Pacific Northwest Ballet

Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in Seattle, Washington in the United States. Founded in 1972 as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978.^[1] It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States,^[2] with 11,000 subscribers.^[3] Its founding artistic directors, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, left at the end of the 2004–2005 season.^[4] Both had studied with and danced for George Balanchine.^[5] Peter Boal succeeded Stowell and Russell as Artistic Director following their retirement.^[4] The company performs with 49 dancers, thirteen of whom are principals; seven soloists, twenty-six corps de ballet dancers, as well as three apprentices^[6] There are over 100 performances throughout the year.^[7]

In 1974, the Pacific Northwest Ballet School was founded.^[8] 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."^[9]

PNB performs in McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center. It is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/Maurice Sendak Nutcracker, which it has been presenting since 1983 as well as made into a feature film.^[10] 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 Dance Festival.^[11]

In October 2007, PNB dancers Noelani Pantastico, Lindsi Dec, and Benjamin Griffiths, along with Pantastico's husband Brady Hartley, created the website PNB Unleashed. The website functions as a "more in-depth, behind the scenes perspective of the lives of PNB dancers and the necessary steps to creating a successful performance."^[12] The website includes dancers' personal thoughts on upcoming performances, links to dancers' personal websites, photo albums, interviews, and an "A Day in the Life" of a PNB dancer.^[7] It further includes a "Director's Blog" written by Boal discussing his role as artistic director.^[13]

Dancers

2009—2010 season^[14]

Principals

See also Category: Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers.

Batkhurel Bold Maria Chapman Karel Cruz Carrie Imler Carla Körbes

Ariana Lallone Stanko Milov Kaori Nakamura Jonathan Porretta Seth Orza

Lucien Postlewaite Jeffrey Stanton Olivier Wevers

Soloists

See also Category: Pacific Northwest Ballet soloists.

Lindsi Dec Chalnessa Eames Rachel Foster

Laura Gilbreath Benjamin Griffiths

Sarah Ricard Orza James Moore Lesley Rausch

Corps de Ballet

See also Category: Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers.

Chelsea Adomaitis Jessika Anspach Andrew Bartee Ryan Cardea Amanda Clark Kyle Davis Kiyon Gaines Eric Hipolito Jr. Barry Kerollis

Kylee Kitchens William Lin-Yee Emma Love Stacy Lowenberg Margaret Mullin Leah O'Connor Brittany Reid

Abby Relic Liora Reshef Sean Rollofson Carli Samuelson Josh Spell Jerome Tisserand Ezra Thomson

Apprentices

• Jenna Nelson

Price Suddarth

Footnotes

1. ^ "PNB History and Fact Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071112163944/http://www.pnb.org/company/company.pdf. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
2. ^ Flatow, Sheryl (1995-7-1). "Full Length Ballets". Dance Magazine. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-17618458.html. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
3. ^ Macdonald, Moira (2004-02-12). "Ballet's artistic directors to retire". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2001855909_pnb12.html. Retrieved April 22, 2008. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "PNB Vision and Mission". Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080228152051/http://www.pnb.org/company/about.html. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
5. ^ Macaulay, Alastair (September 27, 2007). "An Idiomatic Balanchine, Walking the Walk in Seattle". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/arts/dance/25nort.html?pagewanted=print. 
6. ^ "PNB The Artists". http://www.pnb.org/Artists. Retrieved November 4, 2009. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Ibid
8. ^ "PNB School – School Philosophy". http://www.pnb.org/pnbschool/philosophy.html. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
9. ^ Horosko, Marian (February 1, 1996). "Pacific Northwest Ballet School: doing it right". Dance Magazine. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-17878935.html. 
10. ^ "About Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker". http://www.pnb.org/Season/09-10/Nutcracker/#Details-About. Retrieved April 23, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ Kurtz, Sandra (December 27, 2006). "New Kid in Town". Seattle Weekly. http://seattleweekly.com/2006-12-27/arts/new-kid-in-town.php. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
12. ^ "October 12, 2007 Press Release-"Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers launch new website PNB Unleashed"" (PDF). Pacific Northwest Ballet. October 12, 2007. Archived from the original on December 8, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071208004617/http://www.pnb.org/press/releases/2007unleashed.pdf. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
13. ^ "Director's Blog". http://www.pnbunleashed.com/PNB_Unleashed/Directors_Blog/Directors_Blog.html. Retrieved April 23, 2008. 
14. ^ "PNB The Artists". http://www.pnb.org/Artists. Retrieved November 4, 2009. 

Reviews

NY Times by Alastair Macaulay, November 5, 2007

NY Times by Alastair Macaulay, September 25, 2007

External links

• PNB website