Shows } Performances - 2010
LIVE DANCE LIVE
Northwest Dance Project Studio
Friday / Sept. 17 / 2010 / 7 PM
+ Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street (at Mississippi Ave)
Join us for the Northwest Dance Project's annual fundraising party, LIVE DANCE LIVE.
Enjoy great food, fantastic drinks, new "flash dances" by our amazing company - and then dance with them as Portland's best Russian party band, Chervona plays live! Plus, pop a balloon to get a surprise gift inside, take a spin at the Wheel of Wine, and when you need something sweet, just walk to the back door and order something special from the famous Voodoo Doughnuts van!
$45 Advance (no service fees)
Your ticket supports our company members bringing dance to local youth in-need.
Come meet these amazing dancers!
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NEW NOW WOW!
Thursday / Sept. 30 / 2010 / 8 PM
Friday / Oct. 1 / 2010 / 8 PM
Saturday / Oct. 2 / 2010 / 8 PM
Lincoln Performance Hall
1620 SW Park Ave
Portland OR 97201
FOR "EARLY BIRD" DISCOUNT
Northwest Dance Project will premiere four original dance works from four choreographers who are beginning to make their names in the dance world -- these are the artists the field will be buzzing about very soon.
"I took some time to really research young, rising choreographers -- edgy and talented emerging dance makers from around the world," says Sarah Slipper, the founding Artistic Director of the Northwest Dance Project, "and I picked the best of the best for this special program. These are four names the dance world will be abuzz about in the coming seasons and they all have a sense of daring innovation and a contemporary ballet aesthetic that is perfectly suited to our company of fearless, classically trained dancers. I can't wait to see this show!"
These four amazing choreographers are definitely on the rise (NEW), creating exciting and innovative contemporary ballet works (NOW) and unbelievably talented (WOW!).
"We are so excited to be back in Lincoln Hall -- to be the first dance company and show in the newly reappointed theater," Slipper says. "It's where we started and we're thrilled to return."
The four choreographers selected to create new works for NWDP -- Loni Landon from New York, André Mesquita from Portugal, London-born Ihsan Rustem and Olivier Wevers from Belgium and current principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet -- will do so in the company's beautiful, historic studio in Portland, Oregon, and each will have complete artistic freedom and the resources to bring their most daring ideas to life.
"Though we already have quite a reputation for fostering the creation of inspired new works," (85 in seven years) Slipper notes, "I just know that these new pieces are going to blow the roof off!"
More info on our choreographers HERE.
Show press release HERE
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Completed 2010 Northwest Dance Project performances:
PRETTY CREATIVES SHOWING
Come into the studio to see what the two winners of our second annual Pretty Creatives international choreographic competition, Loni Landon and James Gregg, created in just 18 hours working with the 27 professional dancers in our fourth LAUNCH intensive.
July 17 / 2010
7:30 PM (door opens at 7 PM)
Northwest Dance Project Studio + Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street (at Mississippi Ave.) Portland OR 97227
$10 suggested donation at the door.
Information on these two amazing dance makers HERE.
Willamette Week's preview of Pretty Creatives showing:
Who will make the dances of tomorrow? Northwest Dance Project offers a suggestion with an in-studio showing of work by Loni Landon and James Gregg, winners of the project's second annual Pretty Creatives international choreographic competition. The pair has impressive credentials: Landon, a Juilliard grad, has worked with Aszure Barton on the opening of the Baryshnikov Arts Center before joining Ballet Theater Munich. She has been a finalist in the International Choreography Competition in Hannover, Germany, and her work has been shown at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. Gregg, a member of Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, has danced work by Crystal Pite, Daniel Ezralow and Mia Michaels, among others, and has tested his dancemaking mettle by creating work for such companies as Chicago's River North. Both artists spent just 18 hours setting work on the 27 professional dancers in NWDP's Launch intensive. HEATHER WISNER.
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SUMMER SPLENDORS
Celebrate the first anniversary of our beautiful dance studio and performance center in the heart of the hip Mississippi district with these special, intimate shows featuring world premieres from leading Northwest choreographers James Canfield (founding Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre and current Artistic Director of Nevada Ballet Theatre), award-winning choreographer and Artistic Director of Northwest Dance Project, Sarah Slipper, Carla Mann (Chair of the Reed College dance department) and Lauren Edson who currently dances for the Trey McIntyre Project.
Seating is limited to ensure an intimate, special performance experience for all.
KBOO's Dmae Roberts did a great interview with Sarah Slipper and James Canfield about their pieces for our Summer Splendors program. Listen HERE.
