(Above: Danielle Tolmie is the Eugene Ballet’s Snow Queen; photo by Ari Denison)

By Randi Bjornstad

Many people automatically think of The Nutcracker when the words winter, holiday, and ballet come together in the same sentence.

And while that is generally true — even for Eugene Ballet which, indeed yes, will do The Nutcracker in December — there’s another wintry tale waiting to be told first, and that is The Snow Queen, which Eugene Ballet will bring to the stage on Oct. 27-29.

The story is definitely a fairy tale, as the brave and beautiful Gerda undertakes a dangerous journey to save the love of her life, Kay, who has been captured and imprisoned by the nefarious Snow Queen. It is the work of prolific Danish fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen, who published it in 1844 and who also penned many others, including Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, The Nightingale, The Wild Swans, The Ugly Duckling, and The Red Shoes.

Eugene Ballet co-founder and artistic director Toni Pimble created her own version of The Snow Queen in 2017, and the ballet company commissioned an original, modern score — the first in its history — by Portland-based Kenji Bunch.

That connection was made through Brian McWhorter, founder and conductor of Orchestra Next, whose musicians will be playing the Bunch score — which Pimble describes as “new American” as opposed to classical ballet — for this production.

“I was excited by the complex rhythms used in many of Mr. Bunch’s compositions,” Pimble said in the announcement of the upcoming performances. She said she was “looking for music outside the traditional sounds of a classical ballet, and Bunch delivered.”

After the ballet had its premiere in 2017, reviewer Dean Speer wrote about it in Critical Dance magazine:

I happily enjoyed Eugene Ballet’s production of the world premiere of (Toni) Pimble’s latest creation, The Snow Queen. Over two years in the making and set to a newly commissioned score by Portland composer Kenji Bunch, with costume design by Jonna Hayden and set design by Nadya Geras-Carson, this ballet was a huge, and very local, successful undertaking.

The set, designed by Geras-Carson and built by Barry Rodgers and his team, evokes an enchanted ice palace. Among Hayden’s costumes are the Ice Queen’s elaborate, bejeweled cape and oversized dresses that turn dancers into flowers in the Conjure Woman’s Garden.

Eugene Ballet: The Snow Queen

When: 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27; and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 28 and 29

Where: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Center (Seventh and Willamette streets), Eugene

Tickets: $25 to $65 ($15 for youth and for college students with valid ID), available online at eugeneballet.org/performances, in person at the Hult Center box office, or by telephone at 541-682-5000