Company brings biblical tale to life

O R E G O N
Arts
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DANCES BY
STUDENTS
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Art Notes D2
Performance Notes D2
Opportunities D4
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
This detail is
from “When
You Choose
One, You Are
Letting All
the Rest Go
By,” a work
by artist Irene
Hardwicke
Olivieri.
Irene Hardwicke Olivieri’s art is not easy to absorb at a glance
By Randi Bjornstad
B
Turn to DETAIL, Page D4
EXHIBIT PREVIEW
Irene Hardwicke Olivieri:
Closer to Wildness
“One Hundred Bright Smiles,” a work by artist Irene Hardwicke Olivieri, is at the Jordan Schnitzer.
Company brings biblical tale to life
“The Book
of Esther”
features
Leanne
Mizzoni
in the
title
role.
By Randi Bjornstad
The Register-Guard
T
his weekend, Ballet Fantastique rounds out its
season of “telling stories
through dance that have never
been told this way before,” as
Hannah Bontrager puts it.
Bontrager and her mother,
Donna Bontrager, work
together to choreograph
and produce the com-
Stephanie
Urso
Monday, May 19, 7:30 pm
Baldassare Piccolo Trumpet Concerto Persichetti “The Hollow Men”
Saint-Saëns septet for trumpet, piano, strings Dvorák Bagatelles
Pilar Bradshaw violin Holland Phillips viola Sharon Schuman violin
Tyler Abbott bass Jed Barahal cello Julia Brown harpsichord/harmonium
Alexandre Dossin piano Guy Few Trumpet
Tickets 541-953-9204 $20-30 • Students $5
5946106M08
What: Oil-on-wood paintings
When: Through Aug. 3
Gallery tour, talk: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Jordan Schnitzer Museum
of Art, 1430 Johnson Lane
Information: 541-346-3027
DANCE
Ballet
Fantastique’s
with Guy Few
at The Shedd
Amici
Guests
The Register-Guard
e prepared to be overwhelmed at first by Irene
Hardwicke Olivieri’s
exhibit of oil-on-wood
paintings at the University
of Oregon’s Jordan Schnitzer
Museum of Art.
It’s a riot of color, a chaos
of creatures, a fantastic interface among humans, animals
and nature that reflects Olivieri’s view of the world and
experiences of life.
“I do think sometimes it
can be overwhelming,” Olivieri
said. “There are so many
things that I want to show in
my pictures, and each is a
world of its own.”
Nearly 150 of her paintings
have been gathered into a
book, “Irene Hardwicke Olivieri: Closer to Wildness,”
recently published by Pomegranate Communications in
Portland. Olivieri will appear at
the UO art museum this weekend to give a talk about her
work.
One of the most intriguing
aspects of her paintings is her
habit of painting text on
unencumbered surfaces, be it
skin, water, wings or flamboyant headdresses.
One painting, which Olivieri
calls “When You Choose One,
You Are Letting All the Rest
Go By,” shows the serene and
beautiful face of a woman, her
elaborate pompadour dotted
with exquisite renditions of the
many species of beetles that
have fascinated Olivieri since
DIRECTOR
NEEDED
DIRECTLY
You don’t have
to memorize,
and there’s a lot
of applause when
the Horace
Robinson Readers
Theatre takes its
shows to local
assisted living
facilities and
retirement
centers. The
program is 45
minutes of
reading skits,
poems, essays
and other interesting pieces of
writing. And the
group needs a
new director. If it
sounds like the
kind of gig that
would make you
giggle, call Chuck
Adams at 541343-1442.
SECTIOND
VISUAL ARTS
ART IN
EVERY
DETAIL
Buzzworthy
They call it
“Resonance,”
and it’s a dance
performance
choreographed
and produced by
UO students. The
seven pieces
include Shynna
Harper’s exploration of generational differences,
whimsically
named
“#HPSTRGRL.”
Also on the
program is “Yen,”
Cecily Wechter’s
interpretation of
longing for
something
unattainable, and
the collision of
dance and film
production in
Cecilia Berghall’s
“Moving Picture.”
