Director's Notes

From the moment we lay eyes on six men facing upstage, backing slowly towards the orchestra pit, each with a fencing foil balanced precariously on the tip of his index finger, we know that we are in for the inventive and the unexpected. As the art, danger, and technique of fencing parallels the art of the pas de deux, we recognize the hand of a master. This is the world of Jiri Kylian, whose reputation looms large in Europe and around the globe. Using the three companies of Netherlands Dance Theatre as a base, he has created dozens of diverse works and a standard against which others have measured their talents for the past forty years. Petite Mort is the first work by Kylian to enter PNB’s repertory. I am pleased to be opening the door to this choreographer’s body of works with the hopes of bringing you more over time. Roslyn Anderson, one of the most highly respected stagers of his work, set Petite Mort with care and precision on our dancers.

The Seasons marks Val Caniparoli’s fourth creation for PNB. His alluring Lamberena rounds the collection of Caniparoli works to five. The Seasons is a co-commission with Louisville Ballet, whose artistic director, Bruce Simpson, deserves thanks for planting the seed for this premiere. Bruce suggested Glazunov’s The Seasons, with its infectious melodies and raucous power. Sandra Woodall, Val’s frequent collaborator, breathes whimsy and spirit into fresh costume designs and elegant understatement into an abstract set.

I am a strong advocate of new work. Our profession can only grow through commissioned work. We wouldn’t be able to present present Petite Mort or The Seasons without our New Works Initiative. I want to thank Glenn Kawasaki and Diane & Ernest Burgess for recognizing the importance of this need through their continued generosity to the Initiative. Their support makes tonight’s premiere of The Seasons possible. Petite Mort is possible thanks to the incredible generosity of four individuals who have all been champions of new work: Jeffrey & Susan Brotman and Peter & Peggy Horvitz. There is an opportunity for you to help PNB through the New Works Initiative with a gift towards the creation of our magnificent new production of George Balanchine’s Coppélia.

We welcome the return of Marco Goecke’s miniature character sketch, Mopey. Four years ago, I shrank in my seat wondering what kind of reaction this odd tour de force would earn in Seattle. Originally commissioned for Peter Boal and Company at the Joyce Theater in New York in 2004, this piece has now been performed close to one hundred times, with another twenty this year. Mopey returns to the Joyce, alongside Twyla Tharp’s Opus 111, Edwaard Liang’s Für Alina, and Benjamin Millepied’s 3 Movements, this January. It speaks eloquently to moody teens, their parents, and everyone in between. Watch for more from Marco Goecke in PNB’s future.

Closing the program is our hit from last season’s Broadway Festival, West Side Story Suite. Seeing the timeless tale of Romeo and Juliet recast with kids from rival gangs on the gritty streets of New York City, we can’t help but compare the perspectives of Jean-Chistophe Maillot and Jerome Robbins. Each choreographer needed ballet to matter to today’s audiences and not to be encumbered by a sense of history, and yet each made that history vital and fresh for a new generation. Though the works of this program span more than fifty years, the entire program feels fresh and relevant for today’s audiences. Perhaps it is the teenage lean of two of the works or the unveiling of the other two, but the program reminds us how ballet is constantly evolving and continually offers relevance to our lives and our time.

On a final note, maestro Stewart Kershaw will not be at the conductor’s podium this program. After a masterful performance of Prokofiev, this mainstay of our orchestra realized he was ready to step down from his position as music director. This was Stewart’s choice and not mine. Feeling robbed of the opportunity to give him the well-deserved ovation he deserves, I’ve convinced him to return to the pit for our Encore performance in June. After decades of energy, expertise, and inspiration that have made our orchestra one of the finest ballet orchestras in the country, we thank Stewart for his guidance and for helping to make PNB the great institution that it is today.