Peter Boal is artistic director of

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, 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 ...

and director of its affiliated school 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. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at 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 ...

(SAB) at age nine. Boal assumed the directorship of Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2005 (from 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 ...

) following a successful career with the

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 ...

(NYCB) which he joined in 1983 and where he was promoted to soloist in 1987,

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

in 1989, and from which he retired in 2005. He received his dance training from SAB under the directorship of

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 2002, he founded Peter Boal and Company, a critically acclaimed chamber ensemble. Boal joined the faculty of SAB in 1997, teaching technique, variations, men’s and women’s classes, and partnering. He was a guest teacher at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

's school. Peter Boal gave his final performance at City Ballet on Sunday, June 5, 2005. On a program that also included Robbins’ ''

West Side Story Suite ''West Side Story Suite'' is a ballet suite choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins conceived, directed and choreographed the 1957 musical ''West Side Story'', then co-directed its 1961 film adaptation, before including parts of the choreogr ...

'' and Balanchine’s ''

Agon () is the Greek personification for a conflict, struggle or contest, describing a concept of the same name. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. i ...

'', he chose to dance

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

’ ''

Opus 19/The Dreamer ''Opus 19/The Dreamer'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. The ballet premiered on June 14, 1979 at the New York State Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet. Production ''Opus 19/The ...

'' and an excerpt from ''

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

'', a role for which he was particularly noted. While at SAB, he danced in several ballets with NYCB, including Balanchine’s ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'', in which he performed the role of the Nutcracker Prince. At City Ballet he has featured roles in over 40 ballets and had over 20 additional roles created on him by choreographers including

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish former ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and J ...

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Early life Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at th ...

, Christopher d'Amboise,

Ulysses Dove Ulysses Dove (January 17, 1947 in Columbia, South Carolina – June 11, 1996 in Manhattan) was a choreographer. Dove began his dance training at Boggs Academy in Georgia. Dove gave up his premedical studies at Howard University to transfer t ...

and

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 ...

Personal life

Peter Boal married Kelly Boal (Cass) (also a dancer with NYCB) on August 15, 1992, in Colwall, England.NY Times
August 16, 1992 Peter Boal has three children, 1 son born in 1995, another in 1997 and a daughter born in 2000.

References

External links

biography
PNB website
Ballet-Dance
Dean Speer and Francis Timlin, July 2005

Deborah Jowitt Deborah Jowitt (born 1934) is an American dance critic, author, and choreographer. Her career in dance began as a performer and choreographer. Jowitt has received several awards for her work, including a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance ...

, March 1, 2005
NY Times

Gia Kourlas Gia Kourlas is an American dance critic. Since 2019, she had written as the dance critic for ''The New York Times''. Early life and education Kourlas was raised in Columbus, Ohio. She began dancing at age 5; a few years later, she switched to f ...

, December 25, 2005
Archive film of Peter Boal performing Herman Schmerman in 2004 at Jacob's Pillow
Jack Anderson, January 9, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boal, Peter Living people 1965 births New York City Ballet principal dancers American male ballet dancers Ballet masters School of American Ballet faculty School of American Ballet alumni