Editore: Susan Higgins, Ballet Instructor & Artistic Director, Cascade Athletic Club; Oregon Concert Ballet Co., 1984]., [Portland & Gresham, OR:, 1984
Da: Zephyr Used & Rare Books, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.
4to. [Approx. 250 pp (sections separately paginated, and unnumbered, some numbered in ink, several with duplicate numbering), consisting of typescript, musical score, and illustrations, many of the pages with extensive ink and/or pencil annotations, some updates, photocopies with additional revisions, many pages with updates taped onto the musical score, approx. 200 pp. preserved in archival mylar sleeves, remainder 3-hole punched at gutter margin and inserted. Contemporary black vinyl 3-ring binder (minor scuffing, edgewear), still VG exemplar. A wonderful original ballet director's art direction notebook for the Peter Pan ballet staged in 1984, intended to offer young up-and-coming ballet students at the time to experience live performances, and to unify Eastside/Westside Royal Academy of Dancing trained students. It would be 5 years before the Oregon Ballet and Pacific Ballet Theater would consolidate under the direction of James Canfield to form the Oregon Ballet Theatre. This ballet featured four acts, divided into The Nursery, Neverland, Ship of the Pirates, and Conclusion, featuring solos by Wendy, Tinker Bell, Peter, and Captain Hook over the length of the production. Dancers 4-5 years old were featured as the Neverland Fairies, 5-7 years old with 2 years of training, and pre-primary Royal Academy examinations behind them played Forest Fairies; Lost Children were 6-9 years old, and had performed Barre and footwork; followed by the Pirates and soloists, including Wendy (Heather Miller), Peter Pan (Laura Spradlin), Captain Hook (Elizabeth Johnson), and the mermaids drawn from the Lake Oswego School of Ballet under the directorship of Christine Donald. The original score by Anita Perry (b. 1960), an up-and-coming Canadian composer out of British Columbia where she had studied piano with Lee Kum Sing and composition with Cortland Hultberg. In her early 20's M. Perry had already won several composition awards, was known for her original ballet works, and wrote this score with orchestration for a variety of instruments, "lending to the performance. . . a more closely approximated real environment experienced by professional dancers." Peter Pan as a ballet required a fair amount of athleticism, and as indicated here in Higgins's artistic director's notebook required extensive choreography changes, scene adjustments, and revisions by M. Perry. Higgins studied and danced at the British Royal Ballet, later with Elvie DeMarko (1924-1989) of Ballet Russe, and then with Robert Barnett of the Atlanta Ballet. No similar notebooks, or programs survive for this 1984 ballet, and there are no recordings, or printed musical scores this cataloguer could uncover.