White Bird
White Bird
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D A N C E DANCE 2017-18
D I S C O V E R I N G A W O R L D O F D A N C E2017-18 FOR 20 YEARS
Photo by Paula Lobo
DISCOVERING A WORLD OF DANCE FOR 20 YEARS
oto by Sarah Silver
Photo by Andrew Eccles
STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY April 5-7, 2018 | Newmark Theatre
BALLET HISPÁNICO
May 16, 2018 | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER April 24-25, 2018 | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
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B ENEFITING FIVE NONPROFIT S SERVIN G C H IL D REN & FAMILI ES
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AT TH E P E R FO R M A N C E A CIT Y PL AYBILL AND PERFORMING ARTS MAGA ZINE
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CONTENTS 7
WELCOME FROM WHITE BIRD
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THANK YOU FLOCK MEMBERS
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BALLET HISPÁNICO
14 ARTSLANDIA
ARTS CALENDAR
18 FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE 24 WHY I’M HERE, WITH YOU A brief history of Linda Austin.
28 VANPORT MOSAIC 2018 A story comes home.
34 ANGEL BLUE
Soprano powerhouse shares her path to opera stardom and thoughts on her role in Faust.
38 WHO ARE MARILYN DE OLIVEIRA AND TREVOR FITZPATRICK ?
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M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 8
Join married Oregon Symphony cellists for their quirky Adventures in Artslandia.
A RT S L A N D I A .COM
MAY | JUNE 2018
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1968 - 2018
Still playing after fifty years. Come see why guests have chosen us to stay and play for the last 50 years.
Since 1968, we’ve been in the business of creating unforgettable experiences. From exploring over 40 miles of bike trails, hitting the links on our four golf courses, relaxing at Sage Springs Club & Spa, enjoying world-class dining, floating on the Deschutes River or taking in a trail ride — it’s no wonder our guests have been coming back to stay and play for generations. Plan your next vacation at Sunriver Resort.
855-268-6408 | SunriverResort.com
Each year the White Bird season goes by ever faster. It feels like only yesterday that we began the season with Complexions, and now we are concluding with Ballet Hispánico. This marks the fourth time we have this dynamic company, based in New York City. Since he became Artistic Director in 2009, Eduardo Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico with new energy and distinctive choreographic voices from the Americas and Spain. We are thrilled that tonight’s program comprises all women choreographers, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa from Colombia now living in Belgium; the Mexican-American Michelle Manzanales; and Tania Pérez-Salas, one of Mexico’s major contemporary choreographers, whose company White Bird introduced to great acclaim in 2006. Thinking back to our concluding company from a year ago, modern dance in the
United States was launched by great women figures, most notably Martha Graham. Women are sadly underrepresented throughout the world as the leaders of major dance and ballet companies. We feel more strongly than ever that our programming each season needs to show the important contributions of women to the dance field. Similarly we are dedicated to including artists of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to reflect the full diversity of dance makers today. We hope that our 20th anniversary season has achieved that, with its focus on six companies of color. As White Bird launches its third decade, we are proud to devote half of our 21st season in 2018–19 to women dance artists, beginning with Pilobolus and culminating in the White Bird debut of PHILADANCO.
PHOTO BY CHRIS ROESING
CONCLUDING 20 YEARS WITH FOCUS ON LATINA CHOREOGRAPHERS
White Bird could not happen without your dedication and vital support. THANK YOU for embracing White Bird for 20 years!
Paul King
Walter Jaffe
White Bird is proud to belong to Dance/USA, the national service and advocacy organization for the dance field. For more information, please visit danceusa.org
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
THE WHITE BIRD TEAM
Paul King, President Walter Jaffe, Secretary/Treasurer Kendall Acheson Sheryl Acheson Albert E. Chaffin, MD, FAAP Ann Edwards Ken Edwards Meredith English Kim Allchurch Flick Fabian Genovesi Sandra Holmes Carol Ihlenburg Gary Nelson James Thompson Minh Tran Vinh Wong
Walter Jaffe, Co-Founder, wjaffe@whitebird.org Paul King, Co-Founder, pking@whitebird.org Chelsea Bushnell, Director of Audience Services, chelsea@whitebird.org Christopher Roesing, Director of Revenue & Community Partnerships, chris@whitebird.org David Nolfi, Director of Finance, david@whitebird.org Elizabeth Whelan, Communications Manager, elizabeth@whitebird.org Jeff Forbes, Technical Director Lauren Bayard, Volunteer Poster/Flyer Coordinator Karen Stahr, Manager of Merchandise, karen@whitebird.org Liz Sandoval, Volunteer Group Sales Coordinator Natalie Anthony, Graphic Design Dave Weaver, Web Designer Office Volunteers: Connie Guist, Morgan Meister, Stephanie Sussman, Jessica Vasi
Nancy & George Thorn, Founding Board Members Emereti
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THANK YOU FLOCK MEMBERS.
YOU MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! ESPECIALLY IN OUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY! IFIFYOU YOUARE ARENOT NOTYET YETCONTRIBUTING, CONTRIBUTING,PLEASE PLEASECONSIDER CONSIDERAAGENEROUS GENEROUSGIFT GIFTTO TOWHITE WHITEBIRD. BIRD.IFIFYOU YOUARE ARECONTRIBUTING, CONTRIBUTING,WE WEENCOURAGE ENCOURAGEYOU YOUTO TOGO GOHIGHER! HIGHER!
WHITE BIRD PLATINUM PATRONS XX To celebrate White Bird’s 20 years and beyond, we created Platinum Patrons XX last year to recognize our mid-range donors ($250–$1000) who increased their gifts. We extend our great thanks to all of you who did this below. To continue your PPXX membership and enjoy the benefits, all you need to do is match last year’s gift by June 30, 2018. We also welcome new PPXX Members! All renewing and new PPXX Members are invited to a Summer Dinner with Barney in the Garden on Saturday, June 30, 6pm. For more information, including current status, please contact Chris Roesing. Anonymous (3) Carole Alexander Tomas Ancona & Laura Tarrish Laurie Balmuth Terrence P. Bean Audry & Chris Bond Kathleen Bristow Mary Lou Cavendish & Michael Hughes Ed Clark & Janet Roberts Jack & Terri Duncan Carol & Jeana Edelman George Eighmey Fishbein Family Kim & Gregory Flick Margaret W. Frank Kit Gillem & Deborah Horrell Christine & Robert Gilmore Valarie Grudier Ivan Gold & Grace Serbu Robert & Trina Gluckman Jamey Hampton & Ashley Roland Leslie S. Homer Jan Hurst Lola Jaffe Becky Jones Norm Kalbfleisch & Neil Matteucci Clara & Martin Kubeja Gary Leavitt Barbara Lovre Gary Maffei & Marcus Lintner David Magilke & Butch Williams Erin and Christopher Manwaring Alice & Hal McCartor Sarah McNary Jeff & Lynn Malzahn Kathleen & James Meyer VeAnna Morgan & Pamela Town Phyllis Newmark McKay & Jay Nutt Marthel Porter Dean Richardson David Ritchie & LaJean Humphries Joanne & Steven Rizzo John & Marti Rosenthal Donna Silverberg & Charles Wiggins Jaymi & Francis Sladen Al Solheim Peter Vennewitz Julie & Ted Vigeland Ellen Walkley Patricia & Jack Wong 8
(List current as of May 1, 2018)
WHITE WHITEBIRD BIRDFLOCK FLOCK
Our OurFlock FlockList Listisiscurrent currentas asofofMarch March20, 20,2018. 2018.Contributions Contributionsafter afterthis thisdate datewill willbe berefl reflected ectedininthe thenext nextprogram. program. Any Anyquestions, questions,please pleasecontact contactWalter WalterJaffe, Jaffe,wjaffe@whitebird.org wjaffe@whitebird.org, ,(503) (503)245-1600, 245-1600,Ext. Ext.202. 202. Generous Generouscontributors contributorsto tothe theWhite WhiteBird Bird/MKG /MKGNew NewWorks WorksFund Fundsince sinceSeptember September2008 2008. . PPXX PPXX Members Membersof ofthe thenew newPlatinum PlatinumPatrons PatronsXX XXCircle Circle TITANIUM PLUME ($10,000+) Joan Cirillo & Roger Cooke Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Ken & Ann Edwards Barbara J. Fitzgerald PPXX Lola Jaffe Walter Jaffe & Paul King Ronni Lacroute Hugh & Mair Lewis James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust Gary Nelson & Minh Tran Gary Nelson & Minh Tran in Memory of Michael Magaurn Oregon Arts Commission Oregonian Media Group PGE Foundation Regional Arts & Culture Council Starseed Foundation Darci & Charlie Swindells Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation George & Nancy Thorn Wells Fargo Willamette Week Work for Art PLATINUM PLUME ($5000+) PPXX Anonymous Sheryl Acheson/Bonhams Columbia Bank & Columbia Trust Robert & Mercedes Eichholz Foundation Carol Ihlenburg The J and J Foundation Magaurn Video Media PPXX Dave Magilke MD & Butch Williams DMD Neil Kelly Oregon Cultural Trust PosterGarden PPXX Al Solheim WESTAF TourWest Susan & Jim Winkler GOLD PLUME ($2500+) The Autzen Foundation Albert Chaffin MD Chris Greenaway Enterprise Holdings Foundation PPXX Deborah Horrell & Kit Gillem Fund for Arts and Conservation of The Oregon Community Foundation Juan Young Trust Murray Koodish Dorothy Lemelson Trust New England Foundation for the Arts Reed College PPXX Joanne & Steven Rizzo Arlene Schnitzer Trust Sarah Wizemann/ Lille Boutique
SILVER PLUME ($1000+) Anonymous PPXX Carole Alexander Association of Performing Arts Presenters PPXX Terrence Bean Jamie Beckland & Michael Pope PPXX Janet & Ed Clark Deanna Cochener Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest PPXX Carol Edelman PPXX Gregory R. & Kim A. Flick PPXX Margaret W. Frank Ann & Edward Galen Fabian Genovesi PPXX Jamey Hampton & Ashley Roland Maryanne & David Holman Sandra & Stephen Holmes Christopher Johnson & Rex Bills PPXX Jessie Jonas Norm Kalbfleisch & Neil Matteucci In Memory of Randy Koval, Beloved White Bird Volunteer (15 donors) Gary Leavitt Ellen Lippman & Steve Rosenberg PPXX Maffei/Lintner Advised Fund of Equity Foundation PPXX Barbara Lovre Jeff & Lynn Malzahn Multnomah County Cultural Coalition PPXX Phyllis Newmark PPXX The Nut House Fund Ronald & Shirley Pausig Janet & Frank Phillips Robert & Jane Reed PPXX Dean Richardson PPXXJaymi & Francis Sladen Al Solheim Linda & Jon Twichell PPXX Peter J. Vennewitz Vibrant Table Catering PPXX Ellen Walkley Vinh Wong BRONZE PLUME ($500+) Anonymous PPXX Tom Ancona & Laura Tarrish AJ Arriola & Alice Jacobson PPXX Chris & Audry Bond Robert Aughenbaugh PPXX Laurie Balmuth Liz Bothwell & Gail Webb PPXX Kathleen Bristow Richard & Marcia Bushnell PPXX Mary Lou Cavendish & Michael Hughes Debi Coleman Dennis Deming & Corky Cortwright PPXX Jack & Terri Duncan Friends of the Cultural Center Inc.
