Pacific Northwest Ballet

Pacific Northwest Ballet
General Information
Name Pacific Northwest Ballet
Year Founded 1972
Principal venue Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
Website http://www.pnb.org/
Senior Staff
Director Peter Boal
Other
Parent Company Seattle Opera
Orchestra Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra
Official School Pacific Northwest Ballet School
Formation Principal
Soloist
Corps de 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 in 2004.[3] Its 1977 founding artistic directors, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, originally of New York City Ballet,[4] left at the end of the 2004–2005 season.[5] Both had studied with and danced for George Balanchine.[6] Peter Boal succeeded Stowell and Russell as Artistic Director following their retirement.[5] The company performs with 46 dancers, eleven of whom are principals; five are soloists, twenty-six corps de ballet dancers, as well as four apprentices.[7] There are over 100 performances throughout the year.

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. It further includes a "Director's Blog" written by Boal discussing his role as artistic director.[13]

Contents

Dancers

Principals

  • Batkhurel Bold
  • Maria Chapman
  • Karel Cruz
  • Rachel Foster
  • Jonathan Porretta
  • Lucien Postlewaite
  • Lesley Rausch

Soloists

  • Lindsi Dec
  • Laura Gilbreath
  • Benjamin Griffiths
  • James Moore
  • Sarah Ricard Orza

Corps de Ballet

  • Chelsea Adomaitis
  • Jessika Anspach
  • Andrew Bartee
  • Leta Biasucci
  • Ryan Cardea
  • Amanda Clark
  • Kyle Davis
  • Kiyon Gaines
  • Joshua Grant
  • Eric Hipolito Jr.
  • Kylee Kitchens
  • William Lin-Yee
  • Emma Love
  • Margaret Mullin
  • Elizabeth Murphy
  • Jenna Nelson
  • Leah O'Connor
  • Brittany Reid
  • Abby Relic
  • Matthew Renko
  • Liora Reshef
  • Sean Rollofson
  • Carli Samuelson
  • Price Suddarth
  • Ezra Thomson
  • Jerome Tisserand

Apprentices

  • Angelica Generosa
  • Steven Loch
  • Charles McCall
  • Sarah Pasch

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 (12 February 2004). "Ballet's artistic directors to retire". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2001855909_pnb12.html. Retrieved 3 January 2012. 
  4. ^ Kisselgoff, Anna (28 March 1984). "The New York Debut of Pacific Northwest" (in English). New York Times (New York City, United States). http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/28/arts/ballet-the-new-york-debut-of-pacific-northwest.html?scp=9&sq=%22pacific+northwest+ballet%22&st=nyt. Retrieved 3 January 2012. 
  5. ^ 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. 
  6. ^ 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. 
  7. ^ a b "The Artists" (Press release). Pacific Northwest Ballet. 2011. http://www.pnb.org/Artists/. Retrieved 31 December 2011. 
  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. 
  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. 

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