The bloom of youth and the stillness of maturity hit the stage at Oregon Ballet Theatre this season with James Canfield’s take on "Romeo and Juliet," opening Feb. 27, and Nicolo Fonte’s "Beautiful Decay," set to open in April. Shakespeare’s remains the classic love story that ends in suicide, while Beautiful Decay takes on aging and death by contrasting OBT's young dancers with two 75-year-old dance veterans.

Aaron Scott sat down with Canfield, who founded OBT in 1989, and Fonte to get some insight into the process of choreographing these two very different — but equally dark — ballets.