Jaymi Dreiling, a member of the Oregon Dance Project and a 1998 University graduate, receives a ?wigcut? in preparation for her Friday performance.
As they admired each other under the bright, piercing glow of the dressing room mirrors, there was excitement in the voices of five of the dancers in this year’s Oregon Dance Project. But the dancers weren’t applying lipstick or an extra coat of mascara — they were cutting one another’s hair.
As they snipped and adjusted their short, black wigs at a tech rehearsal Thursday afternoon, they exchanged scissors and practiced fitting the nylon netting that underlies the hairpieces on their heads. They were cutting their $60 wigs so they each looked identical.
Fine tuning everything from costuming to the splashes of color that illuminate the stage were just a few of the adjustments the dancers made to prepare for today’s 7:30 p.m. performance in the Soreng Theater of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
Elise Moore, who is the founder of the Oregon Dance Project, also serves as producer, choreographer and dancer in the show. She said the project brings together some of the finest artists in the community, displaying both skill and local dance tradition. But she said it also promises to break the stereotypes associated with traditional ballet or jazz.
“These artists have produced an innovative repertoire of original dance performances,” said Moore, who is also the owner of The Pilates Center, located inside the Eugene Swim and Tennis Club.
With five of the seven original founders still involved in the third year of the performance, the project offers a wide variety in styles of dance and choreography featuring more than seven dance companies from the community.
“Recalling a Serenade,” choreographed by Moore and Kimberley Huber, is a female dance trio, consisting of the choreographers themselves along with fellow dancer Jaymi Dreiling, in a combination of flamenco postures and sweeping body movements. Dreiling is a 1998 graduate of the University.
Huber is a senior at the University majoring in landscape architecture. But this term, instead of attending classes, she’s applying herself to an internship with the architecture firm Stangeland and Associates and dancing on the side. Huber said she loves the balance of dance and architecture in her life because “it’s all spatial.”
She encouraged students and faculty to attend because the performance showcases groups of dancers who have concentrated on single types of contemporary choreography that differs from the well-balanced dance program on campus.
As dancer Marianne Gardner tugged at the corners of her wig, she explained that she’s excited for the show because she hasn’t been on stage in six years, taking some time off to give birth to her last child.
“I like the physical aspect and the emotional aspect of expressing the emotional through the physical,” said Gardner, as she explained that teaching dance, fitness and choreography is what she does for a living.
Moore, Huber, Gardner, Dreiling and Jimaca Vawter will take the stage together in a dance called “Rolling,” choreographed by Moore and Huber. Moore and Huber have choreographed together for five years, and danced with each other for seven years.
“We’ve know each other forever,” said Moore, who has lived in Roseburg since 1985.
Moore worked closely with stage manager Cheryl Lemmer on Thursday to ensure that Lemmer knew the visual cues for the timing of the lights during the music that accompanies the dancing. Lemmer, who helped to found the Zapp Dance Company, said a critical part of making sure the performance runs smoothly is to make sure the lighting technicians know their cues.
But for Moore, once it’s showtime, she said she just can’t wait for her feet to meet the floor.
“I like to perform,” she said. “It’s a natural high where you get to show someone something — your dancing or your choreography.”
E-mail features reporter Lisa Toth
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