"DIRECTOR'S CHOICE" TO OPEN
2012-2013 OKLAHOMA CITY BALLET
SEASON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

By Nancy Condit

From Margo Sappington's tango ballet "Cobras in the Moonlight." Photo provided.

Oklahoma City Ballet's 41st season will open with "Director's Choice," three ballets "that are favorites of mine and ones that I knew audiences in Oklahoma would enjoy as well," wrote Robert Mills, in an email. The ballets are a commemoration of his fifth season as artistic director, and will be performed at the Civic Center Music Hall Saturday, October 20th at 8 pm, and Sunday, October 21st at 2 pm.

Nicolo Fonte's "Left Unsaid" opens the evening. "It is a beautiful contemporary ballet set to Bach violin concertos, danced in flat shoes. Nicolo has ballets in the repertoires of ballet companies all over the world."

"Anthony Tudor was one of the 20th century's greatest choreographers. We were very pleased to have been granted the rights to perform this work from his trust in New York City. The neo-classical narrative ballet, 'Lilac Garden,'  is set in the Edwardian era and danced on pointe. It depicts numerous guests at a garden party on the eve of one woman's marriage to a man she does not love but is promised to marry. Her real love is present, and we witness the couple's last moments together as they try to find a moment for one final kiss.  It is a touching work that I enjoyed dancing during my career."

The last work is Margo Sappington's "Cobras in the Moonlight," which she choreographed for Hubbard Street Dance Company in Chicago in l986. "We are the third company to have danced it since. I am not surprised because it is fabulous! It is set to four different compositions from Astor Piazzolla, the women are in high heels and the men are in tuxes. It is a hybrid of the tango and ballet. It is fast, exciting, and dare I say...sexy."

Human relations tie all the ballets together. Although Mills admits that the Edwardian idea of a forced marriage to someone they don't love, "the basic human elements of love, unrequited love, deceit and betrayal, all still exist. Although the other two ballets are abstract and have no story, they definitely have an undercurrent of human relationships, or maybe our relationship with ourselves, driving the choreography."

Special events are a panel discussion led by Mills with one of the stagers from the Tudor Trust, and  choreographers Fonte, and Sappington on Saturday night at 7:15 pm in the south lobby of the Civic Center. On Sunday at 1:15 p.m. in the south lobby members of the Oklahoma City Youth Ballet will demonstrate and teach various dance moves that correspond to the choreographic styles used in the three ballets. This is geared toward the younger members of the audience.

 Ticket prices range from $12.50 to $55. Ask about the family four pack of tickets for $50. Tickets may be purchased online at www.okcballet.org, by phone at 405.848.TOES, or at the Civic Center Box Office, 405.297.2264.

MODERN DANCE IN THE
METRO LIBRARIES
A SUCCESS

Photo provided

By Nancy Condit

With the new explosion of  dance in Oklahoma City, Perpetual Motion modern Dance Company has on stages, at arts festivals, in restaurants, and now, last night, Thursday, in the carpeted all purpose room at the Belle Isle Metro Library. This is part of the library series "Perpetual Motion: For the Love of the Dance."

Their dances ranged from "Hannah's Journey," in which they were dressed in long side-split light gold tunics with light deep silk pants underneath, as they emulated waving grain on their way.

Leah Watson's "Through the Fire," choreographed and danced by her, she "leaned on God for support in a difficult time. As I dance this piece over and over again, I (come to a deeper understanding) of it of what it means."

In "The Spaces In Between," or "Satori," the six women troupe used waist high white balls as they rolled in sequence on the  "We like to do dances that challenge us in our athleticism, as well as perform classic modern dance," said artistic director Michelle Dexter.

The last piece, "Vagabond," was a Norwegian one originally set by a Texas choreographer. The beat struck this writer as Hawaiian or Polynesian, and was, as promised, fun. Costumes were lacey tops with full pretty slip skirts.

Perpetual Motion offers modern and aerial dance classes at City Arts to the public.  Check their website at
www.perpetualmotiondance.org. They are on the performing artists roster of the Oklahoma Arts Council.
The National Endowment for the Arts and Metropolitan Library System also makes the series possible.

"We started a series 'Around the World' ten years ago, and then realised we had many artists right here at home," said Dana Morrow, outreach director of the library system.

Further performances are Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm at the Northwest Library, Saturday, October 20 at 2 pm at Southern Oaks Library, and Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 pm at Del City Library.

PERPETUAL MOTION
APPEARING -- FREE --
IN THE METRO LIBRARIES

One of the best modern dance companies in Oklahoma is appearing in the Metropolitan Libraries through October. Admission is free.

