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Dance

The Spirit of Harlem Shines in Portland

White Bird Brings The Wonder Of New York To Portland With Dance Theatre Of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem has not been back to Portland to perform for thirty years. The excitement for their return last night at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland was palpable. The line before the show outside extended […]

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Dance

Sweet Surrender to Your Supreme Self

Hep Hep Sweet Sweet is the opening piece of three, for the Urban Bush Women, a Brooklyn, New York-based dance company, celebrating its 30th Anniversary at the Newmark Theatre in downtown Portland, presented by White Bird. It begins in a lively mood, “Parker’s Mood” in fact, by Charlie Parker, with everyone costumed in fantastic sequined […]

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Dance

At Least We All Eat Hummus

Last night, two performances were paired together for something that White Bird calls, New Israeli Voices in Dance, presented at Portland State University’s Lincoln Hall. It is part of their Uncaged program and runs through Saturday night. Both of these featured works are minimal in their stage and costume design, which I suspect makes the […]

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Dance

Connect the Lines

The Alonzo King LINES Ballet begins as abruptly as it ends. The stage curtain at the Newmark Theater in downtown Portland lifts and a company of ten dancers is thrust into movement by the opening jolting chords of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto For Two Violins. The show seems to start in the middle of something, […]

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Dance

21st Century Zeitgeist

Paul King and Walter Jaffe of White Bird Dance meet us at the stage of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall once again to introduce Nederlands Dans Theater 2. It’s been over a decade since this group, better known as NDT2, performed here in Portland. We can feel the gleam visible in their eyes as Paul […]