Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers; there are more than 100 performances throughout the year. PNB performs in

McCaw Hall Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (often abbreviated to McCaw Hall) is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are the Seat ...

at the

Seattle Center Seattle Center is an arts, educational, tourism and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington, United States. Spanning an area of 74 acres (30 ha), it was originally built for the 1962 World's Fair. Its landmark feature is the tall Space Needle ...

. It is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/ Maurice Sendak ''

Nutcracker A nutcracker is a tool designed to open nuts by cracking their shells. There are many designs, including levers, screws, and ratchets. The lever version is also used for cracking lobster and crab shells. A decorative version portrays a person w ...

'', which it had presented from 1983 through 2014, as well as made into a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

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

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The organization is known for a Summer dance festival. The facility also includes a professional school and extensive archives a ...

Dance Festival.

History

Pacific Northwest Ballet was founded in 1972, after the two-month residency of First Chamber Dance Company, Campbell cites the residency as occurring in 1971. as part of the

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an opera company based in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as its first general director until 1983. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of ...

and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association. Under the directorship of Kent Stowell and

Francia Russell Francia Russell (born January 10, 1938) is the former co-artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and former director of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, from 1977 to 2005. She was a soloist with the New York City Ballet, where she later be ...

, originally of

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. Stowell and Russell left at the end of the 2004–2005 season. 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. In July 2005,

Peter Boal Peter Boal is artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and director of its affiliated school in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB) at age nine. Boal assume ...

succeeded Stowell and Russell as artistic director following their retirement. 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. 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 Alastair Macaulay is an English writer and dance critic. He was the chief dance critic for '' The New York Times'' from 2007 until he retired in 2018. He was previously chief dance critic at '' The Times'' and Literary Supplement and chief theater ...

, stated of their presentation that "This is a true company," more "unified in its understanding of Balanchine" than the

. In 2012, PNB brought in

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

as its first artist in residence for a year-long residency.

Pacific Northwest Ballet School

The Pacific Northwest Ballet School was founded in 1974. 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." The teaching is structured on that of the School of American Ballet. 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.

Principals

* Jonathan Batista * Leta Biasucci * Kyle Davis * Angelica Generosa * Cecilia Iliesiu * Elle Macy * James Yoichi Moore * Elizabeth Murphy * Lucien Postlewaite * Lesley Rausch * James Kirby Rogers * Dylan Wald

Soloists

* Madison Rayn Abeo * Dammiel Cruz-Garrido * Christopher D'Ariano * Amanda Morgan * Miles Pertl * Christian Poppe *

Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan is a Mexican-American ballet dancer who is currently a soloist dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. Early life and training Ryan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Mexican mother and an Irish-American ...

* Price Suddarth * Leah Terada * Ezra Thomson

Corps de ballet

* Malena Ani * Ryan Cardea * Mark Cuddihee * Abby Jayne DeAngelo * Luther DeMyer * Ashton Edwards * Melisa Guilliams * Connor Horton * Zsilas Michael Hughes * Clara Ruf Maldonado * Audrey Malek * Noah Martzall * Joh Morrill * Ginabel Peterson * Juliet Prine * Kuu Sakuragi * Yuki Takahashi * Genevieve Waldorf * Lily Wills

Notable former dancers

* Patricia Barker *

Chalnessa Eames Chalnessa Eames (born 1978) is a ballet dancer who performed with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Early life and education Eames was born in Los Angeles, California. She is one of five children born to ...

Carrie Imler Carrie Imler (born 1977 or 1978) is an American ballet dancer. She joined the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 1995 and became a principal dancer in 2002. She retired in 2017, following a 22-year career, and started teaching at the company's school. ...

Carla Körbes Carla Körbes is a Brazilian ballet dancer who performed as a principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, then became the associate artistic director of L.A Dance Project. She is now an associate professor at Indiana University Jacobs S ...

* Louise Nadeau * Kaori Nakamura *

Noelani Pantastico Noelani Pantastico (born May 4, 1980) is an American ballet dancer. She was formerly a principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and also danced at the Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in Monaco. Early life Pantastico was born in Oahu, ...

Miranda Weese Miranda Weese (born ) is an American former ballet dancer, teacher and ballet master. She joined the New York City Ballet in 1993 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1996. In 2007, she left to perform with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, first ...

References

Reviews

NY Times
by

, November 5, 2007
NY Times
by

, September 25, 2007

External links

*
Pacific Northwest Ballet
at

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink prod ...

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