PPXX George Eighmey
Ann Emmerson Leslye Epstein & Herman Taylor PPXX The Fishbein Family Mary Folberg Charles & Kyle Fuchs PPXX Robert & Trina Gluckman PPXX Jan Hurst PPXX Christine & Robert Gilmore Ivan L. Gold & Grace Serbu PPXX PPXX Valarie Grudier
Karen Henell PPXX Leslie S. Homer Charitable
Fund of the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington PPXX LaJean Humphries & David Ritchie Dennis Johnson & Steven Smith PPXX Becky Jones Stephen & Marge Kafoury PPXX Norm Kalbfleisch & Neil Matteucci Anna S. King PPXX Clara & Martin Kubeja Kirsten Lee Mike & Bonnie Leiser Claire Lindsay PPXX Barbara Lovre PPXX Erin & Christopher Manwaring Keith & Bradley Martin PPXX Hal & Alice McCartor PPXX Sarah McNary Richard H. Meeker & Ellen F. Rosenblum PPXX Kathleen & James Meyer Michael Curry Design PPXX VeAnna Morgan & Pamela Town Alex Nicoloff & Lesley Otto Jennifer & David Nolfi PPXX Suzanne & Mark Ostersmith Stanley & Susanne Penkin & Jean Krosner Por Que No Taqueria PPXX Marthel Porter PPXX John & Marti Rosenthal Carol Schnitzer Lewis Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation PPXX Donna Silverberg & Charles Wiggins David & Chris Sinner Aaron Tersteeg & Jessica Vasi UBS Brian & Nikki Weaver Western Partitions Sam Wheeler Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation PPXX Patricia & Jack Wong ANGEL ($250+) Anonymous Susan Agre-Kippenhan & Mike Kippenhan Sue Armitage Rebecca Boley
Matthew Boyes & Frederic Koeleman Steve Buchert & Herb Trubo David Cassard Deborah Correa & Mark Wilson Yvonne De Maat & Kenneth Murphy Elizabeth Eckstrom Meredith English Stuart Farmer Chris Gauger & Lee Leighton Bruce Guenther & Dr. Eduardo Vides, MD Ava & Charlie Hoover Illinois Tool Works Foundation Intel Corporation Judy Jacobson Heather & Loren Jenkins Tom Kane & Donna Shu Paula Kanarek & Ross Kaplan Karen Kemper Paula Levinrad Judith Bieberle Marks JS & Robin May Monique’s Boutique Martin C. Muller Ken & Colleen Murray Steven Neighorn Nielson Insurance Robert Olsen Steven P. & Eileen O’Neill Odum Oregon Children’s Theatre Elizabeth B. Pearce Cheryl & Dave Pfaff Judith E. Posey & Edward J. Doyle, MD Bonnie & Pete Reagan Sarah & Nathan Roe Jone Sampson Carol Smith-Larson Leah Swetnam Jane Unger Kim Ziebell FEATHERED FRIENDS ($100+) Anonymous Steve Albert & Janie Goldenberg Markus Albert Hagen & Emily Amen Marlene Anderson Ruby Apsler Elizabeth Arch Jan & Winston Asai Bill Bard & James Donder Nila Baker Kathie Bayer Dr. Diana Bell Bernard Schmidt Productions, Inc. Toni Berres-Paul Joanna Bonime Phil Brady & Pat Evenson-Brady Martin & Diane Brandt Dennis Brown Marianne Buchwalter
Sarah Byrne Amy Campbell Claire Carder & Jim Scherzinger Don Caniparoli & Sarah Ken Carraro Suzi Carter & Michael Weaver Lisa Chickadonz Nancy Clement Pam Greenough Corrie Bradley Coffey Aaron Creurer & Fred Ross Charles Curb & Janne Stark Susan Cyganiak Susan Dale Deborah Danielson Dr. & Mrs. Joseph Davids Tomika Anne Dew Kathleen Diack Anne Driscoll Kent Duffy & Martha Murray Robin J. Dunitz Earl Dyer Anne Egan & Tim McNichol David Fanger & Martin Wechsler Edward Feuerstein Carolyn & Ruthie Ferguson Nick Fish & Patricia Schecter Barabara Fishleder & John Wolfe Jerry Fong Eileen & Arlene Fromer Jerome & Mary Fulton John Gadon Lucile Gauger Laraine Gladstone Arthur Glasfeld & Susan Mikota Benjamin Gerritz Nancy Goodwin & Albert Horn Deborah & Sid Green Connie Guist Debra Gwartney & Barry Lopez Evelyn Hamann John Hamer & Kirsten Chapman Darlene Hardie Gary & Lynne Hartshorn Terry Hasegawa Jeff Hawthorne Jennifer Heilbronner Hewlett-Packard Stephen Hillis Bill Hogsett Mark Holloway Meghan Hoopes & Nicholas Nelson Martha Ireland Rachel Jacky Bob & Jill Jaffe Michael Johnson Becky Jones & Barbara Gardner Alan T. & Sharon Y. Jones David Jensen Daphna & Iddo Kadim Mary Kane John Kellerman Kathryn King-Goldberg Peter Kost Richard & Jann Leeuwenburg Matt & Rachael Lembo Drs. Dolores & Fernando Leon Jerry & Judith Lesch John Light & Patricia Barnes-Light Andrew Lintz & Brian Stief Lydia & Derek Lipman Joyce Lozito Holly Macfee, Lookout Co. David Maier & Kaye Van Valkenburg Bel-Ami & Mark Margoles Phillip Margolin Anna Marti
Pamela Matheson Carolyn McFadden Kristen & Justin Monahan Laurence Morandi & Karen Pazucha Billie Moser Patricia Navin & Bill Poleson Rowena & Luke Norman Daniel & Kathy Norton Robert Olds Christine & Paul Omara Robert & Carolyn Palanuk Toni Parque Judith & Jerry Paul Sondra & Gordon Pearlman Lake Perriguey Peter Corvallis Productions Heriberto Petschek Scott Philips Laurie Pino Kathy & Art Placek Christina Pratt Judy Renzema Sarah & Rhys Quinn Sheila Ford Richmond Von Roberts Ruth Robinson Charles & Judith Rooks Zach Ruhl Saif Corporation Dan Saltzman Virginia Sewell Hope Shaw Roger & Janice Shea Jon & Ann Sinclair Stefanie Silverman Joyce Skokowski Alix & Mark Smith Valarie Smith Carl Snook Susan Sorensen Wendy Squires The Steinfelds Jim & Nita Stell Kathleen Stephenson-Kuhn Laura F. Stockwell Corby Stonebraker-Sole Stephanie & Stephen Sussman Gary Taliaferro Christine Tarpey & Richard Yugler Kathy Taylor Beverly Trover Lyle M. Tucker Jenny & Tony Vaught William Wells Beth & Gary Westbrook Patricia Wetzel Carolyn Wieden Christina Wiley Edyth Willard Margaret Willer in Honor of Anne Willer Robert Woods & Jeff Pittman Anthony Yeznach Gary & Kay Zimmerli FRIENDS ($50+) Anonymous Anthony Altucher & Collette Young Sona Andrews Naomi Angier Michele & Bill Bader Katherine S. Bang Susan Bard Claire Barnett Linda Barnwell Ann Bellman & Michael Woods Belinda Beresford Edward & Aimee Berg Kristi Bigio Amelia & John Bishop John H. Bourke Warren & Donna Brown Bill Bulick & Carol McIntosh
Carol Bunten & Daniel Rosenberg Cynthia Chilton & Ed Abrahamson Richard Colman Eliza Crockett Eloise Damrosch & Gary Hartnett Helen M. Daltoso & James Wilcox Brian Diehl Robert Dodson Jessica Duke & Scott Urbatsch Lucile Gauger Nona Glazer Andreanne Gingras David Goldberg Ignacio Gonzales-Reyes & Stacie Hall Todd Guenzburger & Bill Kline Connie & Greg Korn Don Hagga Constance Hammond J. Benjamin Havris-Brown Caroline Henry Maureen Herndon Joan Hoffman Brook & Ann Howard Jacqueline Hoyt Mark Huey & Wayne Wiegand Georgia Lee Hussey James Hutchinson Mary James Faith Jennings Sharon Johnson Peggy Kavka Janice Kettler Daniel Kirk & Eric Skinner Carol Kneeshaw Cheryl Kolbe The Kroger Co. Joni Kutner Fuchsia Lin Grant Lindquist Jonathan & Vida Lohnes David Lewis & Liz Sandoval Sidne Lewis Martha Logan Frances Lynch in mem. of Marion Jenks Mimi Maduro Katherine MacKenzie Sue D. McCulloch Katherine McKearnan Gary McLaughlin Michael McManus Cassandra Mercer Bonnie Merrill Max & Lori Miller Kristen Minor & David Corser Amy Monroe Sara Nosanchuk Margaret Olney & Steve Marsh Kathleen O’Reilly Vicki Perrett Pfizer Foundation David & Kay Pollack David & Nancy Pribnow Naomi Price Denise Reed Michael Reper Meredith & Bill Savery Beth & Amy Segal Bruce Simmons Amelia Simpson Robert Simpson Cassandra Scholte Penelope Schott & Eric Sweetman Suzanne Silverstein Betty Smith Judith Sobol Connie Speros-Literal Laura Stepp
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS White Bird extends great thanks to the following foundations and government agencies for their support of the 2017–18 twentieth season.
