Cracks
Music
Michel Wackenheim (Celui qui fera paraître le Christ au temps fixé), Gabriel Fauré (Madrigal, Op. 35), Antonio Vivaldi (Laudate Dominum, RV 606), Ljova (Less), Francis Poulenc (Salve Regina), Claude Debussy (Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin, from Trois Chansons), and Michael Praetorius (Audite, silete)
Choreography
Rena Butler
Lighting Design
Reed Nakayama
Costume Design
Meleta Buckstaff
Lighting Design
Julie Ballard
Sound Design
Darryl J. Hoffman
Cast
10 dancers
Premiere
May 30, 2025; Pacific Northwest Ballet
Rena Butler’s Cracks is supported by Glenn Kawasaki, Susan Young Buske, Leslie & Tachi* Yamada, Kathy Alvord Gerlich, Braiden Rex-Johnson & Spencer Johnson, The Daniel & Margaret Carper Foundation, and Barbara Lewis.
Program Notes
Cracks poses the question of whether or not fervent worship or adherence leads to one’s true evolutionary journey to the higher self. Where are the cracks in spiritual foundations that challenge the individual amidst tradition, and what is left when it all comes crumbling down?