create a full-length score for a ballet? Have there been any unexpected challenges or opportunities?

With any new project, things come up that are unforeseen. Robin Hood was completely unchartered territory for us. The music unfolded as BFan conceptualized what they wanted so there were lots of changes and revisions. I was also trying to get a handle on how to get the sounds that they were looking for. They did send me examples so that helped but it was an evolving process for sure.

Then there was a lot of down-time due to COVID and coming out of COVID. Usually, I would use that time to finish the music but—because I wasn’t always sure what they wanted, I would wait until we all regrouped. In retrospect having all this time was a good thing, as it gave all of us time to let the concept and the music develop. When we write for something like Star Trek: Picard “No Man’s Land,” we write, record, make revisions and hand in the music. But with the ballet, there are charts that need to be made for ourselves and all the musicians, there are tracks we will be playing with that incorporate all the orchestration, and, of course, we have to all get together to rehearse. So, there are a lot of technical and logistical considerations that we hadn’t initially thought about.

The opportunity to write all this music as well as perform with BFan and all these wonderful musicians was an unexpected opportunity. We will see what other adventures arise from this.

My attitude is always say yes and then figure out how to make it happen!

Get your Robin Hood tickets now!

Interview with Michelle Ladd, Robin Hood Fight Choreographer

This Mother’s Day weekend, Ballet Fantastique brings our world premiere of Robin Hood & Maid Marian to the Hult Center stage. The project features our first-ever collaboration with Hollywood-renowned fight choreographer Michelle Ladd Williams.  Having worked on major film projects such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, Michelle will be setting the significant fights scenes in this performance premiere in collaboration with BFan’s Donna and Hannah, including the Fight at the Banquet, Fight at the Tavern, the first meeting of Robin and Little John, and more. The Robin Hood collaboration will represent Ladd’s first project for a ballet company.

We caught up with Michelle to learn more about her career as a fight choreographer and director, and to discover what this collaboration will look like for our dancers. 

Tell us a little about yourself! Where did you gain the skills to become a fight director? When and where did you start your career? 

I actually started with a background in ballet.  I was a classically trained dancer from the age of 4 up through graduate school.  I received my MFA in theater and was introduced to stage fighting through that masters program.  After studying Shakespearean acting in England one summer, I fell in love with the idea that staged combat was another way to tell a story physically.  With my strong dance background, that idea really resonated with me.  After that introduction, I threw myself (literally) into the world of staged combat and stunts.  I became a stunt performer, fight director, then a motion capture director.  Now I am a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors and still work on stage and screen performing and directing action sequences while raising and homeschooling my three boys (who are also stunt performers).  My husband is a Second Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator, so it’s a family affair, really.  

In your words, what does a fight director/choreographer’s job look like?  

A fight director has two primary jobs:  the safety of the performers (and crew) and creating an effective story through the physicality and the acting of simulated violence.  It takes great collaboration with the creative team which includes close communication with directors, props, costumes, and other technical elements.  A fight director is also an advocate for the performer as they flesh out the nuances of their character dealing with these heightened moments in the story.  

From the characters to the production team (including composer, choreographers, and libretto team), Ballet Fantastique’s Robin Hood & Maid Marian world premiere features strong women both onstage and behind the scenes.  What can you tell us about your industry and how many women have a role like yours on big movie productions?

I have been so very blessed with my professional opportunities.  I do credit that to amazing mentors who saw talent and offered me guidance as I entered a field that traditionally was not very open to female leadership.  I am happy to say that the industry is most certainly changing.  Within the last few years especially there have been many more female stunt coordinators and directors of all types (opera, theater, TV and film) taking on major projects.  And, as more females are gaining experience in these directorial roles, their creative work will certainly increase.  When I really think about why we are having this renaissance (of sorts) I think about exposure:  growing up I didn’t realize I could be a stunt person, fire fighter, director, etc. because those female role models weren’t in front of me.  I had Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels (both of whom I utterly adored).  But it didn’t go much further than that.  This new generation of females see role models that look like them in shape, size, color, build… Therefore, it has become normalized to imagine these strong, leadership positions as viable career options.  How glorious!