The three performances are at 8
p.m. Thursday
through Saturday
in the Dougherty
Dance Theatre in
the Gerlinger
Annex. Tickets at
the door are $10,
$5 for students
and senior
citizens. 541-346386.
L I F E
Friday, May 16, 4:30 pm
Tuesday, May 20, noon
Free Workshop with Guy Few
for middle and high school brass
Free trumpet MASTER CLASS
with Guy Few
Shedd Institute for the Arts
Beall Hall University of Oregon
Limited to 100, register at 541-953-9204
Concert Sponsor: Friends of Guy Few
pany’s shows.
For the 2013-14 season, they
started their series called “New
Legends” with a dance version
of “Zorro.” They then moved on
to “Tales From the Floating
World,” exploring the myths and
legends of medieval Japan.
Now they’re wrapping it up
with “The Book of Esther,”
based on one of the best-loved
Turn to ESTHER, Page D3
Toronto Star calls Guy Few
“one of the most brilliant brass
players of his generation.”
Montreal’s Le Devoir calls him
“outrageously gifted” and
“quite simply phenomenal.”
BALLET PREVIEW
The Book of Esther
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
and Saturday; 2:30 p.m.
Sunday
Where: Soreng
Theater, Hult Center,
Seventh Avenue and
Willamette Street
Tickets: $28 to $48
(541-682-5000,
hultcenter.org)
The Register-Guard
OREGON LIFE Thursday, May 8, 2014
Esther: Cultural rift led to challenges
Continued from Page D1
stories of the Old Testament.
Both Bontragers grew
up loving the story, each
in her own generation,
so picking it to be part
of the “new legend”
series was easy.
“I remember I had a
book of stories when I
was a child, and my
favorite picture in the
book was the one of
Esther,” Donna Bontrager
said. “She was so beautiful in my eyes, and so
brave.”
And that’s what
makes it such a good
candidate for a ballet,
Hannah Bontrager said,
“because it is a Bible
story, but it has meaning for everyone,
whether they are religious or not.
“It’s a story about
bravery, about how to
have the courage to
stand up for what is
right, even if you’re
afraid.”
It’s also a “cool story
for Mother’s Day weekend, although we didn’t
pick it for that consciously — it just kind
of fell into place,” she
said. “Although, we do
like to do a ballet that’s
uplifting and warm in
the spring.”
It could be hot,
because the 20 dancers
who will be portraying
the Esther story will be
joined by the rollicking,
award-winning University
of Oregon Gospel Singers. The singers not only
have won back-to-back
titles at the Disney
Gospel Choir Fest in
Orlando, Fla., but they
also made history last
year when they traveled
to China, where they
performed 15 concerts.
Not only that, but
the choir director, Andiel
Brown, will act the role
of Esther’s guardian,
Mordecai. The part of
Esther will be danced by
Leanne Mizzoni.
Saving her people
The story brought to
life by the ballet centers
around Esther, a Jewish
girl who had been
raised by Mordecai, an
older cousin, after her
parents died.
Esther was chosen by
Ahasuerus, the King of
Persia, to be his queen
after his previous queen,
Vashti, refused to appear
before him during a
feast. Because of her disobedience, she was
deposed.
Mordecai, had saved
the life of the king by
reporting to Esther an
assassination plot
against Ahasuerus that
he overheard by the
palace gates, so the king
owed him a special debt.
However, Ahasuerus
also had granted a powerful prince, Haman,
special honors, which
included requiring everyone to bow before him
when he rode through
the streets. It was an
order Mordecai refused
because of his belief
that a Jewish man
should bow to nobody
but God.
So Haman hatched a
plan to attack and kill
all the Jewish people in
Persia and offered the
king a handsome sum
for supporting the plan.
Haman also had a huge
gallows built for the
purpose of hanging Mordecai publicly as an
example to other Jewish
people of the peril of
not giving the king his
due.
Mordecai sent word
of the plan to Esther,
along with a copy of the
decree, begging her to
intervene with King
Ahasuerus.
