Dear Supporters and Donors

This year, Bouand DanceCompany celebrates its sixth season, and what a roller coaster ride it’s been! Thanks to hard work and the support of fans like you, we’ve followed every scary “down” with an exhilarating “up.”

The high point of this season is yet to come, of course. It arrives in October, when we mount our fall performance series at PSU’s Lincoln Hall (a wonderfully refurbished Lincoln Hall, by the way). Tickets will go on sale in late September. But in the meantime, the work goes on, and the costs of running an arts organization continue. Even in the best of times, ticket sales cover only a portion of our expenses – it’s your support that really makes the art of dance possible.

So, as we ramp up our activity in preparation for October, I’m asking you to help us raise $7,500 with a generous contribution, before you head out on your summer holiday if at all possible. I can assure you that nearly every dollar you contribute will go directly to the stage, either in payment to dancers and choreographers, or to the costs of hiring the hall.

I can also promise you that the fall series – “Feral Landscapes” – will be a particularly exciting one. We’ll feature three works by three living choreographers, showcasing three different styles of dance – modern, ballet and contemporary.

Walter Kennedy’s edgy work “Fields of Play” has been performed to great acclaim in Europe, China, and elsewhere in the U.S., but never in Portland. This summer, he’ll be doing a new setting of the work on Bouand dancers.

In July, James Gnam, co-artistic director of the Plastic Orchid Factory company in Vancouver, B.C., will be setting a completely new work on Bouand. Once our audiences see his work, they’ll understand why he was named an Emerging Artist for Dance in Vancouver, and why he’s called one of the Northwest’s most watchable young choreographers.

And finally, we’ll present the new version of “Winter Mute,” my contemporary piece with video accompaniment. I’m adapting it expressly for BDC dancers, including OBT dancer Lucas Threefoot, who, as Martha Ullman West recently wrote in the Oregonian, “has truly come into his own as a dancer this season.” I definitely agree.

Again, thank you for your past support, and thank you in advance for helping us make the 2010 performance series the most successful in our short, but exciting, history.

Sincerely,

Alexandrous Ballard

Artistic Director

Bouand DanceCompany

Activities, upcoming and present

June, 2010.

Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard and Board Member/Choreographer Walter Kennedy leave for the DanceUSA Conference Wednesday morning very early. They will spend 3 days attending workshops on every aspect of developing and maintaining a healthy arts organization, watch the Washington DC showcase and schmooze like nobodies business. Attending the Portland conference some years back was a watershed event for BDC, especially the “leadership for Artistic Directors” part of the conference. Looking forward to learning new and exciting things.

Our 2010 choreographic workshop is happening soon, here are some details:

Bouand DanceCompany is holding an exclusive 3 day choreographic workshop aimed at the emerging choreographer.  Limited to 10-12 participants and taking place over a concentrated 3 days, this workshop is for those individuals wishing to learn and practice the skills necessary to create, curate and manipulate movement and collaborate with dancers as co-creators in a relaxed and humane rehearsal environment.  Each of the 3 days will be led by a different choreographer; Walter Kennedy, James Gnam and Alexandrous Ballard.

Click here for bios for each:

Walter Kennedy

James Gnam

Alexandrous Ballard

Please take this opportunity to build rehearsal skills, learn new ways to generate and manipulate movement and engage with 3 different choreographers working in 3 different contemporary idioms.
Participate as a choreographer, dancer or both.   If you know someone who would like to participate, please pass this announcement on

Thanks!
Bouand DanceCompany:

Email

BDC Choreographic Intensive 2010

Tues: July 20th, 12-3pm
Wed: July 21st, 12-3pm
Thurs: July 22nd, 12-3pm

Location: Portland Youth Ballet
Map

7901 SW Cirrus Dr. Bldg. 27
Beaverton, OR 97008

Limited to 12 participants, carpooling and ridesharing are encouraged. Workshop can be videotaped and photographed if a record is desired.

