…throes of increasing wonder

Composer and performer Cristina Spinei has written for numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles. Her works have been commissioned by Nashville Ballet, the New York Choreographic Institute, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Parsons Dance Company, and many more. Self-described as “minimalish,” Cristina anchors her musical ideas in melody, movement, and loops. Her music combines her love for operas, beautifully crafted melodies, and Latin music’s movement-heavy rhythms—elements that work in tandem to inform Cristina’s vision.

Kiyon Ross has devoted his career to ballet—as a dancer, choreographer, stager, faculty member, and administrator. He started his training at the Baltimore School of the Arts and finished at PNB School, joining the Company in 2001 and retiring as a Soloist in 2015. Kiyon has choreographed works for PNB, PNB School, New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute, and Spectrum Dance Theater, and was the resident choreographer at Ballet Arkansas from 2015-2018. Kiyon is the Associate Artistic Director at PNB.

Norbert Herriges began working in Seattle theater after receiving a degree in Theatre Arts at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland. In the course of his nearly 40-year career in local theater, he has worked backstage for ACT, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and PNB. He became PNB’s Technical Director in 2011 and retired in 2024. In his tenure at PNB, he oversaw and coordinated all technical aspects of PNB’s productions, assisted by the exceptional staff of stage technicians and managers.

Pauline Smith has worked as a costumer for Pacific Northwest Ballet since 1991. In addition to those duties, she also acts as supervisor for specialty shoes and wigs for such productions as The Sleeping Beauty, The Merry Widow, Swan Lake, Cinderella, and Don Quixote. She has served as assistant to costume designers Martin Pakledinaz (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ballet Imperial), David Murin (Silver Lining) and Roberta Guidi di Bagno (Coppelia). She also served as assistant to the production stage manager for PNB’s tours to Istanbul and Hong Kong in 2000.

Ms. Smith received her BFA in costume design from Cornish College of the Arts and has studied theater criticism abroad in London through the University of Oregon. Ms. Smith’s design experience includes theater (Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, Feydeau’s Not By Bed Alone, Vladimir Gubaryev’s Sarcophagus), opera (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), and film (The Claim, Immaculate Perceptions).

Pauline Smith is also a fine art photographer. She has shown her work in group and solo exhibitions in the greater Seattle area since 2002.

Reed Nakayama is a Seattle-based Lighting and Projection Designer. He joined PNB in 2013 as a stagehand, and in 2019, was promoted to caretaker of the company’s copious designs. Here, he has illuminated stages in collaboration with artists such as Alexei Ratmansky (Wartime Elegy), Jessica Lang (Ghost Variations), Danielle Rowe (The Window), and Christopher Wheeldon (Curious Kingdom). He received a BFA in Performance Production from Cornish College of the Arts.