She balked, because
one law of the land was
that anyone appearing
unbidden before the
king could be killed
unless he pardoned the
person by pointing his
golden sceptre at the
offender.
But Mordecai persuaded her that if she
did not go to the king,
all of her people —
probably including herself — would be killed.
Despite her fear,
Esther went to Ahasuerus, who pardoned her
and listened to her
accusation against
Haman. For his treachery, Haman was hanged
on the gallows he built
for Mordecai, and the
Jewish people not only
were spared but were
given the right to
defend themselves
against their enemies.
Persian women of this
story, and there’s a lot
of movements that are
very hard to memorize
to create the dramatic
effect,” Donna Bontrager
said.
That goes for the
costumes, too. The
Hebrew women wear
white and ivory, symbolizing their subjugation.
The Persian women
wear the bright colors
that signify the worldly,
ruling class. And Esther,
who is part of both
groups, must show her
connection with both.
The dancing of the
Hebrew characters portrays attitudes that are
worshipful and prayerful,
signifying their bondage
with heavenward arm
gestures. The Persian
characters dance more
quickly, with more confident movements of the
lower body.
“It’s so hard,” Hannah
Bontrager admitted.
“Some of our dancers do
more than one part, and
there’s such a contrast
between the styles. But
they meet the challenge
very well.”
Even as this season
ends, Ballet Fantastique
has the next one — its
fifth year at the Hult
Center for the Performing Arts — in the planning stages.
“It’s a real whirlwind,
but we’re very happy,”
Hannah Bontrager said.
“We’re absolutely doing
what we want to do,
and we’re honored that
people want to see it.
“Sometimes it seems
as if the art itself is telling us what we should
do next.”
Follow Randi on Twitter @BjornstadRandi.
Email randi.bjornstad@
registerguard.com.
The Shedd Institute
www.theshedd.org - 541.434.7000
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Jazz Kings
Bésame
Mucho
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1926-55
Thu, May 8, 7:30 pm
Sun, May 11, 1:30 pm
The Shedd Institute, Eugene
Florence Events Center May 10, 1:30 pm
Staging challenges
Developing the choreography for this ballet
was especially challenging, the Bontragers
agree.
For one thing, “The
dancers are very aware
of how good the gospel
singers are — they have
a lot of presence — so
we have to hold our
own on stage with
them,” Hannah Bontrager said.
Not only that, “It’s
not just classical ballet
dance choreography,
because we have two
very different styles to
portray between the
Hebrew women and the
The World’s Top
Heritage Films
Compete
The only event of its kind
in the Western Hemisphere!
May 9-13
Recital Hall The Shedd Institute
Shedd Theatricals 2014
See 18 juried films from around the world!
Schedule:
Friday:
7:30pm - 10pm Films
June 19-29
(special keynote address
Friday evening by Dr. Jean
Clottes, leading researcher
on world rock art!)
Coming next at The Shedd
Saturday:
10:20am - 11pm Films
Sunday:
10:20am - 7pm Films
Awards Reception ($5)
Mon & Tue:
10:00am - 5pm
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(full listing & updates at theshedd.org)
5.8-11 The Jazz Kings: Bésame Mucho
Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon
5.9
Rangers w/ Edie Brickell (Hult)
5.9-11 TAC International Film Festival
5.19 Chamber Music Amici: Guy Few
5.23-4 SheSings 2014
5.31 Moombah! Skyscraper Caper!
6.5 Chico Schwall: The Music of
David van Ronk
6.11 Chamber Music Amici: Lane Cty
6.12 Dave Douglas Quintet
6.19-29 Musical: Oh, Kay! (1926)
8.1-10 MUSICAL: Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes (1949) (Hult)
8.1-10 OFAM 2014: Son of Hollywood
- Songbook at the movies, 1940-59
8.15 Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave
10.9-12 The Jazz Kings: Come Fly With Me
10.10 Chris Smither
10.22 Loudon Waingwright III
5/7/2014 4:32:00 PM
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