Please come early to warm up and get situated, wear loose dance clothing, socks or ballet shoes and a curious mind ready to learn.

Price: $150 per participant for all 3 days

Check, Cash or PayPal Online accepted.

Pass the information on if you know someone who might be interested!!

Thanks

Bouand DanceCompany

Founding Board member and BDC guardian angel Caroline Miller has two books out that are tremendous reads and a wonderful tribute to her piercing intelligence and enthusiasm.  Watch them on YouTube, and you can buy the books on Amazon.com!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ycV0tGoUQ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMvnywwMgjQ

Thank you to Barbara and William Spears, Brian Houle, Lynn Stafford, Caroline Miller, Alexandrous Ballard, Terry Brenneman and Mr. Billie Ashmore for their kind and generous gifts, and an ongoing thanks to Mr. George Taylor for his help and advice.

Bouand DanceCompany is providing a glimpse into our current work with studio showings April 18^th at 3:00 and 4:30. This will be an informal work-in-progress event with a short talk by Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard and a question and answer afterwards. Shown will be parts of “Winter Mute” slated to be performed at PSU Lincoln Hall in Fall of this year. This is a contemporary work done on Pointe that had its premier for The Portland Ballet advanced students last year. We invite you to come and enjoy wine and appetizers at The Portland Ballet studios prior to the event, meet the dancers and enjoy what might be fine weather, but could also…not be, who knows?

OBT dancer Lucas Threefoot will be performing with us as will be BodyVox 2 member Josh Murray. New BDC dancers Jenna Swanberg and Emily Bartha will be performing also, as will company members Cait Powers, Renee Adams, Melissa Framiglio, Tracy Carboneau, Megan Smith, Scott Trumbo and Keeley Love.

BDC Director Alexandrous Ballard returned from University of Iowa cold, but not frozen. The University there has a tremendous dance program with hundreds of undergraduates and a stellar faculty including BDC choreographer (Within…) Deanna Carter, George de la Pena and Eloy Barrigan. Mr. Ballard taught class, observed and participated in a presentation of solos as well as enjoyed the pleasures of the frozen prairie. Currently he is engaged in setting dances from The Merry Widow for the PSU Opera, performing in April and is working on a new work titled “The Kiss” for The Portland Ballet.

It was company member Keeley Love’s birthday this past weekend, coinciding with a minor earthquake off the Oregon coast. We wish her a huge happy birthday!

News from the Bouand DanceCompany!

We are already halfway through January of the New Year and we have some news and updates for you.  The company and many of the major supporters for the OPB documentary on “SideShow”;

aka: The OPB Project, all saw a nearly finished version a few weeks ago.   The showing was graciously hosted by Bruce and Cait Powers and while there is still some sound editing to be done, the program looks great.

We began work on “Winter Mute”, originally choreographed for the Portland Ballet, a contemporary work with video accompaniment which is now being adapted for BDC’s dancers.  Oregon Ballet Theater dancer Lucas Threefoot, at one time a student of Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard, will be joining us for this work.  We are excited to have him and look forward to the rehearsals and performances.

We are continuing work on getting BDC to the DanceUSA presenting festival in June.  The Regional Arts and Culture Council’s (RACC) generous grant is helping, but we will need to raise enough for 6 of us to travel and stay 3 nights in Washington DC.  This festival is a golden opportunity for the company to perform for arts presenters and theater agents with the hope of being asked to tour and perform nationally.

Board member Walter Kennedy will travel to Taiwan to set his work “Fields of Play”.  You can see pictures of him setting this work on BDC on the website.  “Fields of Play” will be included in our Fall Performances at a newly reopened PSU Lincoln Hall along with “Winter Mute” and a new work to be announced by James Gnam.

