Dance troupe mixes ballet,
modern dance for diversity
The ballet-based company
Dance Theatre of Harlem
will perform three works
at the Hult Center on Feb. 4
By Natasha Chilingerian
Pulse Reporter
Dance Theatre of Harlem's ballet
company will perform a "crowd-pleas
ing," classical ballet-based program
Feb. 4 at the Hult Center for the Per
forming Arts. The New York-based
company, which tours globally, stresses
the importance of education and mul
ticulturalism through its performances,
classes and lectures.
Company manager Liz Magnuson
said the company's dance style fuses
several forms of ballet.
"We can do any kind of ballet we
want — African ballet, jazz ballet —
but we are based in classical ballet,"
she said.
The 45-member company will pres
ent three works in their performance:
"South African Suite," "Return," and
"Dougla" (pronounced "doog-la").
Company dancer Preston Dugger said
the first number was inspired by a past
company trip to South Africa.
"('South African Suite') is kind of
abstract," Dugger said. "You have to
let your imagination run free and
pretend you're in an environment
like South Africa."
He described "Return" as a "hit
piece" that mixes contemporary ballet
and social dance to the tunes of James
Brown and Aretha Franklin. Company
dancer Melissa Morrissey added that
the number is an audience favorite
"Its fun and upbeat," she sad. "It
mixes ballet and street moves; it's kind
of a funky ballet."
"Dougla" tells the story of a pre-wed
ding ceremony between two spouses of
Caribbean and African descent. Dugger
said he saw "Dougla" before becoming
a company member, and the perform
ance convinced him to join Dance The
atre of Harlem.
"The piece is so powerful," Dugger
said. "Especially live, because we have
Courtesy
Dance Theatre of Harlem brings its program to the Hult Center on Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.
live damns."
Dance Theatre of Harlem founder
and artistic director Arthur Mitchell
started the dance institution in 1969 as
a service to Harlem children as a reac
tion to Martin Luther King Jr.'s death.
Today, the institution includes the bal
let company, a school of dance for stu
dents at community through profes
sional levels and a secondary company
called Dancing Through Barriers. In ad
dition to performing, Dandng lhrough
Barriers has a strong focus on providing
workshops, demonstrations and class
es for schools and communities
around the world.
Dugger participated in Dancing
Through Baniers before joining the bal
let company. He said the experience
was "humbling" because dancers were
responsible for all technical aspects of
performing, such as costumes and sets.
He said members in the ballet compa
ny focus solely on their dancing.
"I learned a different aspect about
how the company works and oper
ates (in Dancing Through Barriers),"
he said.
Company dancers were attracted to
the institution for a variety of personal
reasons. The focus on the works of
renowned choreographer George Bal
anchine appealed to Morrissey, and
Dugger admired the dance theater's cul
tural diversity.
"I love to be well-rounded and feel
different cultures," Dugger said. "There
are so many colors and cultures here."
The Hult Center for the Performing
Arts is located at the intersection of 7th
Avenue and Willamette Street. Tickets
for the 8 p.m. show are available at the
UO Ticket Office, and prices range from
$20-$44. The dancers will lead a pre
show discussion at 7 p.m. in Studio 1
of the Hult Center. The ballet company
will lead a free discussion about the
Dance Theatre of Harlem on Feb. 3 at 7
p.m. at the Eugene Public Library, locat
ed at 100 W. 10th Ave.
Contact the Pulse reporter at
natashachilingerian@dailyemerald.com.
Web site serves as forum
for sharing artistic projects
Ever since I discovered Napster dur
ing my freshman year, I've been em
bracing the digital age with open arms.
Thanks to computers, I'm able to dis
cover a new band every day, and my CD
collection has doubled for the price of
only three or four discs. Really, it's my
bank account that has been embracing
the digital age. Like most people, I can't
afford to spend $16.99 on a CD that
only has three good tracks. It makes
sense to bum a friend's copy of an al
bum or download a couple of songs off
the Internet.
Nonetheless, I do miss the packag
ing. I miss the physical unwrapping of a
new CD, opening the inside cover for
the first time and reading the lyrics
while listening to the music. The CD
cover has creative merit all by itself, and
I'm sad to see this art form die out.
However, this digitization of art also
has created new forms. The Internet is
one obvious example, serving as a fo
rum for sharing ideas and connecting
artists. An excellent example of this
trend is Miranda July's Web site, "Learn
ing to Love You More"
July is a Portland-based artist who
has been creating interesting and chal
lenging multimedia works for about
10 years. She makes movies and spo
ken word/performance albums. In
1995, July started Joanie 4 Jackie, a
distribution system to help independ
ent women filmmakers network with
each other. A little more than a year
ago, she created another artist
network of sorts with the Web site
"Learning to Love You More."
The site, which is a collaboration
St
Helen Schumacher
Notes from the underground
with artist Harrell Fletcher, posts as
signments and invites visitors to com
plete them. The results are then post
ed with other submissions from
around the world.
Some examples of assignments in
dude: record your own guided medita
tion, take a picture of strangers holding
hands, hang a wind chime on a tree in a
parking lot draw a constellation from
someone's freckles and make a docu
mentary video about a small child.
Assignment No. 27 is to take a pic
ture of the sun. Just a picture of the sun,
nothing extra or fancy. More than 50
people have submitted pictures. With
every submission, there is also a chance
it will be selected for gallery and muse
um exhibitions. Sun pictures submitted
by the deadline were featured in an
exhibit called "Baja to Vancouver: The
West Coast in Contemporary Art" at the
Museum of Contemporary Art in San
Diego. Selected submissions from an
other assignment are scheduled to be
featured in the Whitney Biennial in
New York this March.
I think my favorite assignment is
the one that asks people to design a
flier describing a typical day in their
life and then make 100 copies of it to
post around town. Some of the fliers
are in black and white, others in col
or. Some have photos and drawings.
Others are simply text. It's fascinating
to see the different ways the assign
ments manifest themselves. Despite
the strict instructions of the assign
ments, each participant produces a
unique result.
Unlike most Web sites, "Learning
to Love You More" actually inspires
people to back away from their com
puters and be creative. I'm in love
with the idea that I can collaborate
with other people whom I'll never
meet to create a piece of art. The
Web site prods people to forget
about expectations of what the final
product should be and create for the
joy of the process.
July and Fletcher's Web site can be
found at http://www.leamingtolovey
oumore.com.
Contact the Pulse columnist
at helenschumacher@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
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