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The first ballet showcases the faces and hands of the dancers as they are illuminated by a thin ray of light in the back of the stage, while a soloist expresses herself through dancing center-stage.
Falling Angels, the first piece of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet performed by the University of Oklahoma’s School of Dance, is a “masterpiece” by the world-renowned choreographer Jiří Kylián, Assistant Professor and choreographer Boyko Dossev said.
Dossev said the second piece, Strand, is a beautiful and emotional work by choreographer Robyn Mineko Williams. Strand is modern, contemporary, and smaller in scale than Dossev’s Sleeping Beauty.
Williams said her piece had an “abstract theme” and a creation process that allowed the dancers to inspire her with their connections and chemistry. She described Strand as “a stew of a lot of ingredients that bubble up, then you throw in experiential filters on it, and that’s what comes out.”
Junior ballet pedagogy major Alayna Wong said Williams was an “interactive” choreographer who personalized the choreography to match the dancers’ capabilities. Wong said Strand presents a good contrast to the other two pieces.
Sophomore modern dance performance major Hunter Sheehan said Williams encourages the dancers to be motivated for each movement to make it feel authentic, while Dossev’s choreography is more “placed.”
“With Sleeping Beauty, it’s very clean-cut, black and white,” Sheehan said about Dossev’s style. “While Robyn has the shades of gray.”
Act III of Sleeping Beauty, the third and final piece, features a different kind of storytelling by Dossev, he said. Sleeping Beauty is a classical work which involves most of the dance company.
“As I set, restaged, and choreographed Sleeping Beauty, I was reminded of classical ballet’s colossal demands and expectations,” Dossev said. “The dancers need to be in top technical condition; the set and scenery cannot be simple, and our costumes are over 30 beautiful handmade exquisite pieces.”
Dossev said Sleeping Beauty and Strand were different in their styles of choreography. The two pieces complement each other in that they are different in the number of performers, length, and story, he said.
Sheehan said Strand is about the freedom of movement while Sleeping Beauty is technical. “Falling Angels is the perfect combination of the two because the drums’ harsh rhythms allow the dancers to be free and lost in the movement.”
According to Sheehan, Kylián sent a message to the dancers saying Falling Angels is a symbol of strife between belonging and independence.
Dossev said the casting process is different every year. “We try to give equal opportunity to all dancers to experience a diverse repertory.”
Williams said they started the casting process with about 40 dancers. Needing to narrow her search down to ten dancers, she said she factored in who was already performing in one of the other two pieces, as well as the dancers’ openness to collaborate and try new things.
Wong said there were three rounds of callbacks and cuts before final decisions were made for casting Falling Angels. There were 24 students selected to perform between the three pieces, she said.
“I’ve been pushed in my technique and pushed in what I thought I could do,” Wong said. Having performed in the previous two years of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet, Wong said this year had a special impact on her.
Dossev said this year’s experience reminded him of how classical ballet can make dancers stronger and fully rounded artists.
“Classical ballet brings excitement and joy to audiences of all ages and backgrounds,” Dossev said.
Dossev said the Oklahoma Festival Ballet is an opportunity for the audience to experience the world’s best dance pieces performed by talented dancers.
A love for Oklahoma and its “beautiful people” inspired an Ethiopian woman to open the state’s first Ethiopian restaurant, featuring traditional dining and community eating.
Queen of Sheba’s owner Mimi Younis said she was born in Ethiopia, but lived in the U.S. for most of her life. Her family resided in Florida until a visit to Oklahoma surpassed Younis’ expectations and led to her opening the restaurant 16 years ago.
“(Oklahoma) just blew my mind,” Younis said. “It’s a great state. There’s beautiful people here.”
She said she moved her family from Florida in 2005 after visiting her uncle in Oklahoma, where she came up with the idea to bring something “new” and “different” to the state of Oklahoma.
While the outside of the restaurant blends in with the other stores in the shopping center, the inside displays unique Ethiopian culture showcased throughout the entirety of the lobby. The Ethiopian alphabet, accounts of the culture’s history, flags and artifacts are all displayed on the walls of the restaurant.
Queen of Sheba is open three days a week due to the restaurant’s limited number of staff members. Guests can enjoy an Ethiopian meal on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 4-9:30 p.m. Outside of their hours, the restaurant caters for events such as weddings.
The restaurant has a selection of three meat dishes and five vegetarian dishes, restaurant manager Ermias Wondimu said. The restaurant gives suggestions to first-time guests who have never experienced Ethiopian cuisine before.
“Our (dining style) is completely different than the rest of the world has, never ever seen before,” Younis said. “Except in Ethiopia, this is the way we eat.”
Guests at Queen of Sheba adopt the Ethiopian culture by dining as a community, eating with their hands and sharing food, plates and cultures with each other, Younis said.
“It’s a hidden treasure place. You sit together, you share your food together,” Younis said. “It’s a community and it’s a very good experience.”
Younis said the restaurant makes teff, the smallest grain in the world, and a sourdough flatbread called injera. No other restaurant in Oklahoma makes injera bread.
According to their menu, appetizers include sambusa and categna, a spicy injera. For entrées, the restaurant offers a selection of fish, chicken, lamb and beef.
Queen of Sheba continues to instill its cultural roots by holding coffee ceremonies where guests can opt to sit and enjoy three rounds of Ethiopian coffee, Younis said. The coffee is different from American coffee and is made from scratch. The use of older culture makes for a good experience in the restaurant’s dining, she said.
Next to the entrance of the restaurant is a roped-off area with a low table and two stools designed with cultural illustrations, used for the coffee ceremonies.
Younis said she runs her restaurant like a “Mom and Pop” with her husband Solomon Younis. She prefers to keep the staff at the restaurant “tight” and limited to family and friends.
Wondimu said he was a student at Oklahoma State University when he met Younis while searching for a venue to play reggae and Afro-Caribbean music.
“Even though the restaurant itself is trying to portray a traditional way of dining in Ethiopia, we want to touch on the modern side of the (United States) as well as the traditional,” Wondimu said.
Wondimu said the customers kept the business open after COVID-19 by going out of their way to support the business throughout the pandemic. Unlike other businesses during the pandemic, Queen of Sheba did not face a loss of business due to limited hours, small staff and high demand for their unique dishes.
“The greatest thing about this restaurant is that we have very loyal, good customers. They want us to stay here and keep on going, so we have a support group,” Younis said. “See, a lot of people, they want us to stay. They don’t want us to go away. With the good folks like that, we’re still here and kicking it.”
Regular customer Marcus Muse said he has been visiting Queen of Sheba for seven years. His favorite part about Queen of Sheba is the family aspect and being encouraged to learn Ethiopian phrases during the dining experience, he said.
“The platters are set up for multiple people and you are encouraged to eat with your hands,” Muse said. “That’s just the cultural way of doing things and they kind of bring that into the United States. That’s totally different from anywhere that you might go to in the city.”
Muse said he appreciated the restaurant’s respect for culture. The staff is welcoming to everyone, especially to African Americans who want to connect with their African heritage, he said.
“It breaks you out of the norm and gets you into a new experience,” Muse said.
Younis said Queen of Sheba relies on word of mouth rather than advertising, but still receives recognition from numerous magazines such as The Oklahoma Gazette.
“It’s not always about the food, it is always about the culture and what brought it together to the people,” Younis said.
