Dance Till You’re Dead: Oregon Ballet Theatre’s ‘Giselle’
Oregon Ballet Theatre opens Giselle this weekend at the Keller Auditorium.
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Giselle dies at the end of her titular ballet’s first act, but that doesn’t keep her offstage long. Giselle is a ghost story, after all. This weekend and next (February 14–22 at the Keller Auditorium, $32+), Oregon Ballet Theatre is mounting a “gently refreshed” run of the classic romantic ballet, which, having premiered in 1841, has the appropriately aged roots of any good tale of the undead.
The story also carries plenty of nineteenth-century quirk, including a plot that pivots on the notion of dancing oneself to death. While this lightly modernized adaptation—a collaboration between OBT artistic director Dani Rowe and choreographer Tiit Helimets—does rework some of the choreography, it doesn’t futz with the plot. Dance is still a very competent murder weapon.
Giselle, the extraordinarily beautiful peasant woman at the ballet’s center, dies not of dancing but of heartbreak (it’s not a spoiler, you’ve had two centuries to catch up). Her heart gives out when Albrecht, an affianced nobleman who courts her using a false identity, is exposed as a phony. Soon after, an undead cohort of slighted women called the Wilis, all of whom have suffered a similar fate, summon Giselle from the grave. The Wilis are out for vengeance, and their weapon is of course a mortally seductive dance. What will Giselle do with this newfound power? Well I wouldn’t want to spoil the plot.
More Things to Do This Week
comedy Liza Treyger
Various times Fri–Sun, Feb 14–16 | Helium Comedy Club, $24–40
If the people at Instagram saw her screen time, Treyger jokes in Night Owl, her Netflix special that dropped last month, they would say, “Wow, we did it, we ruined her life.” Of course, Zuckerberg’s thugs have that information, and are quite proud of themselves, but that’s Treyger’s whole bit. Told with an extreme immediacy and often trailing off before landing squarely on a punch line, Treyger’s jokes deftly set you up to answer the questions they raise. As Vulture’s Jesse David Fox writes, “the laughs she earns roll along with a unique rhythm.”
Evening Desert Hymn by Dennis Foster from Same Thing Twice at Nationale.
visual art Dennis Foster
Reception 2–4pm Sat, Feb 15; thru Mar 29 | Nationale, FREE
Though precise as an assembly line, Foster’s abstract color block paintings never quite repeat themselves. Instead, the iterative compositions in Same Thing Twice look for progress in their retellings. Unexpected brush marks and Foster’s folksy, organic presentations—a newsprint painting creased like a folded poster and held down by rocks—soften the rigorous patterns the same way time and human touch erodes the harsh edges of day-to-day struggles.
curiosa Hump!
Various times Feb 15–Mar 1 | Revolution Hall, $25
It’s the 20th anniversary of sex columnist Dan Savage’s indie porn extravaganza Hump! Perhaps you know the drill, but if you don’t, here’s the gist: Each screening features the same reel of select DIY erotic films, all of which are under five minutes and emphasize creative expression over explicit content (not that they’re PG). You go, watch the movies, and play games like lube thumb wrestling; eventually creators win prizes. Any ticket to this year’s screenings gets you into the 20-year party at Rev Hall (8pm–midnight Saturday, February 15).
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