Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St.
(all shows start around 10 p.m.)
Monday: Comedy
Workshop
Tuesday: NIL 8 and Wide
Thursday: Live karaoke
with Shithook
Knickerbockers, 901 O St.
(all shows start around 10:30
p.m.)
Tuesday: Shake Appeal and
Happy Dog
Wednesday: Starla the
Nudie Dancer and Mohawk
Dog
Friday: Mr. McFeely and
Swerve
Saturday: The Diffrents and
Mediums
The Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th
St. (all shows start around 9
p.m.)
Monday: Ripple Effect
Tuesday: open stage
Wednesday: Alias Jane
Thursday: Duke Robillard
Friday and Saturday:
Ashanti
CMIBMCg ■
Burkholder Project, 719 P
St.
Tom Sheppard, “Hearts
Have Reasons Too” and
Lincoln Public Schools Art
Teachers exhibition opens this
month. A reception will be held
Friday from 7-9 p.m.
Gallery 9,124 S. Ninth St.
“Figuratively Speaking,”
all-member theme show, opens
Wednesday. An opening recep
tion and silent auction will be
held Friday from 7 p.m. to 10
p.m.
Haydon Gallery, 335 N.
Eighth St.
“The Woven Vessel,” North
American basketry exhibition,
opens Friday. There will be an
opening reception Friday from
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Noyes Art Gallery and
Studios, 119 S. Ninth St
Several collections, includ
ing jewelry by Bonnie Goochey,
photography by Robert Mohler
and paintings by Dorothy Dane,
Helen Donlan, Jan Keller and
Shirley McClure, will receive
an opening reception Friday
from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
University Place Art
Center, 2601N. 48th St
“Partners in Art,” a collec
tion of works by artist couples,
will open Friday. There will be
an opening reception that night
from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Week in Preview runs
Mondays in the Daily
Nebraskan and is compiled by
members of the arts and enter
tainment staff. Send all listings
to The Week in Preview c/o
Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska
Union 34, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
NE 68588-0448
Oakland Ballet works to preserve art of dance
ByLizaHoltmeeer
Staff Reporter
Imagine if the world lost its greatest inventions
like the telephone, the computer or the car.
Though this danger is far from imminent, a
similar possibility faces the dance world every day.
For years, dance has relied on the memory of
past generations to preserve its greatest choreo
graphic works; those works that were not per
formed were generally lost forever.
While dance notation and video-recordings
have helped remedy this problem, one company
realizes dance can only truly live on in perfor
mance.
The Oakland Ballet, which performs in Lincoln
this Thursday, has spent 32 years reconstructing
works by some of the most influential ballet chore
ographers of the 20th century.
/ In particular, the company has devoted itself to
choreographers associated with Serge Diaghilev’s
Ballets Russes.
The Ballets Russes was one of the most influ
ential ballet companies during the 1920s, touring
extensively in Europe. Its associates included such
ballet greats as dancers Vaslav Nijinsky and
Alexandra Danilova and choreographers George
Balanchine and Michel Fokine.
Ronn Guidi, the company’s artistic director,
founded the Oakland Ballet in 1965 after extensive
training in European ballet. He studied with Raoul
Pause, a former student of Diaehilev. choreoera
pher Adolph Bolm and the Royal Danish Ballet
School.
His experiences engendered an appreciation of
Diaghilev and his artistic associates.
“Diaghilev turned the ballet world around,”
Guidi said. “Ballet wasn’t considered a serious art
form. After him, it was.”
For this reason, Guidi felt a need to help pre
serve the voluminous amount of works produced
by the Diaghilevian choreographers.
One choreographer who has played a marked
role in the repertoire is Bronislava Nijinska, sister
to Vaslav Nijinsky.
“She is the greatest female choreographer to
date,” Guidi said. “In all ways, she is equal to
Balanchine.”
One of the first ballets the company recon
structed was Nijinska1924 piece “Le Train
Bleu.” The niece, which nriffinadv hnasteri ms.
tumes by Coco Chanel and a front drop by Pablo
Picasso, took a hard look at society in the 1920s
and die “trendism” of the upper class.