The Regional Arts & Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County and the Arts Education & Access Fund, Work for Art, including contributions from more than 75 companies and two thousand employees, Starseed Foundation and Multnomah County Cultural Coalition
OUR GENEROUS COMMUNITY PARTNERS artistic directors jamey hampton + ashley roland
artistic directors jamey hampton + ashley roland
OUR GENEROUS RESTAURANT PARTNERS
WHITE BIRD IS A 501(C)(3) NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO BRINGING EXCELLENCE IN DANCE TO PORTLAND, OREGON.
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MAY 16, 2018 ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCER T HALL
FOUNDER TINA RAMIREZ
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CEO EDUARDO VILARO THE COMPANY Chris Bloom Nick Fearon Jenna Marie Eila Valls
Jared Bogart Melissa Fernandez Omar Román De Jesús Dandara Veiga
COMPANY GENERAL MANAGER Joshua Preston
Shelby Colona Mark Gieringer Gabrielle Sprauve Lyvan Verdecia
REHEARSAL DIRECTOR Johan Rivera Méndez
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Nathan K. Claus WARDROBE DIRECTOR Diana Ruettiger
LIGHTING SUPERVISOR Bob Franklin
Ballet Hispánico salutes Jody and John Arnhold for their visionary leadership and support. Through the generosity of the Arnhold family, Ballet Hispánico will continue to inspire communities around the world for years to come. MetLife Foundation is the Official Tour Sponsor of Ballet Hispánico. BalletHispanico.org Production Copyright 2018, Ballet Hispánico of New York, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Program is subject to change. The taking of video, audio and photographs is strictly prohibited.
SPONSOR
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MEDIA SPONSOR
LÍNEA RECTA CHOREOGRAPHY Annabelle Lopez Ochoa MUSIC Eric Vaarzon Morel COSTUME DESIGN Danielle Truss LIGHTING DESIGN Michael Mazzola Chris Bloom, Jared Bogart, Shelby Colona, Mark Gieringer, Melissa Fernandez, Eila Valls, Dandara Veiga, Lyvan Verdecia Powerful and resonant, Línea Recta explores an intriguing aspect of flamenco: the conspicuous absence of physical contact between dancers. While maintaining the integrity and hallmark passion of the genre, Belgo-Colombian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa imagines an original and explosive movement language premised upon the theme of communication between the sexes and performed to an original guitar composition by Eric Vaarzon Morel. Línea Recta was commissioned in part by the Apollo Theater and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. World Premiere: November 18, 2016 at the Apollo Theater
INTERMISSION CON BRAZOS ABIERTOS CHOREOGRAPHY Michelle Manzanales ARTISTIC COLLABORATION Ray Doñes SOUNDSCAPE Carla Morrison, Cheech & Chong, Julio Iglesias, Edward James Olmos, Gustavo Santaolalla, Maria Billini-Padilla, Juan Carlos Marin Marin, Ember Island, Mexican Institute of Sound COSTUME DESIGN Diana Ruettiger LIGHTING DESIGN Joshua Preston THE COMPANY Michelle Manzanales explores with humility, nostalgia, and humor the iconic Mexican symbols that she was reluctant to embrace as a Mexican-American child growing up in Texas. Intertwining folkloric details with a distinctly contemporary voice in dance, set to music that ranges from Julio Iglesias to rock en español, Con Brazos Abiertos is a fun and frank look at a life caught between two cultures. Special thanks to artists Juan Carlos Marin Marin, Nir Ben-Gal, and Noemi Gasparini, for this original recording of “Chiles Verdes” and to Maria Billini for her original poem, “Con Brazos Abiertos.” “Creep” by Radiohead used with permission by Warner/ Chappell and Sony/ ATV. World Premiere: April 18, 2017 at The Joyce Theater
INTERMISSION 3. CATORCE DIECISÉIS CHOREOGRAPHY Tania Pérez-Salas MUSIC Marin Marais, Girolamo Frescobaldi, A. Vivaldi, Francois Couperini, and Giovanni Batista Pergolesi COSTUME DESIGN Amanda Gladu LIGHTING DESIGN Bob Franklin THE COMPANY One of the leading voices of Mexican contemporary dance, Tania Pérez-Salas draws inspiration from the number Pi to reflect on the circularity of our movement through life. With intense theatricality and breathtaking imagery set to music by Vivaldi and other Baroque composers, 3. Catorce Dieciséis is a joyful feast for the senses.
ABOUT THE COMPANY IN THE FALL OF 1970, Tina Ramirez looked at her neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and envisioned a world where the young Latino children playing on the street could find a way to a world of art and professional opportunities. Her vision grew into a small grassroots dance and education organization that gave a voice to those young students at a time when Latinos were either absent or stereotyped in American culture. Today, Ballet Hispánico is a catalyst for change and diversity with tremendous impact, nurturing artists, students and future leaders. An acclaimed choreographer and former member of the Company, Artistic Director & CEO Eduardo Vilaro has brought a dynamic vision of social equity, cultural identity, and quality arts education. Under his leadership, Ballet Hispánico’s Company has received national and international praise, performing to ovations around the world. The School of Dance, located in the same building where Ms. Ramirez began her mission, is thriving and widely respected. Ballet Hispánico’s community arts partnerships have transformed the lives of thousands of young people in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, and Chicago. By bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance, Ballet Hispánico is now a beacon of hope, tolerance, and artistic excellence. EDUARDO VILARO (Artistic Director & CEO) joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. In 2015, Mr. Vilaro took on the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as Founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Mr. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico’s legacy with a bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance that reflects America’s changing cultural landscape. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education. Mr. Vilaro’s own choreography is devoted to capturing the spiritual, sensual and historical essence of the Latino cultures. He created over 20 ballets for Luna Negra and has received commissions from the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Grant Park Festival, the Lexington Ballet and the Chicago Symphony. In 2001, he was a recipient of a Ruth Page Award for choreography, and in 2003, he was honored for his choreographic work at Panama’s II International Festival of Ballet. Mr. Vilaro was also inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2016 and was awarded HOMBRE Magazine’s 2017 Arts & Culture Trailblazer of the Year. JOHAN RIVERA MÉNDEZ (Rehearsal Director) was born in San Juan, Puerto
Photo by Sarah Silver
TONIGHT’S PROGRAM
Rico. He began his dance training at the School for the Performing Arts, PR under the direction of Waldo Gonzalez. Johan graduated Magna Cum Laude with his BFA from the New World School of the Arts in 2013. While there, he had the opportunity to perform the works of Robert Battle, Kyle Abraham, Peter London, Daniel Lewis, Merce Cunningham and Doris Humphrey as well as simultaneously working with local dance companies in Miami, Florida. During his tenure with the Ballet Hispánico Company, Johan had the pleasure of performing 11
BALLET HISPANICO | BIOGRAPHIES the ballets of choreographers such as Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Pedro Ruiz, and Eduardo Vilaro. In addition, he was a vital member of Ballet Hispánico’s Education & Outreach teaching team while on tour and at home in NYC. Johan had the honor of mentoring and directing second company BHdos for the fall of 2016 before taking over as Rehearsal Director for Ballet Hispánico’s main company. Johan holds a MA in Executive Leadership from Liberty University. CHOREOGRAPHERS ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA (Choreographer) has been choreographing since 2003 following a twelve-year dance career in various contemporary dance companies throughout Europe. She has created works on fifty companies worldwide including Ballet Hispánico, Compania Nacional de Danza, Dutch National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, to name a few. In 2012, her first full length work, A Streetcar Named Desire, originally created for Scottish Ballet, received the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for “Best Classical Choreography” and was nominated for the prestigious Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production the following year. MICHELLE MANZANALES (Choreographer) is a choreographer and dance educator originally from Houston, TX. She began working with Eduardo Vilaro in 2003 as a dancer for his company Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago, where she later became Rehearsal Director in 2006 and served as Interim Artistic Director 2009-2010. In 2007, Manzanales created Sugar in the Raw (Azucar Cruda) for LNDT, which was applauded by the Chicago Sun-Times as “a staggering, beautiful, accomplished new work.” In 2010, her homage to Frida Kahlo, Paloma Querida, was hailed as a “visual masterpiece” by Lucia Mauro of the Chicago Tribune and was described by the Sun-Times as a “gorgeously designed, richly hallucinatory, multi-faceted vision of the artist…” TANIA PÉREZ-SALAS (Choreographer) was born in Mexico City. She obtained her first significant recognition in 1993, when she received the award for best female performer in the National Dance Competition of Mexico. Since then, she has won national and international recognition as both a dancer and choreographer, including the National and Continental Prizes for Choreography in Mexico and the sixth Paris International Dance Competition, among others. In 1994 Pérez-Salas founded the Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza. The company has been invited to perform her work in some of the most important theaters and festivals in Mexico, the United States, Canada, South America, China, the Middle East, and Europe. 12
WHITE BIRD • BALLE T HISPÁNICO
Her work is based on universal themes, which she presents from unique angles. For example, a satire on technology, informs Biography of Desire (Biografia del Deseo); the dimensions of death and life are inherent in Visitor (Visitante); femininity in The Hours (Las Horas); love and sensuality in Anabiosis.. WHO’S WHO IN THE COMPANY CHRIS BLOOM is from Fredrick County, VA where he began dancing at the Blue Ridge Studio for the Performing Arts and the Vostrikov Academy of Ballet. Chris graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Ailey/Fordham B. F. A. Program in 2012. In 2011, he joined Parsons Dance as an apprentice and continued to perform with Parsons as a guest artist for two years while also dancing with Lydia Johnson Dance, Thang Dao Dance Company, VonUssar DanceWorks, 360° Dance Theatre and the Peridance Contemporary Dance Company. Chris joined Ballet Hispanico in 2013 and has had the pleasure of originating roles in new works by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Edgar Zendejas, Miguel Mancillas, Fernando Melo, Michelle Manzanales, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, and Eduardo Vilaro. JARED BOGART is originally from Crystal River, FL and recently graduated with a BFA in Dance from Jacksonville University. He spent his early years training at his parents’ dance school in Crystal River, FL. He has trained during the summers at the Orlando Ballet School, Archcore40, Florida Dance Masters, and Florida Dance Festival. While in Jacksonville, Jared worked with artists such as Jennifer Muller, Robert Moses, Jennifer Archibald, and Stephanie Martinez. SHELBY COLONA is a 2013 graduate of The Ailey School’s Certificate Program. In 2011, she graduated from The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston, TX. Shelby has had further training with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Perry-Mansfield, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. She has performed works by Robert Battle, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Peter Chu, Nicholas Villeneuve, Billy Bell, Loni Landon, and has performed with companies such as Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lunge Dance Collective, and BHdos before joining the Ballet Hispánico Company. NICK FEARON began dancing at the age of ten in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Nick recently graduated from Point Park University earning his BFA in dance. At Point Park, Nick had the opportunity to perform works choreographed by David Parsons, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, and Jose Limón. Since graduation, Nick
