EVERYONE’S GOT TO EAT, even the whippet-thin dancers of Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT). But food costs money, and during OBT’s recent fi nancial crisis, management told the corps to prepare for the worst. So principal Candace Bouchard conceived of a way to put a few bucks into the pockets of her dancer friends’ skinny jeans.
Calling it Uprising, the forward-thinking Bouchard bringsballet to a new audience using music that’s popular everywhere
but the classical world. Uprising premiered to packed houses at Mississippi Studios last summer.
“It’s important for ballet to get out of its bubble if it’s to survive,” Bouchard says, “and I want it to survive.” Besides
developing future fans, she is intent on collaborating with local artists. Last year’s shows featured indie-folk band Horse Feathers—this year, Weinland and Laura Gibson provide the accompaniment.
“I think of Weinland as the brief intense moments in life,” says Bouchard, “like yelling matches or sex or a roller coaster…
Laura is the counter, the quiet contemplative one after the fight who’s thinking about what it all means and how it fi ts into life.”
Whether you understand that her seven dancers represent seven aspects of the same personality matters little to Bouchard. “I want you to feel whatever you feel at the time, including the beer in your hand and the beautiful bodies on stage.”