PERPETUAL MOTION

The non-stop regimen of the Eugene Ballet 7: -

The Eugene Ballet Company .

performed Prokofiev’s Romeo and
Juliet at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre

last Thursday night. The Terrace |
performance was one of five’

British Columbia stops including
Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Prince
George and Kamloops, In Prince
Rupert and Kitimat, the troupe
also performed
Audience shows to school children
(a shortened version of
Stravinsky's Pulchinella). .

Artistic director Toni Pimble
explains that the Eugene Dance
Company evolved 11 or 12 years
ago through the efforts of herself
‘and husband Riley Gannan. Both
Riley and Toni were professional
dancers who met _ while
performing in Germany. Riley
was from Eugene, Oregon and the
Eugene Ballet Company was born
there, They began with a dance
school and then started to put on
performances with professional
dancers generously agreeing to
work for only-a cut of the box
office receipts.

The Eugene Ballet Company,

‘as a non-profit organization, now :

works with an annual budget of
$800,000 and the 20 dancers are
guaranteed at least 30 weeks
work per year. Toni describes
dancers as “gypsy-like" so they’re

often flitting off to try something |

new.
Through U.S. Arts Councils in
Arizona and New Mexico, the
Eugene Ballet Company
participated in Dance on Tour

two- Young

' programs in January and Febru-

ary of this year. In each of five
communities in each state, the
dancers spent four or five days
teaching jazz and ballet, doing
technical instruction, storytelling,
a Young Audience performance of
Children of the Raven choreo-

‘graphed by Toni Pimble, and a

final performance.
The Eugene Ballet Company

| is-always looking to expand. Each

year, they perform The Nut-

cracker up to 50 times, using 20 - _

40 local children as part of the
cast of each performance. In
Romeo and Juliet, three Terrace
‘children’, Doug Thompson, Doug
Smith and Glen Saunders, per-
formed the small roles of the
Prince of Verona and two guards.
Toni Pimble explains, "It’s
another useful way of making the
community feel a part of the per-

formance."

She says they originally ‘set’
Romeo and Juliet in-1984 or 1985.
It took many hours of preparation

oe

The British Columbia Young Artists exhibition was hung at the
Terrace Public Art Gallery last weekend. Art Association volunteers

‘Maureen Worobey and gallery curator Mary Alice Neilly (above)

with Alan Soutar, Helen Kelly and Nancy Richardson spent all day
Saturday hanging the pieces by young B.C. artists ranging from
preschool age to 18 years. The Emily Carr College of Art and
Design describes these bienniel touring exhibitions coordinated by
them since 1979, "For British Columbia's young artists, the BCYA
exhibitions continue to provide the only opportunity to showcase
and to celebrate their feelings and viewpoints they so candidly
express in their art works." The show opened Tuesday and runs

until March 25.

Terrace Review —- March 13, 1992

te ae ees

Seve,

leet Suen ete ot
= Sete eed