was seen at Digifest dancing for Frankie Grande and has also danced professionally with Parsons Dance, Texture Contemporary Ballet, and Ballet Hispánico’s BHdos. MELISSA FERNANDEZ is from Miami, FL and received her early training from Mencia-Pikieris School of Dance and New World School of the Arts where she graduated summa cum laude in 2008. In 2012, Melissa went on to earn her BFA in dance from The Juilliard School. In 2008, Melissa was selected as a modern dance Finalist in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) YoungARTS competition. Currently, Melissa is in her fifth season with Ballet Hispánico in New York City, she performs nationally and internationally and teaching workshops as part of their outreach initiatives. MARK GIERINGER began dancing at the age of 16 in Bellevue, NE. He graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri – Kansas City with a dual-emphasis BFA in ballet and modern. He attended Joffrey - New York & Kansas City Ballet’s Summer Intensives on full scholarship. Mark has performed works by K.T Nelson, Josh Beamish, Bernard Gaddis, Gary Abbott and Ray Mercer. He performed principal roles in Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies and Continuo. Other roles include: Elegy Man in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Puck in Benjamin Britten’s operatic setting of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Mark has performed professionally with Seamless Dance Theater and Owen/Cox Dance Group in Kansas City. JENNA MARIE began her dance training at Olga Kresin’s Ballet School in Philadelphia, PA and later attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. She trained at The Ailey School as a scholarship student and was a member of the dance company Eleone Connections. Ms. Marie has participated in a number of dance competitions including the Youth America Grand Prix (where she was featured in the documentary “First Position”), the Barcelona International Dance Competition, and the Tanzolymp Danz Festival. She was a member of Ailey II, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Zest Collective, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera, and MOMIX. OMAR ROMÁN DE JESÚS began his formal training at School for the Performing Arts in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Omar was a member of Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico from 2006–2011 and during this period, he won the Championship Cup and Gold Medal at the
National Dance Competition in Puerto Rico. Omar’s choreography has been recognized for its originality, and he has been praised for his ability to craft an emotional arc. He has presented his choreography at Peridance Capezio Center, Sala Sinfónica Pablo Casals, The Joyce Theater and others. Omar is thrilled to be a winning choreographer for the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s 8th annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition. Recently, his new work, DANIEL, was commissioned by Parsons Dance for the company’s 2017 Joyce season as part of its initiative to support emerging choreographers through David Parsons’ GenerationNow Fellowship. GABRIELLE SPRAUVE was born in Queens, New York and raised in Savannah, Georgia. She is a recent graduate of Marymount Manhattan College, where she earned her BFA in dance under the direction of Katie Langan. Gabrielle has performed works by Larry Keigwin, Alexandra Damiani, Norbert De La Cruz, Paul Taylor, Darrell Grand Moultrie, Adam Barruch, and Jo Strømgren. She has also performed at the American Dance Guild, the 92nd Street Y’s Fridays at Noon Series, and The Martha Graham Company’s University Partners Showcase. EILA VALLS is originally from Spain and graduated from RCPD Mariemma (Madrid, Spain) in 2010. She is the winner of the “Virginia Valero” extraordinary award in Madrid and the first place winner of the international competition “ Certamen de Danza Ciutat de Barcelona”, through which she was awarded a full scholarship to the Peridance Certificate Program (NYC) and Joffrey Ballet (Chicago). Since she moved to New York in 2011, she’s worked with Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, where she has performed repertory from choreographers such as Igal Perry, Dwight Rhoden, Ohad Naharin, and Sidra Bell, among others. She has also danced under the direction of Manuel Vignoulle, Brice Mousset and Yesid Lopez, and has worked as a dancer/model for Adidas, Nike, and Under Armour. DANDARA VEIGA was a scholarship student at The Ailey School in 2016/2017. She started her dance training at Projeto Social Primeiros Passos (Brazil), before training as a scholarship student at Escola de dança Ballerina (Brazil), Studio Margarita Fernandez (Argentina), Opus Ballet (Italy), and Annarella Academia Dr Ballet e Dança (Portugal). Dandara has performed at events such as Vibe Competition (Montana/US), Harlem Arts Festival, and the Ailey Spirit Gala (New York/US). She has had the opportunity to work with names such as Robert Battle, Caridad Martinez, Claudia Zaccari, Jean Emille, Ray Mercer, Raul Candal, and Melanie Futorian.
LYVAN VERDECIA was born in Havana, Cuba. He graduated from the National Ballet School of Cuba in 2013 and joined the ranks of the National Ballet of Cuba through December 2014, where he developed as a dancer and choreographer. He has had the opportunity to participate in festivals and has won gold and bronze medals at international competitions. He has shared the stage with Carlos Acosta in his Tocororo and with Viengsay Valdes in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Celeste. In 2017, Verdecia was awarded a Princess Grace Award in Dance. DESIGNERS & COLLABORATORS RAY DOÑES (Artistic Collaborator) graduated from Houston’s High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, as MUSICFEST’s 1st place scholarship winner for Dance, while studying extensively at the Houston Ballet Academy and the School of American Ballet (NYC). He then went on to attend Southern Methodist University on a full dance scholarship. Ray continued his studies and career in New York City, where he performed with A Few Good Men...Dancing! under the direction of Jeff Amsden. In 2003, Ray was the recipient of the Leo’s Silver Award for choreography at the Jazz Dance World Congress. Since then, Ray has performed with the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, also serving as choreographer, the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, Hope Stone Dance Company, among others. Ray now resides in Chicago, where his most recent professional dance experience was with Thodos Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Theater. AMANDA GLADU (Costume Designer) is a New York City based costume designer. She recently received her MFA in Stage (Costume) Design from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. Originally from Texas, Amanda holds dual BA degrees in Dance and Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. Designs at Northwestern University include Equivocation, Anna in the Tropics, Sweet Charity, selected pieces in Danceworks and Danceworks: Current Rhythms. Recent work with Ballet Hispánico includes 3.Catorce Dieciséis, choreographed by Tania Pérez-Salas. Amanda received the 2017 Michael Merritt Academic Award for Collaborative Design for Northwestern University. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner, Logan, and her chihuahua, Daisy. MICHAEL MAZZOLA (Lighting Designer) Michael Mazzola’s critically acclaimed lighting and scenery has been seen in venues all over the U.S., Europe and Asia, ranging from opera houses to amphitheaters to circus tents to hay barns. The three-time New York Dance and Performance Award winner has designed lighting and scenery for many arts organizations, including Oregon Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. Earlier this year, Mr. Mazzola designed the
world premiere of a full-length ballet with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet by James Kudelka, then down south to Chicago for a new Giselle by the Joffrey Ballet among many others. His performance photography has been published in Liz Lerman’s book Hiking the Horizontal. DANIELLE TRUSS (Costume Designer) is a freelance costume designer, seamstress, and tailor, originally from London, England. Danielle Truss is trained in Tailoring, Fashion, and Textiles and did an apprenticeship placement on Saville Row. She created costumes for Dangerous Liaisons at Grand Rapids Ballet and Bonzi at BalletX. PRODUCTION JOSHUA PRESTON (Company General Manager & Lighting Designer) hails from the verdant hills of Lexington, KT where he began his training in design, management and bourbon. Josh has had the pleasure of working with Ballet Hispánico for six years and is proud to call his colleagues family. Josh met Eduardo Vilaro on the windy stages of Chicago and has followed his remarkable vision ever since. Josh is eternally grateful to Eduardo for shepherding him as a designer and as a person. Josh has designed lighting for dance, theater, opera and his apartment. Josh also serves as a trophy artist/husband to his ever patient wife, Chloe. DIANA RUETTIGER (Wardrobe Director & Costume Designer) has served as wardrobe supervisor for Luna Negra Dance Theater and Costume Designer for Dance for Life Chicago, Columbia College, and The Chicago Academy for the Arts. She has worked as stitcher and crew for the Joffrey Ballet and numerous Broadway touri shows. Ms. Ruettiger owned and operated a costume shop for 25 years before moving to New York to begin her tenure supervising wardrobe for Ballet Hispánico. NATHAN K. CLAUS (Production Stage Manager) is in his fifth season as the stage manager for Ballet Hispánico. He has previously worked on Broadway with the productions of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, God of Carnage, The Norman Conquests and David Mamet’s November, and has worked with several other dance companies, including tours with Jennifer Muller/The Works. Hailing from Fargo, North Dakota, Nathan began studying ballet at Dancenter North in Libertyville, IL before obtaining a B.A. in Theatre from Millikin University in Decatur, IL, where he also studied dance, music, and education. BOB FRANKLIN (Lighting Designer & Supervisor) is a lighting designer for theatre, dance, and more. Dance work includes Ballet Hispánico, Pilobolus, Kate Weare Company, and others. Associate/Assistant credits: The Color Purple, Noises Off ! (Broadway). Peer Gynt, Men on Boats (Off-Broadway). Man of La Mancha, Luna Gale, Angels in America (Seattle). He also designs for corporate events and fashion.