"This is the first time we have ever attempted to present modern dance in our libraries. We have a world class modern dance troupe right here in Oklahoma City. They are Perpetual Motion. Don't miss it!" writes

Dana Morrow, director of outreach at the Metropolitan Library System, in an email.

BRIGHTMUSIC'S 10TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

The Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble proudly announces its 2012-13 Tenth Anniversary Season of bringing classical and modern chamber music to the music-lovers of central Oklahoma, from the best musicians in our State.

Artistic Directors Chad Burrow and Amy I-Lin Cheng have crafted a wonderful  program of five Regular Season concerts, starting in September and concluding in April, followed by our second annual Spring Festival in May – “Schubert & Friends.”

Brightmusic will give two performances of each Regular Season concert.  Our Monday night northwest OKC concerts will be hosted by All Souls’ Episcopal Church at 63^rd and Pennsylvania.  Our Tuesday night downtown OKC concerts will be performed in the St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral at 7^th and Robinson.  A third performance of Concert 2 will be given on Sunday afternoon, November 4 in Norman at the First Christian Church.  Dates, performance venues and programs for the Schubert & Friends Festival will be announced later in the Season.

Adult admission to each of the nine concerts will be $10.00 (cash or checks only, please).  Student admission is free of charge (please bring your student ID).  As always, complimentary receptions with the musicians will follow each concert performance.

You can reserve a Season 10 Membership for $75.00 each.  We will send you a handsome, laminated Season Membership card, which will admit you to all five Regular Season concerts and all four Festival concerts.  This will save you $15.00 over the per-concert admission fees for the nine concerts.  More information about Season Memberships may be found below and on our website, www.brightmusic.org.

Concert 1 – September 17-18 –
The opening night concert is entitled “Bright Winds,” featuring nine of Brightmusic’s woodwind and brass instrumentalists.  Works on the program are Jean Françaix’s Quartet for Winds; Maurice Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” arranged for wind quintet; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Wind Octet in E-flat Major, op. 103; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade No. 12 for Winds in C Minor, K.388.  Hearing two octets in a single live concert will be a rare pleasure!

Concert 2 – November 4-5-6 –
“Bright Strings,” the string-lovers’ companion to Concert 1, will feature Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat Major, op. 1, no. 1; French composer Reynaldo Hahn’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor; and Johannes Brahms’ Piano Trio in C Minor, op. 101.  We are grateful to Brightmusic benefactors Dick and Jeannette Sias for recommending Hahn’s little-known but absolutely gorgeous  piano quintet.  Dick and Jeannette heard it two summers ago at the La Jolla Summer Music Festival.  We tracked down a 1998 recording of the work by Alexandre Tharaud and the Parisii Quartet, and we loved it too!  Brightmusic looks forward to performing this beautiful work from La Belle Époque.

Concert 3 – January 21-22 –
The New Year will bring “Bright Mozart” and the return of guest artist Craig Goodman of Strasbourg, France.  This concert will showcase the world premiere of Craig’s new chamber music work for violin, cello, clarinet and piano, commissioned by Brightmusic, entitled “Off the Beaten Path.”  In addition, Craig will join the Brightmusic musicians to perform Mozart’s “Magic Flute Fantasy;” Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 3 in C Major, K.285b; and Mozart’s Flute Quartet No. 1 in D Major, K.285.  Brightmusic pianist Amy Cheng will join Craig in performing César Franck’s Sonata in A Major for Flute and Piano.

Concert 4 – March 18-19 –
As winter turns to spring, Brightmusic will feature guest violist Miles Hoffman in “Bright Tales.”  The title work of the concert will be Robert Schumann’s “Märchenerzählungen” (“Fairy Tales”), op. 132.  Miles and the Brightmusic musicians will also perform Mozart’s “Kegelstatt” Trio in E-flat Major, K.498; Max Bruch’s Romance for Viola and Piano, op. 85; and Guillaume Lekue’s Piano Quartet in B Minor for violin, viola, cello and piano.  Lekue was a 19^th Century Belgian composer, who died of typhoid fever at age 24.  This quartet was completed by Vincent d’Indy, one of Lekeu’s teachers in Paris. 

Concert 5 – April 22-23 –
“Bright Virtuosi” will close our Regular Season concert series.  It will feature the Duo for Violin and Cello, op. 7 by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály; Carl Maria von Weber’s Quintet in B-flat Major,op. 34; and one of Pytor Tchaikovsky’s most beautiful works, his String Sextet in D Minor, “Souvenir de Florence,” op. 70.

