Announcing Jessica Lang as PNB’s Next Resident Choreographer

PNB is excited to announce Jessica Lang will be PNB’s next Resident Choreographer. PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal states, "Jessica will commence her residency in August with a new creation for our first program of the 2024-25 season. This will be her fourth new work for the Company. PNB will then have five works by Jessica in active rep and we look forward to adding several more during her residency.” Learn more about Jessica and her residency in this blog.

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2024-04-16T09:38:28-07:00April 10th, 2024|Categories: Life at PNB|Tags: 2024/25 Season, Ghost Variations, Her Door to the Sky, Jessica Lang, Let Me Mingle Tears with Thee, Peter Boal, The Calling|Comments Off

Artistic Director’s Notebook: Sweet Fields, The Calling, The Seasons’ Canon

"What goes into planning a season? There are more factors to list than my word count allows."

Maris Antolin2024-04-04T14:37:21-07:00April 8th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: 2023/24 Season, Crystal Pite, Jessica Lang, Peter Boal, Sweet Fields, The Calling, The Seasons' Canon, Twyla Tharp|Comments Off

Artistic Director’s Notebook: Bacchus, One Thousand Pieces

"We all have our harrowing stories from mid-March of 2020. Naturally, mine involves PNB. On the morning of March 12th Executive Director Ellen Walker informed me all theaters on Seattle Center campus had been asked to suspend any further activity. I told her I needed twelve more hours. That night we were scheduled to take the stage for the dress rehearsal of David Dawson’s Empire Noir and Alejandro Cerrudo’s One Thousand Pieces. Though we were able to run and film the dress rehearsal before retreating to our homes, PNB has never performed the complete One Thousand Pieces for a live audience. How grateful we are to finally bring this piece to the stage with you in the audience.

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2024-03-18T12:30:34-07:00March 7th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: 2023/24 Season, Alejandro Cerrudo, Bacchus, Matthew Neenan, One Thousand Pieces, Peter Boal|Comments Off

Artistic Director’s Notebook: Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake

Just over twenty years ago, in September 2003, a theater called Marion Oliver McCaw Hall opened in Seattle. Built on the site of the Seattle Opera House, which dated back to the 1962 World’s Fair, the new hall was the realization of years of dreaming, planning, fundraising, and building. With Seattle Symphony’s recent relocation to Benaroya Hall, McCaw Hall was tailored to the needs of its two primary tenants, Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet. After a joint gala celebrating the new digs and the dawn of a new era for each arts organization, PNB offered another unveiling – a completely redesigned version of Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake.

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2024-01-29T09:07:04-08:00January 29th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: 2023/24 Season, Francia Russell, Kent Stowell, Ming Cho Lee, Paul Tazewell, Peter Boal, Rico Chiarelli, Swan Lake|Comments Off

Artistic Director’s Notebook: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® 2023

Ask anyone what their introduction to ballet was – most will tell you it was a performance of The Nutcracker. They probably attended as small children. I was five. PNB expects to welcome about 85,000 people of all ages to our performances this year alone. Many will attend for the first time, starting a new tradition of enjoying this timeless holiday classic...

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2023-11-20T15:05:03-08:00November 20th, 2023|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances, The Nutcracker|Tags: 2023/24 Season, george, George Balanchine, Ian Falconer, Peter Boal, The Nutcracker|Comments Off

Dancer Promotions! Clara Ruf Maldonado, Kuu Sakuragi, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan

Before the curtain-raiser performance of Alexei Ratmansky’s Wartime Elegy on opening night of LOVE & LOSS, Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal and Associate Artistic Director Kiyon Ross announced to the audience that corps de ballet dancers Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi have been promoted Soloists, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan has been promoted to Principal dancer.

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2023-11-07T14:28:24-08:00November 3rd, 2023|Categories: Dancer Announcements, Dancers, Life at PNB|Tags: 2023/24 Season, Clara Ruf Maldonado, Kiyon Ross, Kuu Sakuragi, Peter Boal, Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan|Comments Off

Artistic Director’s Notebook: The Window, Wartime Elegy, Love and Loss

When we think of storytelling, we think of words – spoken, signed, sung, or written. Recall a favorite novel or poem. Words illuminate plots and plays bringing them to vivid existence. How does dance tell a tale without words? Classical ballets have relied on two methods of communication – mime and program notes. But storytelling has changed in ballet.

Zoe Meadows-Sahr2023-10-27T16:11:46-07:00October 30th, 2023|Categories: Choreographers, Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: 2023/24 Season, Alexei Ratmansky, Dani Rowe, Donald Byrd, Love and Loss, Peter Boal, The Window, Wartime Elegy|Comments Off