DanceWatch: March hare edition
March 2, 2021
Though we long for the Olden Times, when dancers occupied the same rooms we did, we’re still counting our blessings: 1) Spring awaits; 2) Dance online.
Though we long for the Olden Times, when dancers occupied the same rooms we did, we’re still counting our blessings: 1) Spring awaits; 2) Dance online.
We are still dancing, but mostly we are watching dance on screens. And we are getting better at it, too.
A look back at a year of closures, crises, streamings and reimaginings, and ahead to a more cheerful 2021.
December dance bustles with a stocking full of Nutcrackers, Christmas Carols, and the odd Happy Hour.
Dance is cooking: solo concerts from NW Dance Project, Franco Nieto’s new studio, comic dance film from BodyVox.
The veteran artists are exemplars of independent dance artists making successful careers in Portland.
The Portland actor-writer moves briskly into his tale of Black Americans and the violence they face.
Dance starts to heat up after a slow pandemic summer. Jamuna Chiarini collects the fall colors for you.
DanceWatch discovers that dancers are dancing. Still. They’re not likely to stop. We have the calendar to prove it!
August is a busy dance month, with festivals galore. It just happens to be online – which has its advantages.
Local dance companies and choreographers are adapting to the new normal with determination and creativity, though everyone’s anxious about the future.
The rest of its season canceled by the health crisis, the venerable dance presenter faces acute money woes.
Oregon’s dance month marches in like a lion, a tango, ballet, butoh, funk, fish, bootleggers and more.
All you need is love: Oregon’s February dance calendar reflects on the many ways humans love.
Dancemaker Linda Austin concludes her four-year experiment with the way we remember, forget, re-imagine and recreate art.
DanceWatch Monthly is hoping that Marquee TV will fill the void in performing arts on your devices, whatever they may be.
December dance in Portland and the rest of the state gets its holiday on, and we’ve got the guide to all those Sugar Plum Fairies.
A dancer’s injury at BodyVox leads to a cascade of role changes in the company’s Shakespeare double bill.
As a new season settles in, Oregon’s dance calendar overflows with opportunities.
A new work by circus duo Kate Law and Amaya Alvarado reveals great skill—and a story of a sexual assault.
Dance to haunt the senses and call on spirits, from OBT to White Bird and beyond—way beyond.
Union PDX – Festival:19 is a new dance festival, started by Samuel Hobbs, that attempts to address some of the problems in the city’s dance community.
This year’s Time-Based Art Festival is loaded with dance events. The rest of September’s leaping with dance, too.
Several weeks ago a beautiful image of four female dancers—wearing long, red and white skirts, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a tight-knit circle, facing inward—crossed my Facebook feed. Out from under the back of their skirts onto the floor, came a thick coil of
“And spring arose on the garden fair, Like the spirit of love felt everywhere; And each flower and herb on earth’s dark breast Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant Welcome to DanceWatch for
Welcome to DanceWatch for March, the month that enters like a lion and retreats like a lamb, or so they say. While it’s still cold and dark outside, you can think of this month’s dance offerings like a warm winter stew: hearty,
Happy Lunar New Year and welcome to DanceWatch Monthly! We’ve decided to switch from a weekly to a monthly format for awhile to see if we like it better. (If you have an opinion on weekly vs. monthly, let us know; we’re
I recently spent three marvelous hours watching Echo Theater Company members negotiate a system of harnesses, ropes, and pulleys to move a butterfly with gigantic opalescent wings and a mad, spiky hermit crab-like monster around a stage. The atmosphere was electric: it
Lately, I’ve become obsessed with castles: their architecture; their scale; their permanence; their connections to history; their construction; their inhabitants. Castles are lasting, tangible creations, unlike dance pieces, which are fleeting. But they share some commonalities. I recently had a conversation with
Welcome back, dance lovers, to a brand-new year of dance in Oregon. DanceWatch 2019 opens with two dance-centric productions that promote the visibility of female artists and artists of color. These productions embrace global culture, mark the intersection of art forms, explore
This fall, Portland, Oregon, saw its first-ever Odissi dance festival, and it was extraordinary. The 8th Kelucharan Guna Keertanam (it has been offered previously in major Indian and U.S. cities), was produced as a fundraiser for, and in partnership with, the Pratham
