Event

Oslund+Company/Dance In Performance

Oslund+Co. features the revitalized full Co. repertory work Bete Perdue in addition to two new duets, Thirst and Prrr. Bete Perdue is an original piece which muses on the capacity for belief and disenchantment in the common world. Drawn from written history and individual vision, Bete Perdue is created collaboratively by choreographer Mary Oslund and master drummer and composer Obo Addy, whose work has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and Third Angle Music, and is an NEA Heritage Artist. The score by Addy will meld African and Western modes and instrumentation, tradition and invention, and theme and craft at a cultural intersection. Addy and Oslund will explore a rough common language, employing an engineer, Katie Griesar, as translator. Thirst is a duet for Bonnie Simoa and Walter Kennedy and is influenced by the film making of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang and his focus on deadpan humor, pollution/consumption, and the connections between people. The piece was commissioned by the dancers with support from the Oregon Arts Commission, Lane Community College Dance Program and University of Oregon Department of Dance. The music is composed by Katie Griesar. Prrr focuses on a condensed space and use of upper body, and was commissioned by Ten Tiny Dances for PICA's TBA 2008 Festival and is composed by Darrin Verhagen.