A retrospective Q&A feature on Oregon Ballet Theatre's silver anniversary

1. Painting the
Town Silver:
A Retrospective
SETTING THE STAGE
Ballet and Portland go way back. In 1932, during the Great Depression, Bill Christensen arrived in Port-
land. Small schools of dance had been established a decade earlier, but ballet had not yet emerged as a
prominent art form. According to Carol Shults and Martha Ullman West’s article on the development of ballet
in Portland, “Dancin’ in the Rain,” within just two years of his arrival, Christensen had formed Repertory Ballet
School and brought ballet into greater focus in the public eye at the Rose Festival. However, it was not until
1954 that former dancers Jacqueline Martin Schumacher (of Repertory Ballet School) and Nicholas Vasilieff
founded Portland Ballet Society.
Fast forward to 1989, a new chapter on the Portland art scene. Two companies, Ballet Oregon and Pacific
Ballet Theatre (from Portland Ballet Society), vied for the same audience. Seeing the advantages of combining
forces, they merged and Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) was born, with James Canfield at the helm as Artistic
Director.
Carol Shults [Former Dance Historian and Instructor] Linda Besant [Dance Historian and Archivist], Niel
DePonte [Music Director and Conductor] and Kasandra Gruener [Director of Education Outreach] have dedi-
cated their talents and energy to OBT for years and have witnessed its evolution over time. Recently, I chatted
with them about OBT’s first 25 years, and presented here are excerpts from our conversations.
By Samantha Edington
OBT shines in the Portland community as it leaps into its 25th year.
ON BALLET IN PORTLAND
CAROL SHULTS: It’s a part of the cultural heritage of our community.
We go back all the way into the ’30s with the Christensen brothers coming
here. Mothers brought their sewing machines in and made the costumes
right there. Everybody contributed—in every way they could—which was
usually not money; it was [with] time and skills. So, I think there is still that
very personal sense, that “it’s my ballet company.”
LINDA BESANT: Every city that matures to a certain level of culture
deserves a classical dance company because it just taps into some of the
finest expression for western civilization. We need a district where young
visual artists can express themselves. In the dance world, OBT is one com-
ponent of creating a full dance culture. It’s very symbiotic, I think. One
way in which the company has served Portland understanding ballet is by
having this really high-standard school here. I know both James [Canfield]
and Christopher [Stowell] wanted very much for the public to understand
that these are athlete artists capable of feats of athleticism beyond anybody’s
imagination, but also capable of artistry.That wedding of music and athleti-
cism and artistry, for me, just goes in deeper than any other art form.
NIEL DePONTE: Nobody is spoiled by having too much money for the
arts in Portland. There is never going to be a lackadaisical attitude that you
don’t have to try or work hard to make money. I think people are in it for
the art. That should be a source of civic pride, and people should recognize
that they should be proud about what we are able to do here in Portland. It’s
quiteremarkableinmyview,anditalwayshasbeenthe25yearsI’vebeenhere.

2. 2014-2015 SEASON / 11
KASANDRA GRUENER: I think Portland has
a vibrancy that can support dance. It has kind of
a fresh look at things, and a company like Oregon
BalletTheatre has the opportunity to capitalize on
that, to work with that—fresh, trying new things,
to be strong, to be bold, to be adventurous.
ON OUTREACH
CS: In the lectures before each performance
[Performance Perspectives] we would always
have guests, they still do, with a choreogra-
pher, a designer; somebody comes and talks
about the problems of it and some of the
details. It is just a quantum leap that people
make when they get into [the performance].
And [they] love it so much—having a notion
of the artist’s intention. Dance art, music art,
whatever it is, to have a notion of where they’re
coming from. It’s so helpful. And we’re all al-
lowed as the audience to interpret however we
like, but we can do that better when we have
some information. I don’t think it constrains
you; I think it frees you.
LB: We’ve always worked on breaking the
wall and opening people’s experiences so that
they would be here for the beauty and wonder
of this. James Canfield had the idea of OBT
Exposed in 1995, where we work in the park
during the summer, and that’s a huge deal. He
also had the idea to build this studio with a
glass wall so that people could sit out here and
watch.
OBT performed in Pioneer Square during
a program called ArtQuake [1994], which was
an end-of-summer arts festival that went up
and down the town. There were about 13,000
people crammed in there, and they did a ballet
called Neon Glass. People really saw [contem-

3. 12 / OREGON BALLET THEATRE
RETROSPECTIVE
porary] ballet; that opened it up. And then
when Christopher Stowell’s Swan Lake pre-
miered in 1996, huge audiences came, and
that opened people’s eyes to the beauty of
classical ballet.
ND: I think once you have the experience,
you can find very easily that you love it—
whether you love the movement on stage,
the beauty of the movement, the beauty of
the dancers, the beauty of the music or the
beauty of all those things working together.
There’s a special affinity, I think, for the
big story ballets: the ballets like Giselle, the
Tchaikovsky ballets—Nutcracker, Sleeping
Beauty or Swan Lake.
KG: Last year we worked with about 7,000
children. They had an opportunity to try it
out [dance], to observe dance, to question
it, wonder about it. That idea of getting
people thinking about dance creates an op-
portunity for changing the viewpoint about
it. I think we open the eyes of one individual
at a time, and Oregon Ballet Theatre across
these many years [has used] distinctive cho-
reographic approaches, distinctive work that
has been shown for the public.
ON OBT AESTHETIC AND
CHARACTER
CS: There were wonderful things in the early
years: wonderful performances, great artists
pouring their hearts out on stage and reaching
the audience. In 25 years, we have had many
generations of dancers. Canfield’s Nutcracker
is something that was my probably my favor-
ite project I was ever involved in. It took you
to a dream world. It did that; it did a beauti-
ful job of that. Then when Christopher came
in, Giselle stands out; and the Balanchine that
he brought stands out to me. We did Emeralds
during his tenure and that takes me to Heaven.
It even then had an organic feel because we had
some [Balanchine] from the very beginning.
LB: James took classically trained dancers, and
they [both artistic directors] also all had a be-
lief that it was important to keep the classics
alive—The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan
Lake—a solid foundation, and that it was im-
portant to keep alive the important works of
the 1900s. But they also really [saw] the im-
portance of using classical dancers to create
contemporary art. Niel would say that, in the
part of programming that had to do with con-
temporary art, James’ particular calling was to
either create himself or to bring in choreogra-
phers that express the angst of our time using
classical dancers. Christopher had a real gift in
telling the classical stories in a way that is fresh
and engaging for the entire three hours for con-
temporary audiences.
ND: I know that James Canfield wanted to
be a bit more cutting edge and wanted to do
rock and roll music with dance, and more con-
temporary popular music and dance. I think
Christopher Stowell was more of a classicist. He
really enjoyed interesting 20th-century music,
but not music that was too edgy. I think the
musical offerings of the ballet are many and var-
ied. Everyone on board is striving to create the
highest art that we possibly can, given whatever
financial restraints there may be.
KG: As a company, we have always respond[ed]
to changes in the economy while maintain-
ing the aesthetic that’s driving at that point in
time. And that has changed over time. In the
beginning years it was more of a wilder scene
versus in the middle years, when it was more
neoclassical ballet. It is a company that is con-
stantly chang[ing]…. The dancers are always
striving to be at the highest level of skills and
highest level of production values.... I defi-
nitely feel those have been the positive forces
that that have been holding the company all
these years.