We are so excited to have you in the studio for a week working with our artists and setting fight choreography for Robin Hood. What can the BFan dancers expect? Is there a specific process or approach you take, or does it vary depending on who is in front of you? 

My process depends on whom I am working with, but it is always collaborative!  As part of the creative team I want to be sure I am honoring their vision.  I am a cog in the wheel, and we all work together to make the wheel move effectively.  As I work with the dancers, each and every one of them become characters who have a story to tell.  When I choreograph I find that if a performer does not remember an action it is usually because it doesn’t make sense to that performer’s character.  Each action (each strike, push, pull) is part of the story - it has an objective behind it.  So it is important as we choreograph that we are looking at the functionality of the movements to create lovely art but also looking at the motivation behind it. In this way the dancers can commit to the action and align with its intended purpose.  

This will be your first time collaborating with a ballet company.  Is there anything you are looking forward to about this experience?  Are there any special challenges you’re anticipating?  Why did you choose to collaborate with Ballet Fantastique?

I am absolutely thrilled to be here working with Ballet Fantastique.  Since Hannah reached out to me in 2019 I have been an avid follower of BFan. This ballet company is ground-breaking and so very exciting!  I am completely on board with their product and have become one of their biggest fans.  Reconnecting with my first love of ballet is a primary aspect I am looking forward to but also the challenge of allowing myself the freedom of choreographing stylized combat.  So often my work has to look aggressive and brutal.  But here, the dancers are able to give the impression of violence while making the movements so graceful!  The intention of the action will tell the story rather than the smoke and mirrors of traditional staged combat.  What a joy to work on this production!

michelle with pirates of the caribbean cast & crew

Our Robin Hood & Maid Marian performance is set in the 12th Century.  Will this particular time period have any effect on the type of fighting you will set or types of weapons the dancers will be using?

The time period most certainly affects the fighting style and the weapons used.  In the Medieval period, the swords were still quite large. Moving through the MIddle Ages there was a transition from the massive two-handed broadsword towards the one-handed broadsword and shield, which became the primary weapons used in the Crusades for hand-to-hand combat.  Spears, battle axes, and other weapons were designed to hack through armour.  The long-bow and the cross-bow were also common, again to pierce through armour plates.  For Robin Hood we will take some artistic liberties and use a smaller version of the one-handed broadsword and a shorter “long” bow.  This will still give the appropriate look for the time period but allow our dancers more freedom of movement.  

I’m truly delighted to be working with Ballet Fantastique.  And I look forward to following their continued success.  My only regret is that I don’t live closer and cannot come to every BFan performance in person.  

Get your Robin Hood tickets now!

Catching Up With BFan's Newest Promoted Soloist Dancer, Jenavieve Hernandez

PHOTO: BOB WILLIAMS

In 2018, Jenavieve Hernandez joined Ballet Fantastique as a Fellowship Apprentice.  Since then, she has quickly risen through the ranks with her beautiful expression and nuance in roles ranging from Princess Jasmine in BFan’s Aladdin: A Rock Opera Ballet, to inventive Toymaker in the premiere of BFan’s Babes in Toyland. This season, she was promoted to soloist.

We had a chance to catch up with Jenavieve after a busy fall season of touring and record-breaking Hult Center productions to hear about the last few months and what she is looking forward to for the remainder of the season.

This has been the first season with four full-length productions since 2020. How has it been coming back to a full season after the unpredictability of the past two years?

Coming back this season with four full length ballets has been so exciting! After being in and out of the studio the last two years, finally getting back to full time work actually in the theater has been wonderful. Not being able to fully immerse myself in company life had left me feeling disconnected from my peers and my work…being back has allowed me to dive in more than ever before and has helped to motivate me as an artist! 

What helped you work through any unexpected challenges this past fall, especially with ramping up so quickly?

Knowing I’d get the chance to perform! Having that end goal of getting to present what we’ve worked so hard for on stage to a live audience is what has kept me motivated through every challenge.

This upcoming spring season sounds equally as fun and challenging!  What are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to our new world premiere, Robin Hood & Maid Marian! It’s always fun getting to put together a new ballet. Being part of the creative process at BFan is so fulfilling. I’m excited to present this next new ballet to our audiences. 

