Ballet Fantastique
Ballet Fantastique is a 5013 nonprofit, chamber ballet company based in Eugene, Oregon, 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 company, a pre-professional academy in the Russian Vaganova method of training, and a busy outreach wing. Ballet Fantastique became a resident company at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts 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 Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Ballet Fantastique also tours, and has performed with Ballet Rogue in Medford, Oregon, at the internationally recognized Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, and at the Lincoln Performance Hall in downtown Portland, Oregon, to name just a few. The company has been called a "bold, cross-disciplinary dance company" by Dante Zuniga-West of the Eugene Weekly. 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, "Night at the Café Terrace." Other notable collaborations include the Oregon Mozart Players, the Karin Clarke Gallery, the Eugene Symphony, 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+. The Academy admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin.In the Professional Training Division, dancers age 9 and up study the Vaganova 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 Vaganova method of training as well as in pedagogy 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 in 2003 and earned 501 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:| Title | Music | Premiere |
| Nevermore: Stories of Edgar Allan Poe | Liz Dorman, Dale Bradley, Sergei Teleshev play the music of Youtube celebrity composers Peter Gundry and Lucas King | Oct. 25-27, 2019 |
| Cleopatra: The Ballet | Beats Antique | May 9–12, 2019 |
| Babes in Toyland | Swing Shift Jazz Orchestra | Dec. 10-12, 2018 |
| Alice in Wonderland: Remix | High Step Society | May 11–13, 2018 |
| The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | Dreos + Gerry Rempel Ensemble | October 27–29, 2017 |
| Aladdin: A Rock Opera Ballet | Satin Love Orchestra | May 12–14, 2017 |
| Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon + Tales from the Floating World | DaXun Zhang + Oregon Mozart Players and Mitsuki Dazai | March 3–5, 2017 |
| The Book of Esther: A Rock Gospel Ballet | Andiel Brown + the UO Gospel Singers | December 9–11, 2016 |
| Pride & Prejudice: A Parisian Jazz Ballet | Gerry Rempel Jazz Syndicate | October 14–16, 2016 |
| Scarlet Flower: Beauty and the Beast Retold | Trio Voronezh | May 6–8, 2016 |
| Dragon & the Night Queen: Celtic Stories | Gerry Rempel Ensemble + Eliot Grasso | February 26–28, 2016 |
| The Odyssey: The Ballet | Original live looping violin by Cullen Vance | February 27-March 1, 2015 |
| An American Christmas Carol | Halie Loren, singing original arrangements of 1940s holiday jazz standards | December 12–14, 2014 |
| The Book of Esther: A Rock Gospel Ballet | UO Gospel Singers | May 9–11, 2014 |
| Tales from the Floating World | Original music by Portland Taiko and Mitsuki Dazai | February 7–9, 2014 |
| Zorro: The Ballet | Original music by Incendio, the Latin world guitar fusion band from L.A, and virtuoso violinist Kim Angelis | October 17–19, 2013 |
| Pride and Prejudice: A Parisian Jazz Ballet | Gerry Rempel Jazz Syndicate | May 4–5, 2013 |
| The Misadventures of Casanova | Antonio Vivaldi, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jean-Baptiste de Lully, Johann Sebastian Bach | February 2–3, 2013 |
| Cirque de la Lune | Original music, played live by Betty & the Boy, Troupe Carnivale, and Mood Area 52 | October 20–21, 2012 |
| Cinderella: A Rock Opera Ballet | Hits from the 1960s, played live by Shelley & Cal James and the Agents of Unity | May 12–13, 2012 |
| Arabian Nights | Traditional music | January 28, 2012 |
| Tango Para Abel, St. Margaret's Tears, Illumination, Misterioso, Magie Noire, Viheula, and Jaco y Paco | Incendio, the Latin world guitar fusion band from L.A. | October 22, 2011 |
| As You Like It: A Wild West Ballet | Aaron Copland, Hershy Kay, George Gershwin, Jacques Offenbach, Leroy Anderson, John Philip Sousa, Ferde Grofé, traditional saloon music, and original compositions for honkytonk piano by Jeremy DeKyle Schropp | April 16, 2011 |
| Tango Forte | Dublex Inc. | January 29, 2011 |
| Sunday Table | Pink Martini | January 29, 2011 |
| Libertango | Astor Piazzolla | January 29, 2011 |
| Gaucho, De Ushuaia a la Quiaca, Pampa | Gustavo Santaolalla | January 29, 2011 |
| Juan Loco | Rodrigo y Gabriela | January 29, 2011 |
| Jongo--No. 3 Suite Brasileira | Lorenzo Fernandez | January 29, 2011 |
| Cinquenta Anos de Soledad | Original score Charles Gurke | January 29, 2011 |
| Dime Amor | Enrique Cardenas, arranged and sung by Jessie Marquez | January 29, 2011 |
| Mi Confesion | Gotan Project | January 29, 2011 |
| Girl from Ipanema | Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto | January 29, 2011 |
| Folk Suite | Traditional Irish and Celtic folk medleys | November 20, 2010 |
| Desperation, Obsession, and Passion | John Corigliano, music from The Red Violin, with art by Adam Grosowsky from the Karin Clarke Gallery, suite of variations | November 20, 2010 |
| Orion | Metallica, played by the Scorched Earth Orchestra | November 20, 2010 |
| Bulgarska Tantsova Suita | Original score Jeremy DeKyle Schropp, suite of variations | November 20, 2010 |
| Christmas Adagio | Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 8, Arcangelo Corelli | November 20, 2010 |
| Tales of Beatrix Potter | John Lanchbery | April 30, 2010 |
| Love at the Cafe Terrace | An original score by Eugene-based composer Jeremy DeKyle Schropp, with art by Rob Adams | 2009 |
| Pourquoi me Reveiller, Je Crois Entendre Encore, Song to the Moon, Apres un Reve | Jules Massenet, from the opera Werther; Georges Bizet, from the opera The Pearl Fishers; Antonín Dvořák, from the opera Rusalka; Gabriel Fauré | 2009 |
| La Vie en Rose, Je Suis une Enfant, Milord, Ma Jeunesse, Ta Tienne | Edith Piaf; Carla Bruni | 2009 |
| Lagrima and Adelita | Guitar meditations with classical guitarist John Jarvie | 2009 |
| Argentinian Dance and Besame Mucho | Trio Voronezh | 2009 |
| Russian Ragtime, Waltz for Nicky and Strauss Polka | Trio Voronezh, suite of variations | 2009 |
| New York Tango | Trio Voronezh | 2009 |
| Breakfast at Tiffany's | Henry Mancini, Suite of variations | 2008 |
| Carnival of the Animals | Commissioned by Eugene Symphony | 2008 |
| Four Novelettes | Commissioned by and performed with the Oregon Mozart Players | 2008 |
| Daphnis and Chloe | Commissioned by Eugene Symphony | 2008 |
| La Soledad | Pink Martini, with art by Adam Grosowsky from the Karin Clarke Gallery | 2007 |
| La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid No. 6, Op. 30 | Luigi Boccherini | 2007 and 2010 |
| Brazil | Pink Martini | 2005 |
| Goldilocks & the Three Bears | Hérold-Lanchbery, La Fille Mal Gardee | 2005 |
| Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf | Tchaikovsky, Petipa, The Sleeping Beauty | 2005 |
| Madama Butterfly | Giacomo Puccini | 2004 |
| The Cakewalk Ballet | Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Kay | 2005 |
| Casta Diva | Vincenzo Bellini | 2003 |
| Handel's Water Music | George Frideric Handel | 2003 |
| Chopin Waltzes | Frédéric Chopin | 2003 |