Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: Culture

Western Dance Professor Sharon Oberst

Every year the Portland Metro Dancers, a non-profit arts organization, hosts a performance that is a compilation of different styles of dance from many different local artists. The company's dancers, and often dancers chosen by the choreographer, perform the pieces as a way to increase awareness of dance in the Portland area. The Portland Metro Dancers calls the event, "The opportunity to see local artists at their best."
This year, the event is even more exciting for many people, especially Sharon Oberst, a dance professor at Western whose piece was performed this year at the event. It was exciting for Brittany Humphrey, Elizabeth Laurent, Jenna Moser, Renita Penunuri, Carolyn Rector and Julia Vincent as well, all who are Western dance students who were in the performance.
The performance was called the "Dance Mosaic" this year, and included Oberst's contemporary ballet "Lines into Circles," as well as pieces from other local choreographers.
Oberst has choreographed Western's Spring Dance Concert, as well as many of Western's theater productions, such as "No, No Tarantella" and "Cinderella." She has also directed and choreographed several pieces, including "The Sound of Music," and "West Side Story."
Oberst's dance experience expands far beyond directing and choreography. She studied at the High School for Performing Arts in Houston, at the Houston Ballet Academy, attended Lamar University, in Texas, where she received her bachelor's in dance and theater and a Secondary Education Teaching Certificate. She then attended the University of Oregon, where she received her master's in dance. Oberst has been able to study with many prominent dance figures, including Dame Merle Parks, Roni Mahler, Gwen Verdon and several others. She has performed in countless dance pieces and with several companies, from the Houston Ballet to the Eugene Ballet, and even Theatre Under the Stars which toured through the United States and Poland.
Oberst's performance at the Portland Metro Performance Arts Center's "Dance Mosaic" was "an exciting event." It was held on Saturday, Nov. 22, with two showings. For students interested in other events at the PMPAC, check out www.Pdxmetroarts.org.

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