BALLE T HISPÁNICO • WHITE BIRD
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WHAT TO SEE IN ARTSLANDIA MUSIC
AND SO WE WALKED
PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY A frank, funny, and sometimes misguided story of a contemporary Cherokee woman who goes on a six-week, 900-mile journey with her father along the Trail of Tears in search of her heroic self. Through this personal odyssey, the people and places she encounters test her sense of identity—both as a contemporary Cherokee and as a woman. MARCH 31–MAY 13; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY, ELLYN BYE STUDIO
MAJOR BARBARA
PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY When her daughters Sarah and Barbara are both engaged to be married, Lady Britomart decides to ask her estranged industrialist husband, Andrew Undershaft, for support. Barbara, a Major in the Salvation Army, agrees to let her father visit her mission in the East End of London. In exchange, she promises to visit his munitions factory. The clash between Barbara’s philanthropic idealism and her father’s hardheaded capitalism are at the heart of Shaw’s witty and timely appraisal of capitalism, war, religion, and politics. APRIL 14–MAY 13; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY, U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE
YUJA WANG
OREGON SYMPHONY This breathtaking pianist wows audiences around the globe with her intense power and exceptional stage presence. Her stylistic music-making, along with what Los Angeles Times calls her “brilliant keyboard virtuosity,” never fails to thrill both piano lovers and newcomers alike. The Oregon Symphony does not perform. MAY 3; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
RIGOLETTO
PORTLAND OPERA Powerhouse American baritone Stephen Powell returns to Portland Opera as Rigoletto— the court jester who amuses a philandering and immoral Duke. A clown in public but a doting and protective father to his beloved Gilda in private, Rigoletto’s life will change forever when his mockery goes too far and results in a fateful curse. MAY 4–12; KELLER AUDITORIUM
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
DANCE
CHRIS BOTTI
OREGON SYMPHONY The jazz-pop powerhouse returns to dazzle his hometown fans with the shimmering tone, cool riffs, and mesmerizing ballads that have made him one of the most successful performers of all time. MAY 5; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
JOSHUA BELL
OREGON SYMPHONY The world’s most famous violinist returns to the Oregon Symphony to perform Bernstein’s Serenade, often described as a “love piece” by the composer. Brooklynite singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane (son of classical pianist Jeffrey Kahane) makes his Oregon Symphony debut with the world premiere of his composition. Carlos Kalmar conducts. MAY 12–14; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
BALLET HISPÁNICO
WHITE BIRD DANCE Ballet Hispánico is acclaimed for exploring, preserving, and celebrating Latino cultures through dance. Their thrilling new program will feature all female choreographers: Michelle Manzanales’s Con Brazos Abiertos, harking back to her childhood as a Mexican-American growing up in Texas; Línea Recta by Belgian Colombian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, pairing flamenco dance with intricate partnering; and Catorce Dieciséis by Tania Pérez-Salas, one of the leading voices of Mexican contemporary dance. MAY 16; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
MAHLER’S SYMPHONY NO. 7
OREGON SYMPHONY Mahler’s “Song of the Night” is guaranteed to leave you on a rousing note, as day overtakes night in the astonishingly exuberant final movement. Carlos Kalmar conducts. MAY 19–21; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
THEATER
CULTURE
ONE NIGHT ONLY
FAMILY SHOW
AUDRA MCDONALD
OREGON SYMPHONY The Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awardwinning Broadway legend brings her incomparable voice to a one-night-only performance with the Oregon Symphony for an evening of favorite show tunes, classic film songs, and original pieces written especially for her. Andy Einhorn conducts. MAY 22; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
CLOSER
OREGON BALLET THEATRE OBT’s season concludes with Closer, a program that draws you in for a last look at the artists you have enjoyed all season-long, including new work created by the dancers of the company. With just 175 seats right at the stage floor, enjoy a rare opportunity to experience all the power and artistry of this most rigorous of dance forms in a way that puts you safely in the midst of all the action. MAY 24–JUNE 3; BODYVOX DANCE CENTER
LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL
PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY Featuring iconic songs such as God Bless the Child and Strange Fruit, this show is an all-access pass to Billie Holiday’s final concert. With humor and hopefulness, the legendary singer takes us on a journey through the highs and lows of her tumultuous life, interspersed with exuberant renditions of her beloved repertoire. MAY 26–JULY 1; PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY, U.S. BANK MAIN STAGE
YOUNG ARTISTS’ PERFORMANCE
VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Vancouver Symphony continues its 39th season with a concert that features the talents of the three gold medalists of the 24th Annual Young Artists Competition. Maestro Salvador Brotons conducts. See the VSO website for more information. JUNE 2 & 3; SKYVIEW CONCERT HALL, 1300 NW 139TH ST., VANCOUVER
MAY & JUNE 2018 TONY BENNETT
OREGON SYMPHONY A true living legend, Tony Bennett has been a pop culture icon for over 60 years. His distinct vocal style and remarkable ability to collaborate with today’s emerging stars make him one of the most beloved and admired entertainers of our time. The Oregon Symphony does not perform. JUNE 6; ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
FAUST
PORTLAND OPERA A vision at once new and timeless. When the devil appears and offers Faust a second chance at youth in exchange for his soul, he makes the pact and then uses his newfound powers to seduce the youthful and innocent Marguerite—with tragic consequences. One of the most popular operas of the last two centuries, lyricism and legend converge in Gounod’s unforgettable masterpiece. This groundbreaking production is infused with the vision of sculptor and visual artist John Frame, who exhibited at the Portland Art Museum in 2012. After years in the making, Frame’s remarkable creative vision translates to the stage with powerful and deeply evocative sets and costumes, sculpture 3D projections, and more. Rising international opera star Angel Blue makes her Portland Opera debut as Marguerite to Jonathan Boyd’s Faust. Faust is a co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago and Portland Opera. JUNE 8-16; KELLER AUDITORIUM
SUMMER 2018
NW DANCE PROJECT Bringing new dimensions to their white-box summer shows, Resident Choreographer Ihsan Rustem will reveal a world-premiere work. Back by popular demand, Sarah Slipper’s MemoryHouse returns after gracing stages and stunning audiences around the world, and Danielle Agami’s curious This Time Tomorrow completes the trio of phenomenal works to close the season. JUNE 14–16; LINCOLN PERFORMANCE HALL, PSU
THE SECRETARIES
PROFILE THEATRE Pretty Patty Johnson is thrilled to join the secretarial pool at the Cooney Lumber Mill in Big Bone, Oregon, under the iron-fisted leadership of sultry office manager Susan Curtis. But she soon begins to feel that all is not right—the enforced diet of SlimFast shakes, the strange clicking language between the girls, the monthly disappearance of a lumberjack. By the time Patty discovers murder is part of these office killers’ skill set, it’s too late to turn back! In the guise of satiric exploitation-horror, The Secretaries takes an unflinching look at the warping cultural expectations of femininity and the ways women themselves are often the enforcers of sexism.
JUNE 14–JULY 1; ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE, ALDER STAGE
CHRISTINA KOWALSKI
Photo courtesy of John Frame.
VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Soprano Kowalksi joins VSO musicians to share the magic of opera. Kowalski’s long and distinguished career includes performances in the United States and Europe, with diverse repertoire such as roles in full productions of operas by Monteverdi, Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti, Stravinsky, Britten, and Menotti. JUNE 17; KIGGINS THEATRE, 1011 MAIN STREET, VANCOUVER MAY | JUNE 2018
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Artslandia at the Performance is published by Rampant Creative, Inc. ©2018 Rampant Creative, Inc. All rights reserved. This magazine or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher. Rampant Creative, Inc. /Artslandia Magazine 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. #207 | Portland, OR 97202
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FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” —Stephen Jay Gould, New Scientist, March 8, 1979
WHILE I WAS IN ASHLAND for the opening four shows of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 season—and a splendid set of shows they are—I managed to secure a little time with Bill Rauch, the company’s artistic director. Rauch had announced a few weeks earlier that he was leaving the festival, which he’d led since 2007, to lead The Ronald O. Perelman Center for Performing Arts at the World Trade Center in New York City, a new multidisciplinary performing arts space. Although he won’t leave the festival until August 2019, I thought touching base with him made sense.
en playwrights as men (an achievement considering the number of plays devoted to Shakespeare). Those directors and playwrights include almost as many artists of color as white artists. More than half the acting company is made up of artists of color, and the company spans various ages and body types. The stories they tell onstage are wide-ranging, too, coming out of various traditions around the world. Rauch has developed a very specific idea about how deeply ingrained the old way of doing business in arts organizations has become, that top-down, authoritarian leadership style, the tyranny of the maestro, that has infected the arts community from the start.
We met Sunday morning, right after a festival public event with the directors of the four opening shows of the year. Since Rauch had directed Othello, he was part of that panel, though he was probably the least “In that question in the panel just now,” Rauch said, “when they were asking about loquacious panelist. leadership? One of the things I was going to talk about—most theaters in this counAlthough I found his approach to Othello quite revealing, I wanted to talk about some- try are run by very liberal people, not all thing else. How had he made the festival a but most. And the gap between the values model for other big arts organizations that we espouse in our plays—the Shakespeare want to become more inclusive, less dom- history plays that show the evils of fascistic inated by the white male perspectives that leadership—and then, we run our organihave had a monopoly on American theater zations in the very leadership style that we since, well, the beginning? are critiquing in the play we are putting on. You see that hypocrisy again and again and In case you’re curious about what this looks again. Right? It’s obscene.” like onstage: This year’s festival features about as many women in the director’s But even a liberal artistic director who chair as men and roughly as many wom- agrees that leaders need to lead differently, 18
ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
more inclusively, that power needs to be distributed more widely, and that aligning their artistic values with their personal values is important—even such an artistic director can draw back at the moment of decision.
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“It’s such a powerful tool of white supremacy, right? White men hiring the white men they know, and white men hiring white men whose worth has been proven because of the opportunities they’ve already been given. It’s a vicious circle.”
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Of course, when you go another direction, as Rauch did in Ashland, tensions arise. “I think one of the places where the tension you’re naming has been most active is in the acting community,” Rauch said. “I came here because I believe that great work comes out of a resident company of actors. But the eclecticism of my taste and the ways we’ve tried to expand the playbill and the kinds of stories that we do, mean that we’ve had a higher percentage of turnover in the acting company, certainly than in Libby’s era [Libby Appel, served as artistic director before Rauch, 1995–2007] or before. That has been great for the artistic vitality, but I feel like we’ve pushed the boundaries on the commitment to an ongoing company. There’s been a tension, and there’s a tension every year when we cast.”
