Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe that 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-rou ...

based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. 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 and hosts more than 100 performances throughout the year; it is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...

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, a nutcracker doll ...

'', which it presented from 1983 through 2014 and produced as a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

in 1986. In 2006, the company was chosen to perform at the

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. History The site of Jacob's Pi ...

Dance Festival and

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama, and the New York City Center 55th Street Theater) is a performing arts center at 131 West 55th Street (Manhattan), 55th Street between Sixth Avenue, Six ...

's Fall for Dance Festival. PNB performs at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in the

Seattle Center The Seattle Center is an entertainment, education, tourism and performing arts center located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Constructed for the Century 21 Exposition, 1962 W ...

History

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

Seattle Opera Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to all ...

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 the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, from 1977 to 2005. She was a soloist with the New York City Ballet, where she later ...

, 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's fir ...

, 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 George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

. 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. McCaw Hall Kreielsheimer Promenade

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 cr ...

, 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 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the compa ...

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 The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

. 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

Soloists

Corps de ballet

* Luca Anaya * Malena Ani * Emerson Boll * Dylan Calahan * Ryan Cardea * Mark Cuddihee *

Ashton Edwards Ashton Edwards (born 2002 or 2003) is an American ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and prope ...

* Melisa Guilliams * Connor Horton * Zsilas Michael Hughes * Rosalyn Hutsell * Kali Kleiman * Larry Lancaster * Audrey Malek * Noah Martzall * Joh Morrill * Ginabel Peterson * Samuel Portillo * Juliet Prine * Yuki Takahashi * Genevieve Waldorf * Lily Wills * Destiny Wimpye

Notable former dancers

* Rachel Bade * Patricia Barker * Maria Chapman * Karel Cruz * Brent Davi * Lindsi Dec * Chalnessa Eames * Laura Gilbreath * Carrie Imler *

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 ...

* Stanko Milov * Louise Nadeau * Kaori Nakamura * Noelani Pantastico * Lesley Rausch * Julie Tobiason * Miranda Weese

References

Reviews

NY Times
by

, November 5, 2007
NY Times
by

, September 25, 2007
Sunbreak Magazine
by Rosie Gaynor, June 14, 2011
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
by R. M. Campbell, September 26, 2003

External links

*
Pacific Northwest Ballet
at

HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington (state), Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 23,000 weekly visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organi ...

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