Performing Arts: Page 72

Red-Hot Honky Tonk

The Red Cane Theatre kicks off the fall season

Theater

A pair of city slickers arrives in a podunk town. They’ve come to close the local saloon, which is financially strapped. The businessmen’s trip is something of a lark; though their mission is clandestine and cutthroat, they find the saloon, and the people in it, quaint and charming. One of the businessmen starts to fall for the saloon’s proprietress, a gorgeous, lovelorn woman with a stubborn streak. Drama ensues, and the whiskey flows. Fights erupt. Hearts collide. Continue reading →

To Kill For

Theater

So just how juicy is the role of murderess Roxie Hart in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Chicago? “It’s very juicy,” says actor Paige Davis, who will be playing the homicidal vamp when the touring production stops for two shows Sept. 10 and 11 at Eugene’s Hult Center. “It’s been exceptionally juicy,” Davis adds. Continue reading →

Movers & Shakers

Meet the people who shape Eugene’s dance community

Dance

Eugene may not have Moscow’s Bolshoi or New York’s Martha Graham Dance Company; however, just below the city’s surface is a vibrant world of dance, of clacking heels and pointed toes, of “pop, lock and drops” and ball changes. From classical performances at the Eugene Ballet Company and sensual Middle Eastern folk dance at Celebration Belly Dance and Yoga to pioneering modern dance at the University of Oregon and glitzy hip-hop productions at Work Dance Company, there’s a groove for everyone’s mood. Continue reading →

Burlesque Boom

Eugene’s burlesque and variety troupes give the tradition a modern and silly spin

Dance

Burlesque is just stripping for hipsters, right? Or the kind of show to which Don Draper from Mad Men would take clients (performed at places with names like “The Boom Boom Room”)?  Wrong. The truth of the matter is burlesque has a long and storied history, and while dance is vital to burlesque, the popular variety shows also feature comedy, live music and social commentary.  Continue reading →

Mr. Dance International

Alito Alessi has been shaping the dance world for more than a quarter century

Dance

There is perhaps no one better known in the local dance community than international dance visionary Alito Alessi. The Eugene-based dancer, teacher and artistic director for DanceAbility International created the Joint Forces Dance Company and DanceAbility — a globally renowned method that explores artistic expression between people with and without disabilities through movement — with his dance partner Karen Nelson in 1987. And, naturally for a dancer, he just can’t stay in one place. This spring, he was chosen as an “arts envoy” by the U.S. Continue reading →

I.C.U. Crew

Forget intensive care — this male hip-hop group will keep hearts beating

Dance

Lounging on the overstuffed chairs and couches of All That! Dance Company’s studio, Jordan Ross and twin brothers Coleman and Kaelen Byrum look like any clean-cut, athletic 18-year-olds. Only Ross’s I.C.U. Dance Crew T-shirt gives any indication that the guys might not be into just the usual track and football.  Yet get them and the other two crew members, 18-year-olds Logan McGann and Aidan Ziegler-Hansen, on stage and there’s no mistaking that these guys are an award-winning hip-hop dance group.  Continue reading →

Dance Listings

Dance

All That! Dance Company Ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, ballroom www.allthatdancecompany.com  Argentine Tango Practica Argentine tango 541-681-9681 / jackethanger@gmail.com Ballet Fantastique Ballet www.balletfantastique.org Ballet North West Academy Ballet 541-343-3914 / www.bnwa.net Celebration Belly Dance and Yoga Bollywood, Zumba, samba, capoeria, African, 40+ www.celebrationbellydanceandyoga.com Continue reading →