Guess who’s turning fifty? Not me, that happened already. It’s PNB. In 1972, a small but committed group of extraordinary individuals envisioned a great classical ballet company based here […]
Our youngest Nutcracker performers, all students at the Pacific Northwest Ballet School, are some of the most dedicated kids in the ballet world. Each year, from late September to late December, they devote themselves to telling this timeless holiday story. From our littlest golden angels, to Clara’s bed rollers, each and every student […]
By Phil Chan, co-Founder, Final Bow for Yellowface
As a Chinese person, the second act of The Nutcracker has always bugged me. Looking more broadly at the historic depictions of “Chinese” people on the Western performing arts stage, we see fantasy elements of what Europeans thought Chinese people looked like […]
Artistic Director’s Notebook: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ 2021
“This cannon fires cheese,” Mr. Gio explained in a recent battle scene rehearsal for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, prompting all the nine and ten-year-old Soldiers to giggle uncontrollably.
“What kind of cheese?” asked Soldier Number Seven, […]
Thank you for joining us today at McCaw Hall or from your digital viewing space—wherever that may be! It is difficult to describe the elation we […]
Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining us today at McCaw Hall or from your digital viewing space—wherever that may be! It is difficult to describe the elation we […]
September at PNB has been busy! Company dancers are back in rehearsal, the PNB School is back in session, and we’re all busy preparing for our return to McCaw Hall this month. With a mixture of joy and trepidation, we’re stretching our collective muscles, breathing deeply, and turning our eyes on the horizon. […]
Following a year that nobody wants to revisit anytime soon, Artistic Director Peter Boal has optimistically announced the line-up for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 49th season, running from September 2021 to June 2022. A love letter to PNB’s loyal fans, highlights of PNB’s return to the McCaw Hall stage include full-evening programs devoted to […]
In the spring of 1974, my parents took my sister and me to a performance of George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s Coppélia at New York State Theater. It wasn’t my first ballet, but it was the one that prompted me to ask my mom […]
PNB School faculty member Marjorie Thompson has had a legendary career – first working with George Balanchine at New York City Ballet, then teaching the Company and at School of American Ballet before becoming a faculty member at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, where she also developed the PNBConditioning program.
If you have been involved with Nutcracker or other ballets involving student casts, chances are you know Lauren Kirchner! Lauren has been working at PNB since 2009, wearing many hats – including her most recent as PNB Office Manager and COVID Safety Supervisor – and has been a part of 263 Nutcracker performances over 7 seasons […]