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Reflections after attending a performance of the Oregon Ballet Theater on October 8, 2022.

Walking up to Keller Auditorium on a temperate fall evening, I expected to find a line wrapped around the building that I could tag onto and perform the customary one-step-then-wait, two-step-then-wait shuffle toward the door. Instead I found the entirety of the to-be audience clustered in one big group across the street — and a fire truck with lights flashing parked outside. So the night was off to a great start.

We (the audience) never learned exactly what happened, but we could see firefighters moving around inside. I have to assume it was either A) a small fire they put out, or B) not a fire at all, maybe an alarm gone rogue; because about 20 minutes later, they cleared the venue and the hundreds of people waiting outside made the exodus across the street.

Everything seemed fine inside. Props to the Keller Auditorium staff because the show only turned out 15 or so minutes behind schedule (a veritable miracle considering the logistical challenges of scanning tickets, masking the unmasked, and getting everyone where they needed to be all at once, minutes before showtime.)

Even if it had been an hour late, I can say with certainty: the show was worth the wait. Let’s get into it.

Hush

Hush is a ballet that premiered in 2006 at the Houston Ballet, choreographed by Christopher Bruce; this was its Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT) debut. It follows a family of six circus performers in their life outside of the tent and showcases their lives individually and together. It’s set to an eclectic range of music from Bobby McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma.

The main theme I took from this piece was how a family is made up of individuals, but the family unit is an entity itself. I liked how it explored the way family members have their own personalities and stories, but when they come together they interact, play off of each other, and become something different. It showed the toll that parenting can take on a marriage and how much pressure falls on mothers to balance a hundred impossible-to-fulfill demands at once, often making them feel overwhelmed and alone. There was a father-daughter dance both playful and sweet. I enjoyed the piece and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of how these themes play out in real life.

Pas de Deux

Next was an eight-minute piece performed by two dancers, set to Tchaikovsky. The history of this piece is actually more dramatic than the dance itself: It wasn’t in the original Swan Lake, but the ballerina playing Odette in the 1877 Moscow production was so dissatisfied with the original song in that part that she requested a different composer to write a song to replace it. When Tchaikovsky found this out, he wrote his own replacement song with the same structure so they wouldn’t have to re-do the choreography. (The talent you have to have to be that petty…) However, because it wasn’t part of the original score, it was forgotten for over seventy years, until it was accidentally rediscovered in 1953 and converted into a standalone piece.

What I’m saying is that we desperately need a “The Office” style mock-umentary about this whole debacle, complete with deadpan-to-camera fourth wall breaks from Tchaikovsky.

Back to tonight’s performance: It definitely gave Swan Lake vibes (a compliment) and the OBT dancers were excellent. If they perform Swan Lake in the future, which I hope they do, it’d be cool if they could find a way to work this back in.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

After intermission, it was time for the main event: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ choreographed by former OBT Artistic Director Christopher Stowell and set to music by Felix Mendelssohn. I watched a couple of “Explaining Shakespeare for Confused and Lazy Students” videos as a plot refresher before attending, and I’m glad I did. As a ballet instead of a play, I don’t feel like you need a line-by-line understanding of everything to enjoy the show, but it did make it more interesting to understand the motivations behind everyone’s antics.

The sets were inspired by the Pacific Northwest, which was a nice nod to the local production and gave a touch of realism against the fantastical costumes of fairies, larger-than-life bugs, and medieval lords and ladies. This was also the only of the three pieces where music was performed live by the OBT Orchestra, which was worth the price of admission just to hear.

This one also has real-life drama juicier than the plot: It includes the iconic wedding march, AND Mendelssohn wrote the whole thing when he was only 17 years old, AND after its first British performance the organist Thomas Attwood — a pupil of Mozart — left the score in a cab so Mendelssohn had to rewrite it from memory. (BUT the two later became friends and Mendelssohn wrote several songs dedicated to Attwood. So all’s well that ends well??)

Okay back to tonight’s performance: Incredible company of performers, incredible music, incredible sets, just lush and gorgeous and lighthearted and splendid all around. Special shout-out to the OBT School students who did a fantastic job and held their own on stage with the principal dancers; and to Eugene Ballet performer Nicholas Sakai, who stole the show as Puck.

Closing Thoughts

I love the ballet because it never fails to surprise me with what people are capable of. (People other than me, I mean. I have no delusions I am capable of that athleticism.)

One thing I took from all three performances, plot and production together: We are more than the sum of our parts. It’s one of the best, most surprising things about life.