Read the Oregonian's great review of our Summer Splendors show HERE.
Friday / June 18 / 7:30 PM - SOLD OUT
Saturday / June 19 / 7:30 PM - SOLD OUT
Thursday / June 24 / 7:30 PM - SOLD OUT
Friday / June 25 / 7 PM + 9 PM - SOLD OUT
Saturday / June 26 / 7 PM - SOLD OUT
Northwest Dance Project Studio + Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street (at Mississippi Ave.) Portland OR 97227
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Friday / March 12 + Saturday / March 13 / 8PM
SPRING PERFORMANCES
Newmark Theatre / Portland Center for the Performing Arts
1111 SW Broadway (at Main Street), Portland, OR
This program includes:
- World premiere by Nederlands Dans Theater's Maurice Causey, winner of the Northwest Dance Project's first annual Pretty Creatives international choreographic competition in 2009. Reviewing his ballet, "Mood Swings," Dance Europe effused "the pièce de résistance came from the hand of Maurice Causey. Seldom have I seen a mixture of fun and serious art go together so well. Causey's many years at Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt is evident not only in the extreme and off-balance balletic movement, but also in the kinetic energy and fierceness that are awesome. The work was a total attack on the senses with an edginess and immediacy that kept you riveted throughout."
- Portland premiere of "Flying E," the latest creation from the Northwest Dance Project's own Artistic Director, Sarah Slipper, inspired by the company's residency in the Arizona desert. Dance International noted that "Sarah Slipper is changing the way dance is created," and she has been described as "truly gifted."
- "Ensemble for Somnambulists," (below right) created especially for the Northwest Dance Project in 2006, marks the return of international choreographer Luca Veggetti, whose choreographic works are in the repertoire of leading companies such as New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. The New York Times noted, "The strength is in the way this Italian choreographer pares down every movement - and the connections among them - creating an intriguing tension between stillness and sudden flurries of dipping, gliding motion."
- Sarah Slipper's "A Fine Balance," (below left) finalist for the prestigious Benois de la Danse choreographic award and performed at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The dramatic and cinematic duet reveals the complexities of a couple's relationship, whether the cycle of tension and tenderness unfolds over a day, a year or a lifetime. The News Record said "This is what dance should be ... she found the point at which the form of dance (steps, technique, feet, performance) combine to create a work of art."
More information on our choreographers.
More information on our Project Company .
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Completed 2009 Northwest Dance Project performances:
VERY Limited Seating Available
Friday / December 18 / 7 PM + 9 PM -- SOLD OUT!
Great preview in The Portland Mercury of our Waltzing + Wassailing shows HERE
WALTZING + WASSAILING
Saturday / December 19 / 7 PM + 9 PM
Northwest Dance Project Studio + Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street (at Mississippi Ave), Portland, OR
Here we come a-wassailing! Join the Northwest Dance Project and the Vagabond Opera for a wonderful holiday evening of dance, song and music!
The Northwest Dance Project continues to expand our partnerships with local artists and groups and is collaborating on this exciting evening of music, song and dance with the six-piece Portland-based Vagabond Opera. The Vagabond Opera delivers passionate offerings of Bohemian cabaret for young and old. Paris hot jazz, gut bucket swing, tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, klezmer and vigorous originals meet a world of riverboat gambling queens, Turkish belly dancers, and the enigmatic Marlene Dietrich.
Waltzing + Wassailing will premiere new works from Portland-based choreographers Sarah Slipper, Mary Oslund, Jamey Hampton, Gregg Bielemeier, Andrea Parson, Patrick Kilbane and Linsdey Matheis created on our extraordinarily talented Project Company as the Vagabond Opera plays live and premieres two new arias from their upcoming opera, "Queen of Knives."
The results will be an amazing evening comprised of fresh new works to celebrate the holiday season and the New Year. A fun, family friendly evening of music and dance with warm wassail for all! In-studio seating is very limited to ensure an intimate experience.
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FALL PREMIERES
Friday / October 16 + Saturday / October 17 / 8PM
Newmark Theatre / Portland Center for the Performing Arts
1111 SW Broadway (at Main Street), Portland, OR
- World premiere from Andrea Miller, Artistic Director of Gallim Dance and a rising star in the choreographic world whose work displays wit, energy and power. Dance Magazine said she has "burst onto NYC's downtown dance scene," naming her one of "25 to Watch" in January 2009 and whom The New York Times noted as "a choreographer finding her own voice." Andrea's work is energetic, unpredictable and uniquely exciting. Her new piece features music from Portland artists The Blow, Benoît Pioulard and The World Court.
