Pacific Northwest Ballet

Pacific Northwest Ballet
Pacific Northwest Ballet
General information
Name	Pacific Northwest Ballet
Previous names	Pacific Northwest Dance Association
Year founded	1972; 52 years ago
Principal venue	Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Website	http://www.pnb.org/
Senior staff
Director	Peter Boal
Artistic staff
Principal Conductor	Emil de Cou
Other
Orchestra	Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra
Official school	Pacific Northwest Ballet School
Formation	Principal; Soloist; Corps de Ballet; Apprentice

Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States,^[1] with 11,000 subscribers in 2004.^[2] The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts more than 100 performances throughout the year; it is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/Maurice Sendak Nutcracker, which it presented from 1983 through 2014 and produced as a feature film.^[3]^[4]

In 2006, the company was chosen to perform at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival.

PNB performs at McCaw Hall in the Seattle Center.

History

Pacific Northwest Ballet was founded in 1972 following the two-month residency of the First Chamber Dance Company,^[5] as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association.^[6] Under the directorship of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, originally of New York City Ballet,^[7] it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978.^[8] Stowell and Russell left at the end of the 2004–2005 season.^[9] A portrait by artist Michele Rushworth was painted of Stowell and Russell and installed in the Phelps Center, Seattle, to commemorate their careers and retirement. Both had studied with and danced for George Balanchine.^[10]

In July 2005, Peter Boal succeeded Stowell and Russell as artistic director following their retirement.^[9] After dancing with the New York City Ballet for 22 years, he had been a full-time faculty member at The School of American Ballet from 1995-2005.^{[citation needed]}

In 2013, the company and its orchestra toured to New York for the first time in sixteen years. The New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay, stated of their presentation that "This is a true company," more "unified in its understanding of Balanchine" than the New York City Ballet.^[11]

In 2012, PNB brought in Twyla Tharp as its first artist in residence for a year-long residency.^[12]

Pacific Northwest Ballet School

The Pacific Northwest Ballet School was founded in 1974.^[13] Formerly directed by Francia Russell, and now directed by Peter Boal, it has been considered to be "one of the leading, if not the definitive, professional training school in the country."^[14] The teaching is structured on that of the School of American Ballet.^[15] Pacific Northwest Ballet holds an annual summer course in the month of July and is considered one of the leading summer dance education facilities in the country.

Dancers

Pacific Northwest Ballet is noted for choosing dancers that have physique, expressivity and a variety of body shapes.^[16]

Principals

Name	Training	Joined PNB	Promoted to Principal	Other companies (incl. guest performances)
Jonathan Batista	English National Ballet	2021	2022	Boston Ballet Cincinnati Ballet Oklahoma City Ballet
Leta Biasucci	Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet San Francisco Ballet School	2011	2018	Oregon Ballet Theater
Kyle Davis	Makaroff School of Ballet Rock School for Dance Education North Carolina School of the Arts Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2009	2020
Angelica Generosa	School of American Ballet Princeton Ballet	2012	2020
Cecilia Iliesiu	School of American Ballet Studio Maestro	2015	2022	Carolina Ballet
Elle Macy	Orange County Dance Center Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2013	2021
James Yoichi Moore	San Francisco Ballet School School of American Ballet	2004	2013	Pittsburgh Ballet Theater
Elizabeth Murphy	Academy of Ballet Arts Rock School for Dance Education	2011	2015	Pennsylvania Ballet Ballet West II Ballet West
Lucien Postlewaite	School of American Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2004	2008, 2017	Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
James Kirby Rogers	North Carolina School of the Arts	2021	2022	Houston Ballet II Kansas City Ballet
Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan	Rock School for Dance Education Metropolitan Ballet Academy School of Pennsylvania Ballet	2017	2023	Pennsylvania Ballet
Dylan Wald	Minnesota Dance Theatre The Dance Institute Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2015	2020