The Regular Season finale will be followed by a four-concert encore – Brightmusic’s second Spring Festival entitled “Schubert & Friends.”  Its highlight will be the world premiere of a new chamber music work by contemporary American composer Christopher Theofanidis, a work jointly commissioned by Brightmusic and Chamber Music Northwest of Portland, Oregon. Chamber Music.

You can reserve Season Memberships two ways.  You can mail a check at $75.00 per membership to Brightmusic, P.O. Box 20254, Oklahoma City, OK 73156.  Or you can reserve and pay by credit card, PayPal or eCheck on our website.

From the press release 

JOIN THE FAIRY BALL ON THE PASEO

One of the young ladies attending the Fairy Ball
last year. Photo by Nancy Condit

 The Fairy Ball on Paseo is once again beckoning fanciful characters to the Paseo Arts District. A favorite evening for children of all ages, the Fairy Ball inspires imagination and wonder. Past Fairy Balls have been held in midsummer, but the heat waves of the last two years have spun this event to Saturday, September 15, as summer turns toward fall. Children, parents, friends, and the young at heart are invited to Paseo’s “Fairy Green” to celebrate the art of make-believe.

Children are encouraged to dress up as someone from the realm of Fairies. The evening begins with the young ones shaping flowers into crowns and wings to finish their costumes, so that at twilight they can follow magical characters into a twinkling garden and dance to their heart’s content.

Everyone gathers outdoors from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. on the “Fairy Green” at Dewey and NW 28th, just west of Paseo Grill. “Flower Magic” is from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. The invitation to dance is at 7:30 p.m. as twilight gives way to rainbow lights hovering in the trees. Into this light, StarDanceSwan dancers beckon all characters to move in their own naturally expressive ways to the music of Steve McLinn (OJAS Music) until 8:30 p.m. McLinn’s live concert of electrical acoustical fusion music includes songs he has composed for StarDanceSwan from past performances and new pieces created just for this event.

“The flowers, shimmering lights, music and dance all stir a sense of beauty and delight, but children really bring this occasion to life. Their active, endearing imaginations light up the Ball,” says organizer Lorrie Keller of Theatre Upon a StarDanceSwan, a nonprofit arts organization that has designed this event for eleven years in partnership with the Paseo Arts Association. “This year, StarDanceSwan wishes to create a Ball that engages all participants in a sense of joy and innocence.”

Parents are fascinated by the possibilities this occasion offers. Creating a costume at home for the Ball is an opportunity for parents and children to work together on a fun project. Parents are encouraged to let their children’s imaginations be the guide. For past Fairy Balls, children have dressed up as bugs, blossoms, elves, fairies, and other magical characters that materialize from their own imaginations. “Building a costume with your child is a special time well-spent. When beginning to make a costume, there are a few questions that a parent can ask their child that will enrich the creative process,” says Keller. “Think of questions that lead to finding a magical name for your child’s character. Parents and children can take this idea further and develop a story about this character.”

“Some questions that initiate exploration and take you and your child in to the realms of ‘once upon a time’ are: Imagine you are walking down a path to a place you love. Tell me about this place. Let’s look around: what do you see? Listen: what do you hear? Would you like to live in a garden, in the sea, in the air or somewhere else? What is your favorite color? Do you like to sing or fly? What is your favorite way to dance? How would you help another person? Find something you can share. What kind of character are you? What are you like? What is your name? Let’s make up a story about your character and go to the Fairy Ball!”

The Paseo Arts District is looking forward to seeing enchanted children materialize once again at this year’s Ball. Come to the Fairy Ball, participate in wonder, and be surprised! The Fairy Ball is free to the public. Donations are accepted to help offset the expenses of the event. Children must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, please call the Paseo Arts Association at 525-2688, or visit www.thepaseo.com.

From the press release

GOOD PERFORMANCE MARKS CLOSE OF

OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY DANCE

FESTIVAL

By Nancy Condit

The sixth annual Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival, hosted by Perpetual Motion modern Dance company, came to a very successful close and showed four Oklahoma contemporary dance companies – performing modern, aerial and jazz dance July 27^th at City Arts. After a month of classes for dancers chosen by audition, this performance brought together four Oklahoma contemporary dance companies: Living Water Dance from Tulsa, Perpetual Motion Dance from Oklahoma City, Portico Dans Theatre from Tulsa, and R.A.C.E. Dance from Oklahoma City.

Living Water Dance Company’s choreographer Rachel Bruce Johnson’s “Vice Grip,” music by Maya Beiser. was notable for the dancers’ wonderful strength and Johnson’s use of modern dance in their search and struggle.

Living Water choreographer and solo dancer Amy Roark-McIntosh performed “Until It’s Over” – an excerpt from “Let Justice Roll Down,” with music by Olafur Arnaids, well with nice control of moves covering the stage – rounding, punching, flat foot kicking, and undulating as she fought throughout the dance.