PHOTO: MIKI MARKOVICH

Which part in BFan’s March performance, (The Misadventures of) Casanova, are you working on now? Can you describe a little bit about your character? 

I’m currently working on the role of Lucia in our upcoming production, Casanova. The role of Lucia has been so wonderful to dive into. She and Casanova are young when they fall for one another, finding a love that is unmatched by any of the others. I’ve imagined her presenting herself as the young woman she is, witty and innocent. She engages Casanova with her mind first letting everything else fall into place. I’m so excited to bring this role to life in the upcoming weeks!

BFan always has a fun twist—what is different about this story of Casanova versus the story audiences might be most familiar with? 

The version of Casanova that we get to bring to life shows the woman involved in a whole new light. We get to focus on their side of the story allowing the audience members to take in each woman individually. I love this dynamic and how it recreates the story of Casanova! 

Tickets to see Jenavieve and the rest of the Ballet Fantastique dancers in the first two performances of 2023 are available now!  Do not miss out on the remainder of this legendary season.

23 Casanova Interview with Oregon Mozart Players Music Director Kelly Kuo

Interview with Oregon Mozart Players Music Director / Harpsichord Kelly Kuo

photo by kim o’neill

This spring, Ballet Fantastique brings our original (Misadventures of) Casanova to the Hult Center stage.  The project features decadent live music played by the Oregon Mozart Players with internationally renowned Baroque musicians from across the globe.  Music Director Maestro Kelly Kuo conducts the Casanova soundtrack, including some of the most gorgeous music in history by Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean Baptiste de Lully, and Johann Sebastian Bach.  Oregon Mozart Players was founded in over 40 years ago presenting works written for small orchestras and intimate venues, making them the perfect fit for Ballet Fantatsique’s signature chamber ballet dance theater storytelling.

We caught up with Maestro Kuo, to hear his inside perspective on performing alongside BFan’s artists, our guest celebrity stars, and to discover more about the musical fabric for bringing Casanova to life.

Back in 2013 when BFan’s Casaonva premiered, it was with recorded music.  What can our audience expect this time with a live orchestra for the first time?

We asked Jason Fromme to make a special arrangement of the musical works in this production for a chamber orchestra that combines the modern strings of Oregon Mozart Players along with a number of period instruments and a soprano.  Your audience will be hearing fresh new orchestrations that will hopefully bring a heightened sense of intimacy with the dancers on stage!

OMP performed with Ballet Fantastique at the Hult Center for the sold out premiere of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2017.  What are you most looking forward to in this next BFan collaboration?

Crouching Tiger was such a rewarding collaboration and, to this day, it remains one of my favorite musical memories.  This time I’m looking forward to conducting from the harpsichord and contributing to the musical sounds instead of just waving my arms.

What influence does working with dancers have on how you play?

Just as for instrumentalists, there are physical elements that influence the music-making.  From tempi to phrasing, the way the dancers move in their choreography directly relates to how we must collaborate.

PHOTO BY PHILIP GROSHONG

What pieces of music can our audience members expect to hear?  Why is this music important?  Do you have any personal favorites?

The production is filled with music that was written in the same time period in which Casanova lived—so basically, 18th century baroque music.  Works of Vivaldi are well-represented, but Bach, Handel, Lully, and Rameau in addition to an original composition by the established baroque cellist, René Schiffer.

Tell us about the process of choosing instrumentation for this project and the balance of contemporary and traditional baroque instruments.  How did you choose the arrangers for Casanova and what factors into the choices of instruments for the live performances?  I started by familiarizing myself with the original compositions and their respective orchestrations and tried to determine how OMP’s musicians could best serve the music.  For example, the modern instrumentalists on which we perform can affect the pitch and tempi of each work.  Next, I tried to pick period instruments that could provide the most range of color possibilities for the entire program.  I knew I wanted another continuo instrument and a theorbo gives a completely different spectrum of color compared to a harpsichord and also frees me to use my hands to conduct at times instead of being glued to a keyboard.  Given that there were a number of selections that utilized winds, brass, and voice, having a soprano and a wind instrument or two seemed necessary as well.  Baroque percussion is wonderful to add rhythmic spice into energetic works, too.  My friend, Jason Fromme, is a professional violinist, composer, and arranger, and I thought of him immediately when faced with the task of arranging these works for this specific ensemble and he brought his own ideas of orchestrating to this project.

