Ballet Fantastique is a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit, chamber

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, and co-directed by mother-daughter team Donna and Hannah Bontrager. Ballet Fantastique was founded in October 2000 and currently has three components: A professional

chamber ballet A chamber ballet is a chamber music performance or work that features one or more ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert da ...

company, a pre-professional academy in the Russian

Vaganova Vaganov (russian: Ваганов) is a Russian toponymic masculine surname relating to a person living near the river Vaga, its feminine counterpart is Vaganova. Notable people with the surname include: *Agrippina Vaganova (1879–1951), Russian ba ...

method of training, and a busy outreach wing (bringing dance to a range of audiences both in-school and in-theater). Ballet Fantastique became a resident company at Eugene's

Hult Center for the Performing Arts The Hult Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts venue in Eugene, Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. The Hult Center is located downtown on Willamette Street between 6th & 7th Avenues, adjacent to the AJ Capital Partners, Graduate Eugene (previou ...

in June 2014.

Chamber Company

The Ballet Fantastique contemporary chamber company is directed by mother-daughter choreographer-producers Donna Marisa and Hannah Bontrager and composed of 20 professional artists from across the world. The company fields auditions from dancers across the US and internationally. Since 2003, the company has presented all-original contemporary ballet productions each season at the

. Ballet Fantastique also tours, and has performed with Ballet Rogue in Medford, Oregon, at the internationally recognized

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 cen ...

, and at the Lincoln Performance Hall in downtown

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, to name just a few. The company has been called a "bold, cross-disciplinary dance company" by Dante Zuniga-West of the Eugene Weekly (2011). According to Portland Center Stage Reviews, Ballet Fantastique has "made a name for itself in out-of-the-box revisions of classic story ballets." Ballet Fantastique concerts feature collaborations with live artists and musicians. Projections of local gallery paintings were used as backdrops for the performance Danse en Rouge: Variations in Red at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, which also included the Trio Voronezh and classical guitarist John Jarvie. In 2009, Ballet Fantastique collaborated with composer Jeremy Schropp and a 25-part orchestra in Visions d'Amour: 10 Ballets in Paris for the world premiere of his ballet inspired by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

, "Night at the Café Terrace." Other notable collaborations include the

Oregon Mozart Players Oregon Mozart Players is a professional chamber orchestra based in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The orchestra presents five concert sets in a typical season, in addition to numerous small ensemble performances and recitals by guest artists. Orc ...

, the Karin Clarke Gallery, the

Eugene Symphony The Eugene Symphony is an American orchestra based in Eugene, Oregon. Its home venue is the Silva Concert Hall at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Approximately 27,000 people attend Eugene Symphony's classical and pops concert performan ...

, Shelley and Cal James and their Agents of Unity Band for Cinderella: A Rock Opera Ballet, and the LA-based band Incendio.

Academy of Ballet Fantastique

The Academy of Ballet Fantastique teaches ballet classes for dancers ages 2–24, and also offers a separate Adult Dance Program for teens and adults ages 13+. In the Professional Training Division, dancers age 9 and up study the

Method of training in limited class sizes of 12 students or fewer The Young Dancer Program at The Academy of Ballet Fantastique is for dancers age 2 and up, and follows a progressive training approach as well, while introducing young children to creative movement, music education, and fundamentals of ballet. Students participate in professional performances with the company, and may audition for company positions and apprenticeships upon graduation. Academy of Ballet Fantastique coaches are experienced in the

method of training as well as in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

and professional performance.

Outreach

Ballet Fantastique's busy outreach programming includes scholarships for dancers in financial need, free tickets for youth to attend concerts, in-school integrated arts residencies, and school assembly performances.

History

Ballet Fantastique became an Oregon

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

in 2003 and earned 501(c)(3) non-profit status in 2006. The organization was established to bring dance training, performance opportunities and performances to the Lane County area. The company's first performance at the Hult Center was Danse Renaissance in June 2003. On October 30, 2010, Ballet Fantastique opened its highly visible City Center for Dance at 960 Oak Street, funded largely by a grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust.

Company repertoire

Selected list of new works created and choreographed by Donna and Hannah Bontrager for Ballet Fantastique:

External links

*www.balletfantastique.org
Ballet Fantastique Ballet Fantastique Official Website

References

{{authority control Dance schools in the United States Fantastique, Ballet Dance in Oregon Culture of Eugene, Oregon 2000 establishments in Oregon Performing groups established in 2000