After a necessary reschedule, we are working on bringing James Gnam down to Portland in July.  His presence here for 2 weeks would allow him to create a new work and do some guest teaching here in town.  His training and work match BDC’s mission and aesthetic admirably and it will be exciting to watch him work.

Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard will travel to Iowa in February; he is teaching and performing at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.  Let’s hope he doesn’t freeze to death there.  Dancer Renee Adam’s teaching business is flourishing with classes all over town including OMSI and the new movement space Zoomtopia.  New dancer Jenna is fitting in nicely in spite of carrying a heavy academic load at PSU, her spectacular legs and feet are on view in open classes at The Portland Ballet as well as rehearsals.

Lastly, we are beginning to work on fundraising to support this year’s activities, with generous gifts already given.  Our season will include an informal studio showing of “Winter Mute”, open Sunday rehearsals, the DanceUSA presenting festival, James Gnam’s new work and ultimately our Fall 2010 performances at PSU Lincoln Hall   As we are older as an organization and have proved our ability to operate successfully even in the recent economic trials, our ability to attract foundation and corporate funds has increased also.  We hope our friends and supporters have also benefited from the easing of the economy and we are asking your help and support for 2010.  Your donation is always tax deductible and you can watch the growth your help creates as we move forward into 2010 and beyond.

Thank you to Dean Richardson, Paul Keown and Cly’te Spiedel and Caroline Miller for their recent donations!!
Bouand DanceCompany staff and dancers.

Seasons greetings and a happy 2010!

As a tumultuous 2009 draws to a close we would like to take a moment to reflect and thank all of you who contributed, supported and attended our performances. We chose to scale back our activities to accommodate the economic realities of being a young company in a crowded and under-funded Arts community, but still managed to pull off some pretty spectacular things. The OPB Project, our long planned and now executed filming of Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballards “SideShow” with 3 Leg Torso is now a reality. Come January it will be put into the hands of Oregon Public Broadcasting for scheduling as they see fit. A huge and special thanks to several of our most generous donors for this: The Schnitzer/Novack Foundation, Kevin Novack, The Larson Legacy, The Portland Ballet and Paul Ramsey and RAMMedia.

Many of you also responded to our call for modest financial help to keep operations up and running while we brought in new Board members and planned for the future. Your generosity was a tremendous help and we have been able to move ahead with exciting new plans including a new rehearsal space, a possible trip to the DanceUSA presenting festival in Washington DC and plans for bringing acclaimed contemporary choreographer James Gnam down from Vancouver, British Columbia. Thank you all so much!

We also have some exciting news about past and present dancers. Company apprentices for the OPB Project Kelly Ramis and Lauren Cannon have moved onto college, Lauren at University of Arizona’s dance program and Kelly was just accepted into Southern Methodist University’s dance program. Congratulations to both of them!
Megan Smith has moved back to Portland and we welcome her back into rehearsals and class. We have new dancers who will be visible on the website in the New Year as well as some cool pictures and a more extensive video collection. Check the website in about 1 month!

Company dancer Scott Trumbo and Melissa Framiglio were featured guests for “Nutcrackers” in Washington state, New Mexico and Oregon this year, and new company dancers Jenna Swanberg and Emily Bartha also appeared in “Nutcrackers” both local and out of town. Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard was a repeat guest Artistic Director for Vancouver Dance Theater this year as well as appearing once again as the drunk Cossack in The Portland Ballet’s “La Boutique Fantasque” choreographed by John Clifford. He is new Adjunct Faculty at Portland State University, teaching beginning and Intermediate Ballet. Company dancer Renee Adams has her own business now!. Check her new website out at: www.learnthroughdance.com, most especially if you have little ones who want to learn to dance. Renee is a master at engaging and educating the younger set.

Bouand DanceCompany is now supported by the RACC! We received a grant to help us travel to Washington for the DanceUSA Festival. This is a first grant for us from them, and a big step forward!
We have a new technical and organizational assistant, James Holstadt who is working on streamlining our accounting and record-keeping. If we have not yet sent you a letter for your tax person, please let him know (james@bouanddancecompany.org) and we’ll get one right out to you.

