Featured image: Peter Boal as a student, courtesy Peter Boal Edward Villella The author discusses dancing as a powerful drug, in which muscles come alive. But performance also can be like running a stamina-draining marathon, tapping into stores of energy, then needing to manage an adrenaline rush that can take hours to relax from. All…
Tag: PNB
PNB’s Worlds to Come
“Worlds to Come,” PNB’s last set of performances for its 50th Anniversary Season, streamed digitally June 15-19. The program, with its two world premieres and a live performance premiere, was one of the best I’ve seen at Pacific Northwest Ballet. All three choreographers are extraordinary storytellers—Edward Liang, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Kiyon Ross—Liang and Ochoa…
Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Seattle
Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with delightful music from Felix Mendelssohn, is a crowd pleaser for sure. The choreographer himself must have had fond memories of when he performed, as PNB artistic director notes in his April 12, 2011 post in “Director’s Notebook,” as an eight-year-old bug in a St. Petersburg production. With staging by…
PNB presents “Boundless”
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Boundless” program featured choreographers Alejandro Cerrudo, Jessica Lang, and Penny Saunders. This review is of a film made opening night, March 17, 2023. In Penny Saunders’ Wonderland, Michael Wall supplies original music and adapts others. Divided into five sections, we hear strains of Jean-Philippe Goude, Hugues Le Bars, Erik Satie, Camille Saint-Saëns,…
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Plot Points, March 18-27, 2022
I’ve seen Plot Points a number of times, I adore it. What’s not to like? A plot, mystery, performance almost cinematographic. Terrific dance. Drama. Melodrama. (More on this later.) But the PNB premiere of Robyn Mineko Williams’ gorgeous Before I Was proved to be breathtaking. Dancers Leah Terada and Christopher D’Ariano soar in this whimsical…
Nutcracker—PNB REVIEW
The December 5, 2021 Saturday matinee performance featured Noelani Pantastico as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Christopher D’Ariano as her cavalier. Michael Jinsoo Lin provided the expert solo violin. D’Ariano’s been given a lot of opportunities in the past year, and it’s easy to see why—he’s a skilled dancer and a sensitive…
BEYOND BALLET—PNB REVIEW
Ulysses Dove’s Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven features Arvo Pärt’s music—the bell ringing is chilling. The overhead lighting is ominous, and the dancers, in sleek unitards, greys and whites, are conspicuous, exposed. Dove’s dance, complete with motifs, such as weight shifts in second position, or rapid leg extensions, is exciting to watch. Although…
PNB’s Wonderfully Diverse Rep
Pacific Northwest Ballet is a master in programming—variety, diversity, complexity. Case in point: Two very different PNB programs, one, all new choreography (Rep 4) and then the other, one of classical ballet’s greatest comedies, Coppélia (Rep 5). My cursory notes suggest a whole lot of great dancing. Highlights for me are below. … Rep (Program)…
Dance needs help
Google/Facebook search any of your favorite dance companies and you’ll get specific instructions on what to do to help keep the company financially solvent, as here: “Our ability to weather this crisis depends on cutting as much expense as we can while maintaining a bare-bones operation, as well as applying for relief funds and appealing…