Artistic Director’s Notebook: DIRECTOR’S CHOICE 2025 (…throes of increasing wonder, Nine Sinatra Songs, Cracks)

Dear Friends,

In a 2022 The New York Times review, dance writer Elizabeth Kendall stated, “Forty years after its debut, Nine Sinatra Songs struck me as something rare: an American masterpiece.” She writes quite candidly about expecting to enjoy the return of a familiar work, but not to discover its greatness. She goes on to add Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs to a short list of iconic American works including George Balanchine’s Agon, Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering, and Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. PNB hasn’t presented Nine Sinatra Songs in 13 years, so many of you will be revisiting this piece with fresh perspective or seeing it for the first time. Our gratitude to the incomparable Shelley Washington, a member of the original cast, who staged it for our first presentation 20 years ago, and for the performances you are about to see.

Twyla’s work has been a central part of PNB’s repertory since 2005. Nine Sinatra Songs was the first work I programmed with seven others to follow. Three were created for us culminating with Waiting at the Station. Twyla’s vocabulary incorporates movement beyond the classical – ballroom, boxing, and ballet blend into a delicious cocktail. Even ordinary pedestrian movements become interesting when seen through Twyla’s innovative lens. In Waiting at the Station, she asked a dancer to text while strutting on pointe. I told Twyla she was probably the first choreographer to do this. She replied, “Someone always has to go first… it’s usually me.” Watch for high risk partnering with dancers leading and following, giving and taking, and finding a shared balance. Look for Twyla’s signature hair-raising traffic patterns in the “My Way” sections. Notice the keen take on human relationships and how this work feels as relevant now as it did forty years ago.

When Twyla created Waiting at the Station, she asked for Kiyon Ross not only to serve as one of the principal dancers in the piece, but also as her choreographic assistant. She saw a rising talent and wanted to nurture it. Now we revisit Kiyon’s most recent creation for PNB, …throes of increasing wonder. The work was made for our 50th anniversary season. I asked Kiyon to use the entire company (in two casts). The energy and celebratory nature of this piece is classic Kiyon. Our company shines in this work and I’m excited for it to return to our stage.

Rena Butler is everywhere. On the cover of Dance Magazine, in Amsterdam creating on Dutch National Ballet, at W’Him Whim here in Seattle, with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, in New York with A.I.M. and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and with National Ballet of Canada. An extraordinary dancer (watch her in Marco Goecke’s Affi, or anything else), Rena brings movement to life. She developed this work over four disjointed weeks spread over nine months. Credit to her designers Meleta Buckstaff and Julie Ballard for beautifully executing Rena’s vision. The work explores devotion. Her process always seeks collaboration with her cast. The result puts individuality at the fore while ensemble sections brim with unexpected power. We are so pleased to welcome Rena to PNB for her first commission with the company.

And we welcome all of you to the final program of the season. June is always a busy month for us. I hope to see you at NEXT STEP and Season Encore and of course, we’ll see you back here in September for another great season at PNB.

Kind Regards,