Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 1976)
Surface apd Synfbol The Emerald’s weekly arts and entertainment supplement Thursday, October 28, 1976 Shows ready By DIANA BARBER Of the Emerald The Centennial Naming Celebration of Dougherty Dance Theater has two "really big shows ' scheduled this weekend in Room 353 Gerlinger. Friday night at 8, the Oregon Mime Theater takes the stage. The Mime Theater was founded by Francisco Reynders in 1972 to bring the art of mime to all levels of the Oregon community. The company performs mime as a universal language capable of communicating a feeling or an idea to all people, regardless of age, or economic or social background. They practice a pure form of the art, without the aid or embellishment of any of the multi-media effects now being employed in the name of mime. Reynders, originally from Amsterdam, studied mime in Paris after receiving a master's degree in art. Says Reynders, "During my student years, I became interested to find out new ways of art One day, being a typical nihilist at that age, I eliminated paint, I eliminated brushes, and I eliminated canvas I came up with just the movements, so you see I was painting in mid-air without canvas, paints . and I was very success ful." When someone told him he was doing mime, he hitchhiked to Paris to study with Etienne Decroux, teacher of Marcel Marceau (probably the world's most famous mime), and Jean Louis Barrault, whose experi mental Theatre D'Orsay stands today at the head of French contem porary theatre. Consisting of Reynders himself, his wife Elizabeth Page, Burl Ross, and manager Kitty Kladstrup, the company began at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where Reynders taught and the others were students. They have performed in Alaska and throughout Oregon, and will travel this season to Florida, Minnesota, Montana, Washington, and California under the sponsorship of the Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. A dedication concert Saturday at 8 p.m. will close the week-long festivities. The concert honors M. Frances Dougherty, founder and former head of the dance department. The development of the dance program at the University, the growth in both faculty and students, the planning and implementation of the current facilities, and the high esteem the department currently enjoys, are all due to Dougherty’s leadership and personal, as well as professional efforts. The dedication of the studio theater in her name has been officially endorsed as an important element of the University's centennial celebration. The dedication concert will feature previews of the Annual Concert to be held in February by the three dance repertory companies A ballet selection will be presented, choreographed by Susan Zadoff. Three selections will be performed by the Dobre Folk Ensemble, with several Modern pieces, one choreographed by Janet Descutner, and a piece reconstructed by graduate assistant Jacquie Hand from a notation score by Vera Blaine, resident choreographer at Ohio State University. Graduate assistant in Mime, Ray Miller, will perform, and Suzanne Kirchner will do a Modern solo. Limited space and seating necessitates advance tickets to the concerts. All tickets are available in Rooms 165 and 161 in Gerlinger Annex for $2 each.