 This is a company to look forward to seeing again.

Portico Dans Theatre from Tulsa presented two pieces from their work “BorN” premiered July 13^th, 2012, in Tulsa. 

Choreographers Michael J. Lopez and Jennifer Alden and company dancers, with music from “Requiem for a Dream” by Clint Mansell and The Mars Volta opened strikingly with the Goth black costumed dancers’ bowed hooded heads.

As a continuation, Portico’s “Minions,” with another excerpt from “BorN,” showed the dancers’ strength.  A man assaulted by his tragic past crouched on the stage as three jagged, angular groups of dancers buzzed angrily around him.  The costumes -- the same as in the previous piece – had Goth lace hoods that some pulled over their faces.  This dance was particularly well choreographed to the dancers’ small, slender bodies that extended well into clawlike fingers.

R.A.C.E. Dance’s slightly rechoreographed “With Thanks” was well done by Allison High.  Jennifer Martinez Stevenson’s jazz dance, music by Thirty Seconds to Mars, showed more of a learning – but with an edge -- from the four men positioned around her.

Standouts of the evening were Perpetual Motion Dance’s aerial pieces, choreographed by Kim Kieffer-Williams, “Choosing a Path,” music by Quixotic, and “Zazen,” music by Bonobo. In “Path” Williams stood at stage right with a long drape of white silk against a red backdrop, and then climbed, danced, and dropped in the silk.  “Zazen” was done on a square carousel that held four dancers as the apparatus circled the stage. They held hands while hanging by their knees from the square, and danced from loops of white silks, even holding onto the apparatus and performing splits, connecting themselves to each others loops. The dances were particularly effective combined with work on the stage floor.

“Hannah’s Journey,” choreographed by Jill Priest from U.C.O., music by Allison Krauss and performed by Perpetual Motion, was memorable for the choice of the lullaby for music, and the use of thick poles by two of the dancers to carry the third. This increased her dance possibilities, and allowing her to perform moves like walkover somersaults down the back of another dancer.

A note, Fabrice Conte, head of the fine arts department at St. Gregory’s College in Shawnee, told this writer that aerial dance classes taught by Perpetual Motion are being taught this fall at the college.

PERPETUAL MOTION TO HOST

OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY

DANCE FESTIVAL



Photo by gthomas.com photo, furnished
by Perpetual Motion



Perpetual Motion modern Dance Company will host the 6^th annual Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival this July 26^th, 27^th and 28^th. Thirty-eight local dancers selected by audition will perform modern, hip-hop and jazz dances in the festival that seeks to give young dancers a chance to connect with professionals, and to perform with them.

The auditioned dancers will perform choreography by Oklahoma-based Jen Alden and Michael Lopez of Portico Danz Theatre, Heather Burns from Norman, Erin Craven of Ardmore Contemporary Dance, Michelle Dexter of Perpetual Motion Dance, Rachel Johnson of Bell House Arts, Amy Nevius of Perpetual Motion Dance/PM2, and Hui Cha Poos of R.A.C.E. Dance.  These works will be performed in the concerts on July 26^th and 27^th at 8:00 p.m.

The performance on July 28^th will also feature dances, including two aerial ones by Perpetual Motion, by Oklahoma companies Ardmore Contemporary Dance, Living Water Dance from Tulsa, Perpetual Motion Dance from Oklahoma City, Portico Danz Theatre from Tulsa, and R.A.C.E. Dance from Oklahoma City.

Performances will be at 8:00 p.m. at City Arts Center at

3000 General Pershing Blvd, Oklahoma City

.  Tickets are available at http://www.perpetualmotiondance.org/ or at the City Arts box office one hour prior to show time.  Prices are $18 for adults ($15 in advance) and $10 for students and children.

“The Festival provides opportunities for these student dancers to gain experience in a professional environment and allows the professional dancers and choreographers to become mentors while discovering new talent.  The Festival hopes to inspire the young dancers to embrace these abilities, create their own works and eventually become a part of Oklahoma City’s professional dance community,” Michelle Dexter, Perpetual Motion, said in a press release.

Perpetual Motion/Modern Dance Oklahoma has been awarded a matching grant from the Oklahoma Arts Council to assist in funding the local group’s collaborative dance event.  The Kirkpatrick Family Fund has also provided partial underwriting for the Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival, making them a major sponsor of the Festival.  Through state appropriations and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oklahoma Arts Council funds over 1,200 events annually, with an estimated total attendance of over 3.5 million.

Compiled from the press release by Nancy Condit

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