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Although the unprecedented turnover in the acting company created tension, Rauch received continued support from the rest of the staff and the board that had hired him to shake things up. He remembered an early meeting in his tenure when the plays were being discussed—which plays would run all season, what theater they would play in, how much of the company’s resources would be applied to them. “The first show I directed as artistic director was The Clay Cart back in 2008 that we ran all season,” Rauch said. “And that was because someone in the marketing department, Bob Hackett, pounded his fist on the table and said that doing classics from other parts of the world is core to Bill’s vision and why are we trying to stick it into the shortest possible slot. We’ve got to have the courage of our convictions and run this all year. And everybody clapped, and I realized, wow, my colleagues have more courage for me than I have for myself in this moment. And I took up the challenge.” The audience has been generally warm to Rauch’s approach, too, though with some exceptions. >>>> MAY | JUNE 2018
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FROM THE EDITOR-AT-LARGE Continued from page 19
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>>>> “In terms of the relationship with the audience, I have my share of horror stories about things that people have said that I found problematic or hurtful, but I’ve also learned when the work is pushing buttons, and when people are having strong reactions, that’s a good thing,” Rauch explained. “I’ve learned how projects plant the seeds for future projects. Even if there is a kind of audience consensus—that didn’t work, or we didn’t like that or that made us uncomfortable, whatever it is—what are we doing five years later? Eight years later? That was made entirely possible because of that show that quote, didn’t work, unquote. The measure of success starts becoming a much longer horizon of evaluation. And that’s been one of the most thrilling things I’ve learned in this job.”
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We talked a little about his new job on the site of the World Trade Center, as symbolic a site for a performing arts venue in the U.S. as I can imagine right now. Rauch said that he didn’t have any intention of leaving the festival, which has proven to be a springboard to project new work around the country and even to Broadway, where the festival has piled up Tony nominations and victories in recent years. “It just felt the possibility field was so rich— and a little scary—but was not something I could turn away from,” Rauch said. “I do think in terms of everything we’ve talked about today, which is modeling democracy in both the work itself and in the organization that supports it, I just think it’s an exciting place to try to continue.” Bringing democratic values to the arts space, in general, has proven to be far more difficult than it should have, for various reasons, from the authoritarianism of the old-style leader to the blind admonition to “run it as a business” from board members equally enmeshed in top-down management styles. The result of the old way hasn’t been great art. It hasn’t been vast financial success. I’d argue that it has led in quite the opposite direction. Of course, I’d have to admit that Rauch’s tenure at the Shakespeare Festival is currently exhibit one in that argument. .
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
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GOUNOD
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JUNE 8, 10m, 14, 16
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RIGOLETTO Grand opera returns to Portland this spring, with a traditional production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.
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ORFEO ED EURIDICE Celebrate the transformative power of love and music in this epic myth.
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23
WHY I’M HERE,
With You: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LINDA AUSTIN
BY HANNAH KRAFCIK
LINDA AUSTIN IS PERFORMING. In her hand, she holds a wiry, gray tree branch. The branch seems a bit grim, jutting upward and then twisting abruptly out on a perpendicular axis. Austin hooks the branch on her arm for a moment. Her face is somber and focused, as if to say, “I am happy you are here, but it doesn’t matter if the things I am doing with this branch make any sense to you. This is serious work, and it’s the only thing I concern myself with right now.” She balances the branch on her finger. At once, it tips forward, and she does too. She puts herself in the way of precarity, of gravity, and I feel a subtext bubbling: “You never really know (so it’s best not to assume that you do). Just keep watching.” I keep watching from the risers at Performance Works NW, Austin’s nonprofit performance space in Southeast Portland that serves as a community hub for performances and a home for her work through Linda Austin Dance. On this afternoon in March, a group of invited friends and colleagues came to view a work in progress, Ordinary Devotions, that she would be showing in New York City later in the month for the spring season of Movement Research at the Judson Church, the historic gestation site of postmodern dance.
PHOTO BY CHRISTINE DONG.
With no one designated to run lighting for this informal showing, Austin occasionally calls out lighting cues to a volunteer from the gathering chosen to run lights minutes beforehand. Her cues are part and parcel of her continuum of random (but not arbitrary) tasks, which she performs in specific progression—thing after thing.
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Austin continues speaking during the performance. She mentions to us that ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
her mother had once called her “ornery”— and this descriptor still feels fitting. Her body is petite and her movement, specific and sly. Her gray hair falls down around her shoulders, and when she looks up, her blue-gray eyes have a sharp quality. Austin is 64 years old, but sometimes she seems to me like a sneaky child, relishing an experience that has somehow slipped outside the duration of time. Absorbed in the impossible task of standing on a set of commonplace spools of thread, while simultaneously gripping a flashlight and trying to keep her otherwise naked body wrapped in a giant white tarp, Austin calls out in a singsong voice: “I don’t know why I’m here...with you. What the heck is this thing I’m doing?” The question feels timely. What is she doing here in Portland, anyway? Most people who know Austin probably also know she moved here in the late 1990s from New York City, where she been making work for 15 years.
artistic practice—and the sequence of the choices that led her here. When I sat down with Austin for a discussion at PWNW to learn more, I found myself unsure of how to initiate a dialogue, feeling the weight of so much historical, conceptual, and personal territory we had yet to cover. Austin has lived a lot. Luckily, the opening presented itself on the shelf next to us, lined with family photos, including photos of a sister and two nephews who have died, photos of her father and mother. She indicated this was her altar.
seem to. She posts videos of herself dancing in front of bookshelves, in the backyard of PWNW or its studio space proper, and occasionally with one or two felines hovering around. “A lot of times there’s a stew going on,” she says, “so everything kind of is stewing around.” Austin attended Lewis & Clark College for her undergraduate education, eventually opting to become a theater major. “I don’t think I thought it was going to be my major when I started, but it just seemed like that’s what I wanted to be spending my time doing,” she remembers. She went to New York City for a term during college and decided to move back with a classmate after graduating. “I thought I was going to be a writer,” she remembers. But someone running an improvisational acting class introduced her to some movement-based practices and another person nudged her in the direction of the “downtown dance scene,” the aggressively experimental work that questioned the value sets around ballet and classical modern dance.
And there can be no question She found herself seeing dance about the impact Austin has had work and taking workshops. She on Portland’s arts community. In got hooked. Eric Nordstrom’s 2017 documentary Moving History: Portland ConIt’s also fitting to recollect that, between the On the altar sat an inconspicuous silver urn. temporary Dance Past and Present, dance ‘60s and the ‘90s, downtown dance was, in critic Martha Ullman West says Austin has “That’s mom,” she said. fact, a scene—one without high-speed interbrought “a quirky and idiosyncratic humor net, without the range of readily accessible Austin grew up in Medford, Oregon, the to the Portland dance scene, and it’s undigital documentation we enjoy today, and oldest of nine siblings, born when her father forced, and it isn’t cute.” therefore, one where showing up, in person, was 21, and her mother was 17. The way she was essential. During the past 20 years since her transition, speaks about her life strikes me as, at once, heavy and light, leaving room for emotional Austin has offered cheap rehearsal space and As her friends and collaborators know, Linda content but also a level of humor and amongoing artist residencies. She has brought Austin is uncannily capable of showing up. bivalence. “My mom was fertile,” says Austin. in visiting artists, presented and produced local artists, and created large-scale pro- “She was pregnant for ten years, basically, “She’s at everything,” says Allie Hankins, a popping out the babies and never lost one.” Portland-based performer who has worked ductions that feature local movers—claire barrera, keyon gaskin, Allie Hankins, and with Austin, indicating how she models this Of her early life, she recalls, “Sometimes Takahiro Yamamoto, to name a few. She same value today. when I’m in my space, I remember that...I also prioritizes paying those who dance in guess, I didn’t dance as a child, but when Austin developed her way of working in her work as well as she can, spreading the I was growing up we had this outbuilding the epicenter of American experimental resources she has to the benefit of other artthat had been someone’s workshop…And dance, which has been shaped by waves of ists. Her work has earned her awards, such we used to go in there and do plays. You titan choreographers including the likes of as The Merce Cunningham Award from the know what I mean? It was like my fi rst Trisha Brown, Meredith Monk, and Yvonne Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2017). studio, in a way.” Rainer, and later, Ishmael Houston-Jones Still, Austin remains enigmatic: From and Yvonne Meier. Austin found her way where does the thing that follows that oth- Austin’s Instagram account is public proof into the scene during the final decades of that while so much has changed in her life, the last millenium. “You know, people would er thing come? What about this practice of her inclination to mess around in a work- meet me in [dance] workshops and then dance-making, which articulates a palpable space has not. She said she does not consider but unseen and unpredictable logic? How invite me to be in their work,” Austin says. herself very “process-oriented,” but while her She eventually started dancing in work by and where does the artist develop such a artistic outputs ebb and flow with available practice? These questions lead back to a choreographers such as Yoshiko Chuma and time and resources, her making does not question about origins—of Austin, of her Sally Silvers, who are still active today. >>>> MAY | JUNE 2018
25
WHY I’M HERE, WITH YOU Continued from page 25
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>>>> During her early years in the city, she sought an advanced degree, which allowed her to transition from service industry gigs into a career that sustained her dancing life. “I did my masters in English as a Second Language from 1980–82. And my first dance show was in ‘83,” she says, reflecting on how her work in ESL helped sustain her from New York to Portland, until she finally retired three years ago. When asked if it felt good to quit her ESL job, she responds, “Oh my gosh, so good.” While Austin admits she did enjoy the work, she also knows her path, clarifying: “It’s like, ‘Really? I did that all these years?’” she continues, “Because, I feel like, now finally is the life I was supposed to have.” Austin found herself choreographing her first dance piece when a well-connected friend invited her to show work at Danspace Project in St. Mark’s Church. “He decided to invite people to make a work who had never made a dance before, and he invited me,” said Austin. The work was called An Atrocity Exhibition in Two Parts. “It had objects in it,” she remembers. “It had humor in it. It had things in it that I still come back to.”