You lead classical music, opera, and unique theater projects across the US and the world.  What makes this project different?

I have admired Ballet Fantastique for its creative choices of music, arrangements, and ensembles for their productions through the years I’ve worked in Eugene.  They are not afraid to rock the boat a little in order to tell their stories in a way that is original and truly authentic to them and they challenge me to think outside the box and push the boundaries of expectation.  It makes for meaningful collaboration!

PHOTO BY DANIEL CAVAZOS FOTO

You can purchase tickets to see Kelly Kuo and the Oregon Mozart Players during Casanova here!

22 Sleepy Hollow Blog Interview w/ Preston Andrew Patterson: Becoming Ichabod

BECOMING ICHABOD

Interview with Ballet Fantastique Principal Dancer Preston Andrew Patterson

Preston performing in Italy with Ballet Fantastique (Photo Credit: Mariano Zinnia)

Join us in welcoming Preston Andrew Patterson back to the BFan stage!  Preston has appeared a number of times with Ballet Fantastique, including starring in Ballet Fantastique’s As You Like It: A Wild West Ballet Italy tour in 2013.  Preston joins BFan from Ballet Austin, where he was a company artist danced from 2010-2022.  We got a chance to catch up with Preston as he prepares for our first performance of the season, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where he dances the leading role of big city schoolteacher Ichabod Crane. His artistry, wit and humor on stage make him the perfect fit for this challenging protagonist role.

Q&A

Tell us a little bit about yourself! When and where did you start dancing?  What inspired you at a young age to try dancing? 

I took my first dance class when I was around 5 or 6 after seeing a dance class up close in the basement of the church I attended. 

You have worked with Ballet Fantastique before.  What was your experience like?

I guested with Ballet Fantastique in their tour to Italy, and again at the Hult Center. The tour was a whirlwind experience to say the least. I learned that Ballet Fantastique is an all-hands-on-deck team; I recall the camaraderie being really awe-inspiring. It was amazing what we accomplished by working together—and overusing the word “grazie.”

You are currently preparing to dance the leading role of Ichabod Crane for our first performance of the season, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Tell us what that process has been like for you. Have you ever danced in Sleepy Hollow or performed this role before? 

I have not danced the role of Ichabod before…this is certainly a new experience. In general, the opportunity to make a character—especially a character from classical literature—my own has not been too common an experience in my career thus far, so while it’s challenging balancing the stamina and dramatic needs of the role, it’s also refreshing to have a character to bring to life.

What are you looking forward to the most about performing as Ichabod? Any favorite scenes in the show? 

I’m looking forward to the reactions from the live audience! Our depiction of Sleepy Hollow contains a great deal of humor and warmth one might not immediately associate with such a seminally gothic tale. A great example of this is one of my favorite scenes in the second act, the schoolhouse scene, in which Ichabod is obsessing over this dropped handkerchief from Katrina Van Tassel while his students eagerly await his instruction. It’s the first time we see Ichabod in his “element” - academia -  while also being somewhat out of it because he’s enamored with the handkerchief and its person. 

What has been your biggest challenge in preparing for this role? Do you have any advice for dancers who are taking on a big role for the first time? 

The biggest challenge in preparing for this role so far has been building stamina for the breathier stretches of the show. Knowing when to indulge a break in between scenes, preparing physically for the next, and so forth. 

I would say my advice for dancers who are taking on a challenging role for the first time is to breathe, prepare, and think without overthinking; though the latter might not be completely possible. 

Preston performing in 5x5 with Ballet Fantastique (Photo Credit: Greg Burns, Stephanie Urso)

Don’t miss Preston Andrew Patterson bringing Ichabod Crane to life with warmth, humor, and incredible artistry and nuance in Ballet Fantastique’s original Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Oct. 20-23 at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, with live music from Dréos and Gerry Rempel Ensemble. Tickets on sale now!