Gillmer Duran with the Eugene Ballet Company By Melissa Hart
Gillmer Duran crouches in a black T-shirt and leggings—slight, yet muscular—in front of seven other dancers in the Eugene Ballet Company and fixes intense dark eyes on them. “Try to be really sharp in your movements,” he instructs. “Fast and focused.”
Another dancer stares at himself in the studio mirror. “Fierce,” he mutters. In the back row, a woman giggles. Duran glides to the DVD player. At once, the slowed-down organ notes of Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” spill out of twin speakers. The young men and women pause a moment, counting the beats, then execute a series of swift jumps and turns. Fists punch the air. Elbows jab. Right hands smack left shoulders, and the dancers plunge to the floor, then leap up, heads snapping to attention.
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The piece is “Without the Cover,” debuting at the EBC’s winter performance on Valentine’s Day weekend. Duran choreographed a small portion of a show the company did with Pink Martini a few years back, and director Toni Pimble felt that his experimental style would also lend itself well to the upcoming performance. “We’re doing a contemporary evening,” she explains, “and his work is contemporary. Knowing the quality of the work, I know he’ll do a beautiful job.”
Only a handful of other dancers from the company have choreographed pieces in the past. Duran, 36, looks forward to the challenge. “At this point in my career, I’m feeling pretty good,” he says, “but I’m branching out.”
Born and raised in Venezuela, Duran hopes to showcase his country and its artists. Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero arranged the Bach piece, which begins traditionally, then moves into improvisation. “I really like the combination of classical music with improvisational dancing,” Duran explains.
About 30 minutes in length, “Without the Cover” is Duran’s metaphorical exploration of how society constrains people, and what happens when they reveal themselves. “We’re all multilayered human beings,” he says. “What is out there once you take the layers off?”
He admits that the piece—representative of his ambitions as a relatively unknown choreographer—is also deeply personal. “I want to uncover myself,” he says. “I want to present my work and be honest and vulnerable, strong and beautiful and unique.”
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Duran began Venezuelan folk dancing at age 11. As a teenager, he took formal classes in jazz and contemporary dance, but considered them a hobby. He earned a technical degree and went to work as a loan officer in a bank. There, a former dance partner approached him with an offer to join her newly formed company. “She told me she could pay me as much as I was making at the bank,” he recalls.
At home, his mother despaired. “For her,” Duran explains, “it was like: ‘My son who is working in a bank is going to be a dancer? Why are you doing this to me?’” Still, he began dancing professionally, and ended up with the Ballet Nacional de Caracas. “But in Venezuela, the arts depend completely on the state,” he explains. “[President Hugo] Chavez started to get a hold of things, and there wasn’t much work.”
Duran moved to the U.S. and began dancing—first with a company in Tulsa, and then with EBC. He’s also involved with Dancers Act Now, a community outreach program organized in response to recent economic challenges and designed to financially sustain the company. “We want the public to know that we’re a force to be reckoned with,” he says. “There is a preconception of dancers . . .” He pauses to tent his hands over his head in a parody of the classic ballerina pose, “but we’re an active, young, strong community—as athletic as football players. We work from 8 to 4, and then we go to the gym, even on the weekends.”
Vitality and excitement fill the studio as Duran puts his peers through their paces once more. “Move in close,” he says. “Don’t be shy, but be careful. Don’t hit each other.”
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From a hallway strewn with backpacks, toe shoes, and a pair of worn hiking boots, Ballet Mistress Susan Zadoff watches Duran. Her eyes shine as he demonstrates the dance, and her smile radiates enthusiasm. “He’s very promising,” she says.
Duran plays the Bach fugue again, this time to tempo. With the other seven dancers, he leaps and turns—sharp, fast, focused, perfect.
“Without the Cover” will be performed as part of the program “Dark Side of the Moon,” at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, - Saturday, February 13, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, February 14, at 2 pm.
Based on Pink Floyd’s concept album, “Dark Side of the Moon“ explores themes of conflict, greed, aging, and insanity. The popular local band Floydian Slips will join the company on stage for this world premiere performance of EBC resident choreographer Toni Pimble’s newest ballet. Also on the program is “Common Ground,” a contemporary ballet by Pimble.