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The fact that Austin’s first work was presented in a religious gathering space came as an omen for the locus her creative practice would eventually find in a small Romanian Orthodox church—what we now know as Performance Works NW. Austin’s dance-making life continued to evolve in New York from this chance opportunity. She kept creating and showing work at other established venues, including Movement Research at Judson Church and The Kitchen. She sustained her work, not only through teaching ESL but also through a chance investment that stabilized her living situation in New York—her purchase of an apartment for $2000 in 1978—which would eventually help propel her to Portland. Things started to shift subtly for Austin round the mid-’90s. She started to feel, as she puts it, like she was spinning her wheels. She could “make the downtown circuit,” but had no dedicated space to make her own work. The idea to move back to Oregon,
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
to invest the equity from her apartment, which had appreciated exponentially, into somewhere she could call a home for her creative practice began to percolate. Then, love happened, further tipping the scales toward a move back home to the West. Austin says it best, “On a trip back to Portland, I ran into Jeff Forbes, who I’d known in college. We were on lighting crew together, and he was two years behind me.” Forbes is a prominent technical director and lighting designer working with arts groups in Portland, such as Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and White Bird Dance. “I ended up moving out,” Austin concludes. The rest is history, and certainly a more complicated history than presented here: Austin leveraged her assets to open a space and co-founded PWNW with Forbes. In so doing, for a period, she took on a threefold role of ESL educator, dance maker, and arts administrator, a choice she regards with a level of ambivalence. “I had this mantra that I wasn’t going to become an arts administrator,” said Austin, “But I couldn’t help it.” She explained the choice: “Having a space made me want events to happen and to make things possible that I missed [from her time in New York].” The price may have been time devoted to her own art-making, but the payoff is felt across the dance scene here in Portland. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot [from Austin],” Hankins said. “I think, practical things, like: Just show up. Be around. Be present. Be in the community. And generosity goes a long way, and generosity makes a community function.” In addition to dancing in two of Austin’s most recent evening-length works, Hankins is currently embarking on a collaboration with Austin. “Alchemy is something that Linda has,” Hankins mused. “Having come from a big
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family, she’s experienced a lot of loss in her life, and she’s able to hold that loss next to all the other things that it happens alongside. Like, it happens alongside someone else she knows getting married, or having a baby, or something hilarious happening, or Trump getting elected.
“You see how she transforms the world around her.” In the midst of my interview with Austin, she paused to pull out her iPad. “I now have this app. Have you heard of it? It’s called WeCroak, and it reminds you five times a day that you’re going to die,” she says. Austin is in a phase of thinking about themes of death in her creative practice, as well as in the pragmatics of life. She dreams of expanding PWNW, but she is also contemplating a succession plan—holding space for a multiplicity of futures, at which seems so adept.
I think she’s able to see the complex and multifaceted ways around things,” she elaborated. “We’ll be in the middle of rehearsal, and she’ll suddenly be like, ‘Oh my God, I have to show you this cat video!’” (Austin is a cat person, should that not already be clear). “She allows things that bubble up to “I think it’s funny that my mom, who only be present,” Hankins said. saw me perform twice in my life—once in high school and once at a performance in Portland in 2007—is right here!” Austin chuckles, gesturing the silver urn. “I think she’d get a kick out of it.” .
In addition to PWNW’s roster of public access programming this spring, Linda Austin will be performing Recipe: A Reading Test and Raw Material, new versions of two solos from the 1980s, at 8 p.m., June 22–23. You can learn more and donate to support the work at pwnw-pdx.org. MAY | JUNE 2018
27
VANPORT
MOSAIC 2018
A S TO RY C O M E S H O M E
TOP: Children at Swan Island refugee center set up by the Red Cross after the Vanport Flood, 1948. BOTTOM LEFT: Aerial view of Vanport. BOTTOM MIDDLE: Vanport Daily Vacation Bible School, 1943. BOTTOM RIGHT: Vanport refugees, 1948.
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
PHOTO CREDITS: Oregon Historical Society Research Library (ba018658, OrHi 56002, OrHi 78867, OrHi 90163).
BY BOBBY BERMEA
“Stories need to be freed to do their work.” —Laura Lo Forti MEMORIAL DAY, 1948, was a seminal moment in the evolution of contemporary Portland. On that day, the city of Vanport, hastily constructed to house workers at the Kaiser Shipyards during World War II, was wiped out when a dike gave way at 4:05 p.m. The swelling Columbia River came crashing through the breach, and by nightfall, there were at least 15 dead. Vanport, at one point the largest housing project of its kind in the United States and the second largest city in Oregon, was underwater, and some 18,500 people were left homeless. This Memorial Day weekend, May 25–28, the Vanport Mosaic will commemorate the 70th anniversary of that cataclysmic event with a four-day festival of “exhibits, theater performances, a reunion/celebration of former Vanport residents, documentary screenings and recordings, poetry, tours of the historic Vanport City area, and community engagement activities.”
It will be citywide, stretching from the Expo Center to Delta Park to City Hall to the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church and is supported by some 30 sponsors, funders, and partners. The festival, like the nonprofit organization from which it gets its name, is “artist-led” but “community driven.” In other words, the festival is less about artists taking inspiration from an event and making work that satisfies their own creative impulses, and more about providing a platform for stories that don’t often get heard or are, in fact, silenced. Perhaps the most significant part of the Vanport Flood’s legacy is that it forced integration—of a kind—on Portland. Vanport was located where Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway are now. (The name was a portmanteau of Vancouver and Portland.) At its peak during the war years, Vanport had a population of 40,000, of which about 6,000 were black. By 1948, the total population was down to around half that, with the number of African-Americans holding steady. Many white families left as soon as they could, but because of redlining and other discriminatory housing policies, Black people found themselves with nowhere else to go. Postwar Vanport’s population also included Native
Obie Award-winner Lou Bellamy directs this winner of the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Americans, Japanese-Americans returning from internment camps, and veterans returning from the war. Thus, the majority of Vanport—poor, of color, or both—were unwanted by greater Portland. Vanport Mosaic co-founder and Co-artistic Director, Laura Lo Forti, characterized Vanport as a city of “undesirables.” These undesirable stories, before and after the flood, are exactly the focus of Vanport Mosaic. But what exactly is the Vanport Mosaic? As the name implies, the Mosaic is many things, many pieces, and each piece has different facets. It’s a festival that commemorates a far-reaching tragedy. It’s a year-round nonprofit that celebrates human resiliency. The Vanport Mosaic, as Lo Forti describes it, is “memory activism”—it uses history as a living tool to lay the groundwork for a more tolerant and just future. It seeks to “capture stories” while at the same time, freeing them “to do their work.” It rewrites old narratives using the lived experience of the people who were actually there, with the hope of making Portland the city that it strives to be. In the words of Lo Forti, “This is history from the bottom up. It’s a piece of history that is not being told because it’s an uncomfortable story.” >>>>
503.488.5822 portlandplayhouse.org MAY | JUNE 2018
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A HOP, SKIP & JUMP TO YOUR THEATER SEATS
VANPORT MOSAIC 2018 Continued from page 29 >>>> There is a painful dichotomy, Lo Forti believes, between Portland’s view of itself as a progressive, liberal, nice city, and its frequently white supremacist history. “Our past is ugly. You can’t just pretend it didn’t happen. People are still struggling with the legacy of policies and decisions that were made about where people could live and not live.”
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When Lo Forti, a native of Italy, first moved to Portland about five years ago, she was shocked by the homogeneity of the population. It became imperative for her to find out the various causes of this “unhealthy environment.” When she started researching the racial dynamics of Portland, the story of the Vanport Flood immediately started to emerge and fascinated her. With the help of the Skanner Foundation, Lo Forti, a self-described “story midwife,” started collecting oral histories. She enlisted and trained people in the community to interview on camera a family member, friend, neighbor, or an elder from Vanport. When these rough documentaries were shown at libraries and churches, dozens of people would attend. “What happened,” remembers Lo Forti, “was that every time we did these screenings, someone else came forward and said, ‘I have a story’ or ‘What about the JapaneseAmericans? We were there too.’ ‘What about the veterans?’ It became kind of a collective inquiry of trying to put the pieces together of a story that’s being told in a very limited way.” Collecting these oral histories brought Lo Forti into contact with theater artist and activist S. Renee Mitchell. Mitchell at the same time was also working on a staged reading of a new play, Cottonwood in the Flood, written by local playwright Rich Rubin and directed by Damaris Webb. Laura Lo Forti (bottom, third from left) and Damaris Webb (holding the book) take a group selfie with other Vanport Mosaic creators. Photo by Shawnte Sims.
portlandartmuseum.org Chrysler Thunderbolt, 1941. Photo: Peter Harholdt.
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
The plight of Japanese-Americans returning from the internment camps is one of the stories re-discovered with the Vanport Mosaic. Photo by Shawnte Sims.
“Right from the beginning, the Vanport Mosaic served as a mechanism for connecting the dots.” Webb had recently come home after spending several years working as a theater artist in New York. “About a year after I’d returned,” remembers Webb, a Portland native and a multifaceted theater artist, “Rich Rubin contacted me via email to see if I might consider directing one of his plays for Fertile Ground. So he sent me a few possibilities. One of them was Cottonwood in the Flood, and I was like, ‘What? What happened? There was a city that—what?’ You see, growing up here, I had never even heard of Vanport. That struck me.”
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Lo Forti saw Cottonwood in the Flood, and Mitchell introduced Lo Forti to Webb. Thus, a formidable partnership was created. Webb and Mitchell immediately recognized the need for the kind of work that Lo Forti was championing and aligned their own expertise, both as members of the community and as artists, with a view of social justice that all three women shared. That was three years ago. Today, Lo Forti and Webb are artistic co-directors of Vanport Mosaic, and Mitchell is on the board. Right from the beginning, the Vanport Mosaic served as a mechanism for connecting the dots. Both Webb and Lo Forti are adamant in declaring that they aren’t the first ones to try to tell these stories. Essentially, what the Vanport Mosaic did (and continues to work at today) is to take all these disparate voices— and more besides—and bring them together, put them in conversation with and riffing off one another, and elevate them. >>>>
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VANPORT MOSAIC 2018 Continued from page 31
>>>> Something else happened, too. Other ignored voices found a natural outlet in the Vanport Mosaic. The flood led organically into a history of the Albina district. Confluence (confluenceproject.org), an organization that focuses on collecting and preserving Native voices from the Columbia River basin, is taking part in the festival this year. Kent Ford, who founded the Portland chapter of the Black Panthers, will conduct a walking tour of Northeast Portland where he’ll talk about the history of that civil rights organization in the Rose City. There will be a screening of Priced Out, a documentary about the local history of gentrification. There will be a forum about disaster preparedness and community resilience. There are exhibits and bike tours and bus tours, each curated in such a way for one to lead to the other one. “That’s why it’s a mosaic, right?” says Webb, “It’s so many little gems and pieces.” Indeed, gems and pieces that when viewed as a whole, tell a powerful story. The idea, according to Webb, is that a normal person with normal energy can, if they so desire, experience everything going on at the festival over the course of the four days. Everything, except one thing. There is one closed event, a dinner with music, that is simply a reunion of survivors of Vanport. These are people in their 80s, 90s, and even 100s. Some will be coming from different states to see people they haven’t seen in years and may not ever see again. A woman from Colorado will be bringing a diary her father kept about Vanport. They will share their stories, memories, and lives with each other. This is the essence of the Vanport Mosaic. As Webb says, “The story stays their story all the way through, and it remains in the community.” .
The Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018 will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Vanport Flood with a four-day festival, May 25–28. Visit the Vanport Mosaic website, vanportmosaic.org/festival-2018, for details. 32
ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
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My personal goal and dream is to become a better person each day. I want to live in more compassion, more mercy, more grace, and more love. My heart is full of love, and I hope to share it with everyone who I meet.
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Angel BLUE By Blanche Minoza
Artslandia caught up with soprano powerhouse Angel Blue as she prepares for her role as Marguerite in Portland Opera’s groundbreaking production of Faust.
YOU GRADUATED FROM LOS ANGELES COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS, HAVE HAD MANY SUCCESSFUL ENDEAVORS SINCE, AND I’M SURE HAD MANY BEFORE. HOW EARLY IN YOUR LIFE WAS MUSIC—OR MORE SPECIFICALLY OPERA—CLEARLY YOUR VOCATION? My earliest memory of opera is when I was four years old. I saw the opera Turandot, a concert version. I loved the music and was moved by the performance, the singing, the music, the costumes, everything. From that moment on, I knew. As I explained to my Dad when I was a child, “I want to be the woman in the light.” YOU’VE PERFORMED IN 35 COUNTRIES IN THE LAST SIX YEARS. HOW HAS WORKING ALL ACROSS THE GLOBE INFLUENCED YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said: “Music is the universal language of mankind.” What I’ve learned from traveling is that he is entirely correct. I’ve been to many countries with languages and cultures/customs I don’t know. However, we all understand music that moves us. [It] is one language all humankind can understand and share. We all have that in common. WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE CITY THAT YOU’VE PERFORMED IN SO FAR? London is one of my favorite cities to visit and perform. But I enjoy singing so much that, regardless of where I am, I enjoy the job as much as possible because I’m grateful to be performing. IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB, WHAT WOULD THAT BE? Traveling. Traveling is definitely the most challenging aspect of my job because it is wonderful to do, but it also takes time away from being with family. Thankfully, my family has been traveling with me for the last few months. I’m very happy about that.
Phot
IS THERE ANYTHING NEW OR SIGNIFICANT YOU’VE GOTTEN OUT OF PRACTICING FOR THE ROLE OF MARGUERITE SO FAR?
o by a Ga
Sony rza.
YES! This is my first time singing the role of Marguerite, and I’m learning so much about her character. Before I studied the score, I didn’t know that her music and role were so dramatic. The most important thing I’ve learned from this role is that it is a “big sing!” By that I mean, I will pace myself throughout the opera to sing this part well. >>>> MAY | JUNE 2018
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ANGEL BLUE Continued from page 35
DISCOVER A
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To be totally honest, I’m so excited to come to Portland. I might be more excited about singing in Portland than Faust. And who can blame me—Portland is a beautiful city! However, I’ve fallen in love with this opera and am looking forward to singing and acting this great piece of music.
PHILADANCO Photo by Lois Greenfield
whitebird.org
>>>> WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT FAUST—WHETHER IT BE A SONG, AN OUTFIT, PERFORMING IN PORTLAND?
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CLOSER
CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR CHARACTER IN FAUST, MARGUERITE, AS A FEMALE SOCIETAL FIGURE? Marguerite represents so many women in so many different ways. She is important because her story, albeit from a different time period, resonates strongly in today’s society. She is innocent in the beginning—her only crime is being beautiful and, perhaps, naive. However, she is deceived by Faust, who abandons her after seducing and impregnating her. She is blamed by her own brother, Valentin, for his death, and he curses her to hell. So much happens to her over the course of the opera. However, in the end, she remains steadfast and true to what she believes is right. She is a strong woman, a fighter. HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT TO TAKE ON A ROLE?
MAY 24 – JUNE 3, 2018
BODYVOX DANCE CENTER
I have to understand the character and the music! I’ve been offered certain roles where I can sing the music but cannot relate or understand how to portray the character and vice versa. For me to take a role, I have to be able to meet the requirements of the role on every level: acting, singing, communicating as the character, and portraying the character with as much integrity as possible. I treat each role as though the [character is] a real person whom I’ve met. WHAT DO YOU HOPE AUDIENCES WILL TAKE FROM FAUST?
A rare opportunity to experience the power and artistry of your favorite OBT dancers up close. Featuring original music by Grammy Award Winner, RAC (André Allen Anjos). Peter Franc New Work
Makino Hayashi New Work
Xuan Cheng | Photo by Yi Yin
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ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
Katherine Monogue New Work
Helen Simoneau Departures
This opera is the epitome of evil versus good. In my opinion, good always wins! Always. I hope the audience takes away that we all have choices to make in our lives; sometimes we choose the right thing, and sometimes we choose the wrong thing. However, there is always redemption when we recognize our mistakes and try to do better. There is hope— that is what I take away from this opera.
“ ”
My dream in singing is to be able to do it for as long as I can.
THE FIRST AWARD FROM SYLVIA’S KIDS FOUNDATION, WHICH YOU FOUNDED, WAS GIVEN JULY 2017. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING ONE LUCKY YOUNG ADULT TO BE GRANTED SUCH A GREAT OPPORTUNITY, AND HAVE YOU BEGUN TO CONSIDER THE NEXT RECIPIENT? Yes! Sylvia’s Kids is a foundation that I’m very proud of and so thankful to have. There were three different high schools that participated in the Sylvia’s Kids Award in 2017. This year, we are looking to add schools in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Last year, the award was given to a student in Las Vegas, which is where Sylvia’s Kids originated. The award is chosen by the board of the Sylvia’s Kids Foundation who read the essays and recommendations provided by each student. The award is given to the student with the best essay and highest GPA. Thank you for asking this question. This foundation is very dear to my heart. I would love to start a branch of Sylvia’s Kids in Portland one day. IS THERE ANYTHING NEW YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH DOWN THE LINE, EITHER PROFESSIONALLY OR PERSONALLY? My dream with my foundation is to one day be able to fund an inner-city graduating senior through four years of college. My dream in singing is to be able to do it for as long as I can. My personal goal and dream is to become a better person each day. I want to live in more compassion, more mercy, more grace, and more love. My heart is full of love, and I hope to share it with everyone who I meet. .
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MAY | JUNE 2018
37
WHO ARE
Artslandia sat down with Oregon Symphony cellists MARILYN DE OLIVEIRA and TREVOR FITZPATRICK to chat about this and that.
MARILYN DE OLIVEIRA & TREVOR FITZPATRICK? Interview by Susannah Mars
TF: I really enjoy Paris, especially in the '20s and the '30s, which is the time that [Gil Pender, the main character] wanted to go back to. But the idea that movie brings forth is that we always think that that past generations were somehow better. I like to think that I would love to live back [then]. But if I [did], would I have liked to live 20 and 30 years before that or 20 and 30 years before that? It’s hard to say. MDO: Does it have to be a past generation? Trevor and Marilyn with their daughter, Isla. Photo courtesy of Oregon Symphony.
SUSANNAH MARS: What would you like to wake up to every morning? MARILYN DE OLIVEIRA: Honestly—and I know it sounds cliché—but, I feel like I’m so blessed already. I live in a great city. I play in an amazing orchestra. I have an amazing husband and a beautiful daughter. I have it all already! The thing at the top of my head is, I would like to see different leadership for our country. If I could wake up to a community that is inspired and committed to working together, to loving one another—I would love to wake up to that. TREVOR FITZPATRICK: I was just going to talk about maybe a different cup of coffee or something… I enjoy my morning routines. They’re really nice and comfortable. If you know me well, you know that I don’t like change too much. I just like waking up and cooking breakfast, having our daughter run downstairs, get on the counter, and talk to me for twenty minutes while I make breakfast. SM: If you could pick any generation to grow up in, which would you choose? TF: It’s tricky. One of my favorite movies is Midnight in Paris. MDO: I knew you were going to say that. 38
ARTSL ANDIA AT THE PERFORM ANCE
SM: I didn’t think about that, but I don’t think it does. MDO: I mean I just feel like as a woman— a working woman especially—I don’t think that I would choose to go back any further, only because we’ve come such a long way. And I don’t know if I could make myself fit in. So maybe, in my idealistic, hopeful future, where there are truly equal rights… I think I would want to go to the future, actually. SM: Name someone alive or dead whose biography you would love to write. You would have full access to their life. MDO: That’s a tough one. SM: It is, right? I’m just thinking, who is someone that hung out with some really interesting people and maybe has some secrets. MDO: Ooh, who has some secrets? You know, actually, somebody that comes to mind, somebody that has been inspiring, is Michael Tilson Thomas. When I was in New World Symphony and worked under him, he was such a visionary with everything he did with creating [and developing the New World Symphony]. It’s helped so many of us find our place in the orchestral industry. Also what he’s done with San Francisco Symphony with their season, their movie projects, programming, and his connections. I bet he has a lot of secrets. Also, knowing him somewhat as a person and way off the podium too, he’s a very interesting character, to say the
least. I feel like there would be endless stories there. And so much knowledge. I would love to get behind his creative process to know how he came up with all these things, how he had these visions, and how he pursued them and made [them] work, because he’s really changed the music scene a lot. SM: In what ways? MDO: I think with his work, mostly with creating the New World Symphony, bringing all this talent together, and creating a space where people really push themselves to be the best they can be for the orchestral world. Not to be soloists or anything, but… SM: That’s a whole other animal: to be a member of an organism. MDO: Right…You have to be so great, but you also have to row with the other[s]. We work as a team. I think he’s just shaped all of that. [Also] his videos of the Mahler symphonies, bringing that kind of music into people’s homes. TF: I was going go a different direction. I know a lot of books have been written about these guys, but I’m always inspired by the founding fathers of this country. Guys like Benjamin Franklin. I always like to pick up his biographies and read about his life— where he’s gone, the places he’s seen, and what he’s done. His mind would be just an interesting thing to pick. If I could sit down in a room with someone like that…talk about inspiration! He had to create so much; he created so many things in this country that most people don’t even know. And how did he come up with these ideas? How does his mind work? Those are the things that fascinate me, and I’d love to learn a little bit more about that. . Condensed for print. Please visit artslandia. com/category/podcast for the full Adventures in Artslandia interview.
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