U2Qûûz
*
Get your holiday spirits in gear at.
Welcome to his world
by
I
HOLIDAY
Indeed, at rehearsal one fellow practices
his entrance carrying a ghetto blaster. The
scene is organized chaos as Canfield instructs
a row of men to fall like dominoes when
lightly shoved.
What already looks difficult enough will get
even more so. “Men, you’re each going to have
one of those big rat costumes wrapped around
you,” he reminds them.
“We’re definitely going to use different
music as well, but The Nutcracker will
be there the whole time, fading in
and out,” he reveals.
In addition, expect the unexpected: Some
secret Portland celebs will pop up in
cameos— although not, thankfully, as
dancers. Canfield explains that he’s out
to entertain, not to embarrass anyone.
Considering some of the high-
profile community lead
ers on his board and in
his comer, they should
add a nice dash of spice to the
proceedings.
Canfield is buzzed about his
company’s new home in a
remodeled bank building,
which finally gives the
dancers the professional
training facilities they
deserve. “That city block
is for dance as long as the
city wants it,” he says.
“I think OBT is going
to be a pied piper to
the east side as far
as cultural insti
tutions go.”
“What I’m most proud of is that we train
our dancers here,” he beams, referring to the
ballet school on the premises that instills in
200 children a love of the dance. “There are a
lot of really talented kids here.” (A good 65
percent of his adult company came up through
the ranks of this school.)
As a former principal dancer during the
1980s with New York’s prestigious Joffrey
Ballet, Canfield is still in love with dance.
“It’s sexy being in the dark together as an
audience. That’s what I love about live the
ater— anything can happen,” he enthuses.
“Nothing in my life will ever replace how
fantastic it is.”
So if this spxxif sounds like fun but you’ve
never seen The Nutcracker, fear not—Canfield
assures me you won t need to be familiar with
the original to enjoy the 21st century version.
If you feel the need to know what little plot
there is, it can be gleaned in two minutes at
www.nutcrackerballet.net. j n
T he N ut H as F inally C racked plays
Dec. 12 and 13 at Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W.
Clay St. Tickets are $5.50-$87 from
503'222'5538 or Ticketmaster.
O riana G reen took one year of ballet class
as a child until it teas clear she would never
bend that way. She is also the Entertainment
Editor of Just Out and can be reached at ori-
ana@justout.com.
% k
CYCLOBRATION
Tuesday
December 5, 2000
O r ia n a G reen
f you were ever taken as a child to The Nut -
cracker by a culturally minded relative, you
will find special delight in The Nut Has
Finally Cracked, a total re-envisioning of the
classic holiday ballet. And who better to turn
this sugary confection upside down and inject
it with some sass than Portland s own bad boy
of ballet, James Canfield?
As founding artistic director of the Oregon
Ballet Theatre, he has long delighted open-
minded audiences with his irreverent
approach to dance. And he looks
the part. With his baseball cap
on backward, sitting on the
floor of the new rehearsal
t
studio while putting
dancers through the
paces, his bare right
arm encircled in an
epic poem of tat
toos, Canfield
exudes playful
command of
his company.
One young
woman, who is
undoubtedly a vision
of grace in her toe
shoes, looks mildly alarmed to be
doing her part on old-fash
ioned roller skates.
“That could be funny,
just constantly out of
control,” Canfield tells
her. No problem— if
she is feigning lack of
skating prowess, she’s a
superb actress.
Apparently
improvising,
Canfield sudden- _
. . . . . .
ly leaps up, grabs The rat ,s kln« ln th,s vers,on
her arm and whips her around the floor in a wide
arc. When he releases her, she careens toward the
barre, where she is caught by another dancer. This
is clearly not traditional choreography.
Canfield’s young company is notable for
its lack of a particular look, which is not to
say that his ballerinas are zaftig or anything
that radical but that his 18 dancers do not
come from the same cookie cutter. This day,
they are clearly having fun co-creating this
sendup of a ballet they’ve all danced too
many times to count.
As their director consults a legal pad of
notes that he transforms into movement, it’s
refreshing to watch the dancers offer sugges
tions and try them out instantly. “Now I want
this to be the real one,” Canfield mutters as he
winds up the rehearsal.
As he tells me later over a hasty lunch at
the Thai joint across the street, every year as
the last performance of The Nutcracker
approaches, the dancers beg him to allow them
to have some fun and spoof it. Still, he’s wary
of alienating faithful audience members who’ve
come to see the real deal in all its candy-coated
sweetness.
But for two nights only, Dec. 12 and 13, the
company will finally get its wish in an original
production subtitled Peter’s Dream and Marie’s
Nightmare. His dancers “are equal partners in
creating it,” Canfield explains, adding that fans
will recognize inside jokes and references to
other ballets he has choreographed, including
his controversial rock ballets.
'¿y A
. ÿ'.\ P I /"I
The Bike Gallery’s
Jam es Canfield seizes ballet chestnut
and cracks it wide open
*
6 -1 0 p m
Adrianna Hill Ballroom
918 SW Yamhill
« U «HI- .
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for holiday gift ideas
BTA commercials world premiere
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With special guests from Tony n Tina’s Wedding,
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Enhance Your Spirituality!
Center Jot*
Worship, Cirowth
S< Leadership
I
■ onnedion
4828 NE 33rd, Portland
Rc\. Casej Moffctt-Chane>
Rev. Rertlell Moffett-Chanex
( 503 ) 481-7591
www.godconnection.org
Sunday Services
10:00 AM
Bible Interpretation Study 9:00 AM
Leadership Program
Growth Classes
Stimulating Workshops
Support Groups
Weddings, etc.
Honoring Diversity
GLBTS
CH RISTM AS EV E
Candlelight Service
SUNDAY, December 24
11:00 PM
L—x j
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