Happy holidays, happy solstice, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, and happy New Year. I’m saying all that now because THIS DanceWatch Weekly will be the last one of 2018. I know, I’m sad too, but don’t worry: DanceWatch will return again
Good news: the Oregon dance scene is thriving, as evidenced by the 12 performances you’ll find in this week’s column. And here’s another positive development: after an exhaustive national search, Portland’s Regional Arts & Culture Council has appointed a new executive director:
I had a magical moment this week while I was walking my dog: I suddenly found myself in a world of yellow. You see, my dog likes to smell the wet ground around the bases of trees and it was in one
Dance takes some unexpected twists and turns this week. It bounces off the wall at Night Lights: Windows 11, a meta multimedia experience. It pairs ballet stars with Hollywood royalty in Disney’s phantasmagorical new vision of The Nutcracker, and Shakespeare with the Harlem
It’s almost Halloween, which means it’s time to dress up like a zombie and join Thrill the World, in which thousands of people gather in cities worldwide to dance the choreography from Michael Jackson’s famous 1983 music video Thriller. Thrill The World
It’s all about shoes this week. Dance shoes to be exact, and tons of them, too. Tap shoes, jazz shoes, pointe shoes, and stilettos. It’s a busy week in Oregon dance. But I’m particularly excited by a pair of sneakers inspired by
What’s happening this week in Portland dance? Two Halloween-themed productions: BloodyVox: Deadline October by BodyVox, and A Spine Tingling Soiree by Wild Rumpus Jazz Co. Both are fun, campy takes on a campy holiday. Look for dance-infused circus performances, too. Australia’s Circa,
If you’re anything like me, you’re probably feeling exhausted from the insanity overload that is America right now. But don’t worry: Oregon dance can revive you. This week’s concerts offer grit, tenacity, and comic relief; creative problem-solving ideas, and suggestions on how
This is a really big week for NW Dance Project. The company, directed by Sarah Slipper, celebrates its 15th season; premieres Slipper’s new work, Room 4; remounts the dark, quirky Carmen by resident choreographer Ihsan Rustem; says goodbye to four longtime company
Since Donald Trump took office, I have been watching and admiring artists all around the world react to his words and policies and have been wondering how I should respond myself. Last October, I began seriously studying the dance form of Odissi
I LOVE watching freestyle street dancers perform/improvise. It’s like all of their pent-up emotional stuff is forcing its way out of their bodies and they are fighting to control it, to redirect it, and shape it into something beautiful and meaningful. I
Welcome, to a shiny, glittery, brand new season of dance! Listed below are 85 dance performances that will take place throughout Oregon from now through June 2019. The list will grow of course as new performances pop up, so check back often.
Maybe this isn’t common knowledge, but warm weather is best for dancers. It cuts down on the time we have to warm up to dance and makes our muscles ooey gooey and stretchy, which is perfect for dancing. I love warm weather
Saturday, July 28, is National Dance Day. Shouldn’t it also be a national holiday? Don’t we need a holiday to dance? “So You Think You Can Dance” judge Nigel Lythgoe invented National Dance Day to promote dance education and physical fitness. Lythgoe
“Rubble Bodies brings up the possibilities for me of something after a collapse, where we don’t actually know how it’s organized yet,” Portland choreographer Tahni Holt told me over coffee last week as we talked about her new dance. This idea she
“Honestly, the real reason for this production is because I wanted to get Shannon Stewart here (in Portland) again,” said Portland choreographer Tahni Holt when we met for coffee last week at Posies Bakery & Cafe in NE Portland. “She’s just a
“I mean that’s not really the title: I don’t really like that that gets used as the title, but the title is actually the ‘color’ lavender.” This is the Portland dance artist keyon gaskin speaking about the title of his new work,
At the core of it all, life is really one big improvisation. I’m thinking dance improvisation, of course. Every day, in this funny, wonderful, and truly bizarre world we live in, we are presented with a variety of people and events to
Twenty-one years ago, two stay-at-home moms, Kathleen Fish and Mona Hayes, created the World Beat Festival in response to growing racial intolerance in Salem, Oregon. Today, the festival, which opens Friday evening, June 29, has grown dramatically and involves more than 1,000
Give to our GROW FUND.