- World premiere from French-born Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Artistic Director of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet based in New York, and former dancer with Alvin Ailey creating his first work for the Northwest Dance Project. White Bird will present the company in May 2010. Benoit-Swan's movement is bold, fluid, natural and seems to move beyond time and space.
- World premiere from the Northwest Dance Project's own Artistic Director, Sarah Slipper. Dance International's Spring 2009 issue noted that Sarah Slipper "is changing the way dance is created" and she has been described as "truly gifted." Employing live multi-media images and spoken text, this work is sure to surprise.
- World premiere from Mexican-born Edgar Zendejas, Artistic Director of ezdanza based in Montreal, whose works are described as lush, expressive, beautiful poems in movement. This piece will feature a live performance of Bizet's "Récit et Romance" from The Pearl Fishers with piano playing by Bill Crane the operatic tenor Eric Stern of Portland's own Vagabond Opera.
For more information on our 2009 choreographers, click here.
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DANCE / FRANCE
Calling All French Speakers:
Join us for our special Dance / France event on Friday, October 9th!
Come into our beautiful studio to enjoy French wine and cheeses while watching Paris-born choreographer and Artistic Director of the amazing Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, work with our Project Company on his latest creation. Following the rehearsal, host Sharon Kitzhaber will lead a discussion with Benoit-Swan about his art in his life, in French. Attendees will be encouraged to join the conversation - in French.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Northwest Dance Project Studio + Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street (at Mississippi Ave.)
6 - 7:30 PM
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SUMMER PREMIERES
Newmark Theatre / Portland Center for the Performing Arts
1111 SW Broadway (at Main Street), Portland, OR
"...world premieres from a truly jaw-dropping quartet of choreographers." - Willamette Week June, 2009
This program includes:
- World premiere from Portland's own founding Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre and new Artistic Director of Nevada Ballet Theatre, James Canfield.
- World premiere from Lucas Crandall, Associate Artistic Director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, whose work has been described by The Chicago Sun-Times as "enchanted and enchanting ... delicacy, clarity and mystery throughout."
- World premiere by Nederlands Dans Theater's Maurice Causey, winner of the Northwest Dance Project's new Pretty Creatives international choreographic competition.
- World premiere from Wen Wei Wang, Artistic Director of Wen Wei Dance and a significant new choreographic voice on the international dance scene that Le Devoir has described as "a mix of haunting grace, subtle eroticism and thoughtful movement that reveals a well-defined and original voice."
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LIVE DANCE LIVE
Benefit Studio Warming
Northwest Dance Project Studio &
Performance Center
833 N Shaver Street
(at Mississippi Ave.) Portland / OR
Join the Northwest Dance Project to celebrate the opening of our beautiful new dance studio and performance center in the heart of the vibrant Mississippi District.
- Our amazing Project Company will perform up-close "short takes" from local choreographers James Canfield, Sarah Slipper, Carla Mann, Lauren Edson, Andrea Parson and Patrick Kilbane.
- Enjoy music from members of the Portland Cello Project.
- Artist Mona Cordell will paint as our dancers perform and photographer Paul Thacker will unveil his stunning portraits of our company members.
- Lucy Brennan of Mint Restaurant and 820 ("one of the nation's top mixologists") will be serving a special "Project Cocktail" designedjust for this event, enjoy hors d'oeuvres and Dobbes Family Estates will be pouring their amazing Pinot Noir and more.
- Plus, pop balloons to win great prizes!
Thanks for your support - this was a wonderful event!
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PRETTY CREATIVES SHOWING
Saturday / July 18 / 7PM
Northwest Dance Project Studio
833 N. Shaver St. / Portland (just off Mississippi Ave.)
$10 suggested donation at the door
Featuring the two talented winners of our new Pretty Creatives choreographic competition, NDT's Maurice Causey and Lauren Edson, showcasing works created on our LAUNCH: 2 dancers during the previous week. Reception followed this special in-studio presentation.
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SUMMER ARTS ON MAIN STREET
July 22 / August 5 / August 19
11 AM - 1 PM
Main Street at Broadway / Downtown Portland
FREE
Celebrate summer with these special free performances by our company of "short takes" from a selection of Portland choreographers. Bring the kids down early to explore dance with our company on the stage and take in all the fun at the Farmer's Market. Performances provided in partnership with Portland Center for the Performing Arts and their Summer Arts on Main Street series.