That’s all the news for now, and once again a heartfelt thank you to all of you who sent funds in this trying time, we love and appreciate your trust, generosity and hope for our future.

Bouand DanceCompany staff and dancers.

It’s Fall (i’m sure you noticed) and BDC is continuing it’s re-organizing and planning for the next season.  Negotiations with James Gnam of Plastic Orchid Factory in Vancouver, BC are going well, and we’ll keep you up to date on his planned arrival.  Company dancer Scott Trumbo is dancing in Vancouver Dance Theater’s “Nutcracker” with choreography by BDC Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard.  Rehearsals are weekends and involve around 70 young people.  Shows are in early December.  BDC Artistic Director Alexandrous Ballard is dancing himself in The Portland Ballet’s production of “La Boutique Fantasque” at the Newmark, Thanksgiving weekend.  The Metropolitan Youth Orchestra is providing live accompaniment, so mark your calenders!

Our first Young Audience show is November 20th!  Thank you to Renee Adams and Young Audiences’s Miriam Budner for all their work and support.  We have some new faces also, which we’ll be putting up on the website soon.

Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and generous with their donations, helping us keep operating and allowing us to grow and plan, we appreciate your support and trust in our efforts so much!

Break out the sweaters and stay warm everyone!

Bouand DanceCompany appeared at OBT’s “Fall.ART.Live” event last weekend.  Here are some pictures from “Echo” with Renee and Keeley, and “Girl” with Cait, Michelle, Renee, Kelly, Emily and Melissa.

We all had fun, except for the sun being in our eyes…

Greetings.

While we wait and anticipate the OPB Broadcast of our June performances of “SideShow”, we are now turning our attention to the future. We are currently undergoing a Board rotation as some members step down and new ones step up and on. We are also utilizing the time to organize our office, upgrade our software and build new repertory.

Our new Board members are David Smith and Walter Kennedy. David works for KATU channel 2 and Walter Kennedy is Assistant Professor of Dance at University of Oregon. Stepping off the Board is Bruce Powers, who has been an incredible asset and responsible for so much of our success. Bruce will remain a friend and advisor of the company, but will be concentrating his attention on his own new business. Board members Nell Walkley, Gail Neuberg and Alexandrous Ballard will remain.

Walter Kennedy was in Portland during June and set a short work on the Company dancers. Dancer Megan Smith is moving away from Portland and new company apprentice Emily Bartha will step into some of her roles. We have a great need for another male dancer, and will be looking at bringing someone in from outside Portland for performances, possibly from France. We’ll keep you posted.

Negotiations are underway with 3 new choreographers from Europe and Canada for 2010 and beyond. The Company will be exploring the European connection more vigorously, and is looking to be resident at PSU Lincoln Hall in the Fall and Spring of 2010/2011. Until these dates, we are planning a number of free studio viewing events, and possible short performances this Fall and Winter. Keep checking the webpage for updates.

The Company begins its Young Audience shows this fall as a “new artist in-schools”. This is very exciting and will bring a taste of Bouand DanceCompany to young people across 5 counties. We are also participating in the Right Brain Initiative (go to: http://www.therightbraininitiative.org/ for more information). We will also be performing at the Fall.Art.Live festival at Oregon Ballet Theater’s studios this month, check their website for times.

While many Arts organizations both large and small are suffering in this economy, we are still managing to hold steady, mostly by limiting our overhead and concentrating our funding efforts on specific programs with rigorous budgets. As we grow however, we find ourselves in need of a small amount of capital just to keep the phones on, computers connected and small bills paid. A small donation to keep us operating smoothly would be very welcome, and will allow us to work on our next big thing; not glamorous we know, but essential nonetheless.

Thanks!

Bouand DanceCompany

Photo’s by Steve Miller

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