Soloists

Name	Training	Joined PNB	Promoted to Soloist
Madison Rayn Abeo	Cornish Preparatory Dance Program Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2017	2022
Dammiel Cruz-Garrido	School of American Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet	2016	2022
Christopher D'Ariano	School of American Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2017	2022
Clara Ruf Maldonado	School of American Ballet	2018	2023
Amanda Morgan	Dance Theatre Northwest Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2017	2022
Miles Pertl	Pacific Northwest Ballet School International Ballet Academy John Cranko Schule	2015	2021
Christian Poppe	Pacific Northwest Ballet School Cornish College of the Arts Preparatory Dance Dance School in Everett Johnson and Peter's Tap Dance Ballet Bellevue Betty Spooner's Creative Arts Foundation	2014	2022
Kuu Sakuragi	Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2020	2023
Price Suddarth	Central Indiana Dance Ensemble School of American Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2011	2018
Leah Terada	Dallas Metropolitan Ballet School of American Ballet	2015	2022
Ezra Thomson	Riverside Ballet Arts Orlando Ballet School Pacific Northwest Ballet School	2010	2017

Corps de ballet

Luca Anaya
Malena Ani
Dylan Calahan
Ryan Cardea
Mark Cuddihee
Luther DeMyer
Ashton Edwards
Melisa Guilliams
Connor Horton
Zsilas Michael Hughes
Rosalyn Hutsell
Kali Kleiman
Larry Lancaster
Audrey Malek
Noah Martzall
Joh Morrill
Ginabel Peterson
Juliet Prine
Yuki Takahashi
Genevieve Waldorf
Lily Wills
Destiny Wimpye

Notable former dancers

References

^ Flatow, Sheryl (July 1, 1995). "Full Length Ballets". Dance Magazine. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ Macdonald, Moira (February 12, 2004). "Ballet's artistic directors to retire". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
^ "Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker". Archived from the original on May 22, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ "The Artists" (Press release). Pacific Northwest Ballet. 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
^ Campbell, R.M. (January 2, 2003). "Dance professional Bennett raised standard in Seattle". Seattle PI. Seattle, United States. Retrieved January 10, 2012. Campbell cites the residency as occurring in 1971.
^ Campbell refers to the organization as the Pacific Northwest Ballet Association.
^ Kisselgoff, Anna (March 28, 1984). "The New York Debut of Pacific Northwest". New York Times. New York City, United States. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
^ "PNB History and Fact Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "PNB Vision and Mission". Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ Macaulay, Alastair (September 27, 2007). "An Idiomatic Balanchine, Walking the Walk in Seattle". The New York Times.
^ Macaulay, Alastair (February 17, 2013). "Performers From the West Coast Serve Up Balanchine". New York Times. New York, United States. Retrieved February 17, 2013.
^ Kaderlan, Alice (September 23, 2013). "Pacific Northwest Ballet debuts its talented new status symbol". Crosscut. Seattle, United States: Crosscut Public Media. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
^ "PNB School – School Philosophy". Retrieved April 23, 2008.
^ Horosko, Marian (February 1, 1996). "Pacific Northwest Ballet School: doing it right". Dance Magazine.
^ ^a ^b Campbell, R.M. (June 16, 2008). "Pacific Northwest Ballet school's annual spring performances brim with talent". Seattle PI. Seattle, United States. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
^ Datz, Melody (March 20, 2013). "Approaching Heaven". The Stranger. Seattle, United States. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c Macaulay, Alastair (June 9, 2015). "Carla Körbes Grandly Bows Out of Pacific Northwest Ballet". New York Times. New York, United States. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
^ Datz, Melody (May 28, 2014). "Bowing Out: When and Why Ballet Dancers Retire". The Stranger. Seattle, United States.

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Reviews

NY Times by Alastair Macaulay, November 5, 2007
NY Times by Alastair Macaulay, September 25, 2007
Sunbreak Magazine by Rosie Gaynor, June 14, 2011
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by R. M. Campbell, September 26, 2003

External links

^ Campbell, R. M. (September 26, 2003). ""Swan Lake" is a feast for the senses". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle, United States. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
^ Gaynor, Rosie (June 14, 2011). "PNB's Season Encore a Momentous Farewell to Eight Dancers". Sunbreak Magazine. Seattle, United States. Retrieved March 6, 2024.