Eugene weekly., October 20, 2016, Page 43, Image 43

FALL BRAVO! 2016
Bunch was hailed as “a composer to watch” by The New York Times, and Alex
Ross, music critic for The New Yorker, included Bunch’s 2006 chamber opera
Confessions of the Woman in the Dunes in his list of significant contemporary
works in his book The Rest is Noise.
As of early this month, Bunch had worked his way through all 45 minutes of
Act I of the two-act ballet and was starting on Act II. In much of his previous work,
Bunch has drawn on vernacular American sources like jazz and folk music. Not
here. “I wanted to capture an Old World aesthetic that both supported the story
and honored the long tradition of evening-length orchestral narrative ballet
scores,” he says. “So my influences here are closer to Prokofiev and Stravinsky
than American folk or jazz idioms. “
If all goes well, OrchestraNext will record his completed score in late
December, giving Pimble and her dancers a soundtrack on which she can begin
to work out choreography.
The show won’t be fully cast until January, Pimble said, but EBC principal
dancers Yuki Beppu and her husband, Hirofumi Kitazume, will dance the roles of
Gerda and Kay, while Danielle Tolmie will dance as the Snow Queen.
The overall look of The Snow Queen will be created by its set and costumes,
which are being designed, respectively, by Nadya Geras-Carson and Jonna Hayden,
both local designers with experience in ballet and opera. The fairy tale’s battle
between good and evil takes place in two distinct worlds — the icy realm of the Snow
Queen and the warmer (both visually and in terms of weather) world of the village.
Called into the production after a previous designer quit the show, Geras-
Carson began by sitting down with Pimble to imagine possible looks for The
Snow Queen. They decided to rely heavily on visual projections, which Geras-
Carson will design, and on a color scheme that divides the universe into the cool,
icy realm of the Snow Queen and the warm autumn colors of the village where
the story begins.
“The set is progressing, albeit more slowly than we would have liked, but
there are many factors involved in the building of a set,” Geras-Carson says.
“Also, Giselle is the first show this season, so it deservedly takes precedence.”
With the physical sets now under construction, Geras-Carson — a former
Disney Imagineer — is starting work on the static and video projections.
The look of Hayden’s Snow Queen costumes takes much of its inspiration from
the visual melodrama of the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen.
Sometimes called “the hooligan of English fashion,” McQueen is credited with,
among other things, the dark, fantastical, over-the-top romantic look in his
clothing lines. Hayden took online images of McQueen’s work to Pimble (“I don’t
sketch,” Hayden says) and instantly sold her on the concept of using a similar
approach for the Snow Queen.
Getting the concept down was the easy part. By the beginning of this month,
Hayden had moved on from ideas and drawings to hands-on production.
“I have various team members working on headdresses, armor, snow people,
crow tails and the flower girls,” she said. “We’re tackling the most complex
costumes first, along with the principal characters, and we’re dropping by the
Midtown Arts Center (where the ballet is based in South Eugene) every few days
to do fittings.”
A big challenge is working out the practical details of creating such lavishly
ornate costumes for dancers whose bodies — unlike runway models — must
move, twist, leap and sweat in every rehearsal and performance.
“Just the crafts aspect of this show is daunting,” the costumer said. “We’re trying
to figure out how to make dancers look partially frozen, but still be able to dance.”
To pull this off, Hayden and her stitchers are using everything from silicone,
glitter, paint and fabric to cast crystals and glow-in-the-dark powder. “I also have
a person working on antlers that are light enough to wear on a headdress, along
with sturdy enough to hold a fabric shroud,” she says. “This show has so many
interesting details.”
When the curtain goes up on the ballet’s world premiere in April, though, its
prime patron won’t be in the audience.
Sadly, Richard Haugland, a co-founder along with his wife, Rosaria Haugland,
of the hi-tech Eugene firm Molecular Probes, died Oct. 5 in Thailand, where he
has lived the past few years to be near the schools his foundation has funded
there for needy and orphaned children.
“Richard’s commitment and trust in myself and EBC to create a ballet of this
magnitude is very special, a dream come true,” Pimble says. “I so wish he could
be here to see it performed.” ■
The Perfect South Eugene
Pre-Theater Stop!
HOUSE SPECIALTIES INCLUDE
fi sh and chips, sweet potato enchiladas,
chicken and waffl es, fresh baked donuts,
bread pudding & sweet potato dessert fries
2435 Hilyard St. • (541) 636-3838 • sundialcafeeugene.com
M: closed Tu-Th: 11am-9pm F: 11am-10pm Sat-Sun: 8am-3pm
The Student Production Association at Lane is proud to present
a season of new works for the stage!
TURKEY SHORTS
A NEW ORESTEIA
An evening of short plays
written by local playwrights.
November 10 - 20
Greek Tragedy for Today’s
Audience
April 27 - May 7
RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD
Two students travel across the country to save the environment and
discover who they are.
February 10 - 26
For tickets go to:
www.lanecc.edu/perarts/online-box-offi ce
For info call: 541-463-5648
The Snow Queen will have its world premiere 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 9, 2017, at
the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene; for more info, visit eugeneballet.org.
introducing ...
salt & sweet
apps, wine & dinner
Hours
Mon-Thur: 7:30 am-7pm
Fri-Sat: 7:30am-10pm
Sun: 8am-9pm
Dinner hours:
Fri-Sat: 6pm-10pm
Sun: 5pm-9pm
(541) 654-5257
200 W Broadway
noisettepk.com
Eugene Weekly’s BRAVO! FALL 2016
3