by Ken Hoyt
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Culture Club
Body Beautiful
CHRISTOPHER STOWELL GAINED GREAT EXPOSURE
TO THE ART OF DANCE FROM AN EARLY AGE. HIS PAR-
ENTS, KENT STOWELL AND FRANCIA RUSSELL ARE
THE FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS OF PACIFIC
NORTHWEST BALLET IN SEATTLE. “I was an only child for
six and a half years,” Stowell says. “We lived in New York and
in Europe, and wherever they went they took me along. I was
very engaged in their artistic life. When we moved back to the
United States I was eleven years old, and the annual productions
of the Nutcracker were new to me. It’s not an annual tradition
in European ballet companies. There were children’s roles. I was
completely enamored… It was clear if the director’s son gets to
perform he should be a regular student in the school. It took
three years [of training] before I was bitten by the art form.”
But Stowell didn’t get to be Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet
Theatre (OBT) just because of his family tree; not that his par-
ents encouraged his career choice. “My parents,” he says, ”were
both supportive yet very hesitant. They knew: A) that it’s a
tough career, B) that not everybody is cut out for it, and C) that
it would be difficult if their son wasn’t talented.” It worked out
well. Stowell spent sixteen years at San Francisco Ballet, much
of it as a principal dancer. He then focused his energy on an
international career as teacher, coach, and choreographer before
he took over as OBT’s artistic director in 2003.
Stowell agrees with his parents that it is a tough career, but one
worth pursuing. “Whether you end up being a professional
dancer or not, [the training] is an incredible way of getting in
touch with yourself. You gain an understanding the rewards of
hard work, self-discipline, community and teamwork. Three
quarters of the people who leave our school aren’t necessarily
going to be professional dancers, but they are definitely richer
for the experience and more prepared for life because of the
training they received.”
The ballet world, like many art-driven careers, has always pro-
vided a safe haven for LGBTQ people. “It’s a little enclave,” says
Stowell, “where [dedication to] something beyond yourself al-
lows people to be more comfortable. Nobody is spending time
thinking about how they fit in. They’re focused on something
greater. No one has the time to spend being judgmental. We’re
all focused on achieving an unachievable art form; and it’s a level
playing field. The other thing that is unique is the mix of ages.
I’ll be working in the same room with four year olds and people
that are seventy. There is not a generational divide, which I think
is extremely healthy.”
August 2012
At the same time, ballet has become a little more mainstream,
and recognized as more than just an art form for an elite audi-
ence. “For a long time people were seeking only the ethereal and
graceful aesthetic in dance. But that [doesn’t] reveal the work,
effort, sweat and athleticism involved. In a ballet company like
ours we have a repertoire that is so much broader that there may
be one work where we’re ethereal and graceful, and another
work where the very thing we want people to see is the sweaty,
muscular and raw.”
This season’s opener is a cooperative venture with the Portland
Art Museum show, The Body Beautiful, which will have trav-
eled from London where it was mounted in conjunction with
the Summer Olympics. Stowell will create an evening of dance
that “relates to the ideal
of classical Greek beauty
[as well as] myth.” Two
OBT audience favor-
ites, Balanchine’s Apollo
and his father’s Orpheus
Portrait will be return-
ing. There will be two
new pieces, William
Forsythe’s Second Detail,
which has a very con-
temporary feeling, and
Narcissus + Echo, taken
from the Greek myth
about the beautiful youth
Narcissus, who loved his
own image and Echo, a
Nymph with a gorgeous
voice. She also loved, to
tragic ends, Narcissus. In
other words, it’s the perfect fuel for ballet. “Narcissus + Echo,
reports Stowell, “ will have fantastic set design. I’m working with
an incredible Seattle artist, John Grade.” At this time Stowell
plans to use less traditional dance movement juxtaposed with,
“a contemporary feeling that uses some fantastic Baroque music
I haven’t selected yet.”
Stowell was asked, "The name of the show is Body Beautiful, so
is it fair to say that it will be body conscious?"
“Absolutely. We’re going to save a lot of money on costuming.”
OTB's
Christopher Stowell.
Photo by
Blaine Truitt Covert
Reach out with
your events to
Arts & Entertain-
ment Editor
Ken Hoyt.
ken@justout.com
JustOut.com
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