Since then, the company has re-staged two
other Nijinska ballets - “Les Noces” and “Bolero.”
“(Guidi) has created a very unique niche for us
in the dance world,” said Rick Gydesen, marketing
director for Oakland Ballet. “There are only two
companies in the United States who perform his
torical reconstructions of the Diaghilev era: us and
the Joffrey”
Other famous choreographers who grace the
company’s repertoire include Fokine, Kurt Joss,
Charles Weidman, Antony Tudor, Eugene Loring
and Agnes de Mille.
While the Ballets Russes repertoire has put the
Oakland Ballet on the world map, the company
also boasts works by major West Coast choreogra
phers like Tandy Beal, Margaret Jenkins, Remy
Charlip, Emily Keeler and Betsy Erickson.
With such a diverse repertoire, Guidi said, his
dancers receive an eclectic dance training that
includes classical technique and acting skills.
“The Oakland Ballet is noted for its story bal
lets,” Guidi said. “While the stylized Balanchine
dancer is fine for neo-classical ballet, it’s not good
when you are doing story ballets. You need dancers
who can communicate.”
Consequently, Guidi and Gydesen said the
company’s dancers are very human-looking.
“Our dancers come in all shapes and sizes, col
ors and body type,” Gydesen said. “They have a
tremendous amount of personality and character.”
Guidi said the dancers’ personalities have
helped the company evolve and progress.
And with 32 years as founding artistic director
under his belt, Guidi knows a great deal about pro
gression and evolution in the dance world.
“When I was growing up, there was the Ballets
Russes and the American Ballet Theatre. Now,
there are local ballet companies everywhere,” he
said. “The art is more diversified. I think that
decentralization is healthy.”
However, Guidi said the gradual decline in gov
ernmental support for the arts worries him.
“It seems very illogical that the wealthiest
country in the world does not support the arts,” he
said. “The federal government sends a very chill
ing message when they say federal tax dollars
should not support the arts. ; * A
“But art feeds the soul and can equal the reli
gious experience.” _ •
Thursday’s performance is indicative Guid’s Jji
attitude toward dance. The pieces to be per
formed are infused with passion, spectacle and j
The evening begins with Eugene Loring’s 9
“Billy the Kid” with music by Aaron Copland. 9
The piece, which premiered in 1938, tells the tale 9
of the outlaw Billy the Kid, who began his notori- Iff
ous career after his mother was murdered.
The performance of “Billy the Kid” is important If
to Guidi because of a promise he made to Copland. 1
“On his deathbed, he begged me not to let clas- |
sical dancers dance ‘Billy the Kid,’” Guidi said. 1
“He didn’t want dancers who don’t think they’re 1
dancing unless they’re doing fouettes.” ’
The middle section of the performance
includes three pas de deux. The first, “Hand of
Fate” is a piece choreographed by George
Balanchine to music by Emmanuel Chabrier. It is a
duet from Balanchine’s larger ballet “Cotillon.”
.! JI •-_^1_'!_J.. f l • %
vjuiui daiu urn picvc ucpicu* Daiauumic 5 cuilllliu
ous search for his muse and his lament that the
women in his Ii1
The second
“Can-Can” fi
Fantasque.” It i
composed by C
by Orttorino Re
“La Boutiqi
two dolls in low
ration when twc
The final d
choreographed
tury ballerina
credited with o
through her ex
India and the A
set to the “Glow
duet about a co<
who meets the i
Hie final pi
“Bolero” by M;
set to music b)
consists of a gr<
ting together afl
Guidi describee
attention-grabb
The Thursday performance
begins at 8 pjn. at the Lied Center
for Performing Arts. Tickets are
$28, $24 and $20, half-price for
students. To order, call the Lied
Box Office at (402) 472-4747.
V e
Courtesy Photo
JOY 6IM will perform Thursday evening at the Utd Center tar
Performing Arts. Gim is with the Oakland Ballet.