Celebrating Retiring Principal Dancer James Yoichi Moore

Whether it be in the Phelps’ Center dressing room, emphatically discussing fantasy football picks, or on McCaw Hall’s stage, charming the audience as one of the sailors in Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, James’ enthusiasm is infectious and his presence irreplaceable. As a San Francisco native looking north, never in a million years did he expect to end up at PNB: “It was a very tall company at the time [I was hired]—long legs, slender bodies—there was a look. That wasn’t me.” However, over his twenty-year tenure with PNB, James has set himself apart as one who defines what the company is today, and for years to come. Learn more about James and his career at PNB in this blog.

2024-06-05T12:34:58-07:00May 30th, 2024|Categories: Life at PNB|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Celebrating Retiring Principal Dancer James Yoichi Moore
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Artistic Director’s Notebook: Coppélia

Almost fifty years ago, I attended a New York City Ballet performance of George Balanchine’s Coppélia. Somewhere in the middle of the first act, I decided I wanted to dance. You know the rest of this story. Coppélia is all about the dancing, and the music, and the laughter, colors, costumes, and scenery. It may have the same effect on you as it did on me all those years ago.

2024-05-24T16:40:52-07:00May 24th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Artistic Director’s Notebook: Coppélia
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Celebrating Retiring Rehearsal Director Otto Neubert

Coppélia marks the final performances staged by PNB Rehearsal Director Otto Neubert, who will be retiring at the end of the season. Mr. Neubert joined Pacific Northwest Ballet in 1992 and has assisted PNB’s artistic directors in rehearsing teaching, and scheduling the Company, as well as rehearsing countless PNB School students in their roles for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® and other productions. He has also performed in PNB’s The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Swan Lake. Learn more about Otto and his impactful career at PNB in this blog!

2024-06-05T12:36:46-07:00May 13th, 2024|Categories: Life at PNB|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Celebrating Retiring Rehearsal Director Otto Neubert
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Pacific Northwest Ballet Dancers Ezra Thomson and James Kirby Rogers Announce Departures

The curtain comes down on Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2023-2024 season with its annual Season Encore Performance, a celebratory salute to the season and a fond farewell to departing dancers, including Ezra Thomson and James Kirby Rogers. Read more about these two dancers and their carreers at PNB in this blog.

2024-06-05T12:42:13-07:00May 3rd, 2024|Categories: Dancer Announcements, Life at PNB|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Pacific Northwest Ballet Dancers Ezra Thomson and James Kirby Rogers Announce Departures
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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.

2024-04-16T09:38:28-07:00April 10th, 2024|Categories: Life at PNB|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Announcing Jessica Lang as PNB’s Next Resident Choreographer
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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."

2024-04-04T14:37:21-07:00April 8th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: , , , , , , , |Comments Off on Artistic Director’s Notebook: Sweet Fields, The Calling, The Seasons’ Canon
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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.

2024-03-18T12:30:34-07:00March 7th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Artistic Director’s Notebook: Bacchus, One Thousand Pieces
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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.

2024-01-29T09:07:04-08:00January 29th, 2024|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances|Tags: , , , , , , , |Comments Off on Artistic Director’s Notebook: Kent Stowell’s Swan Lake
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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...

2023-11-20T15:05:03-08:00November 20th, 2023|Categories: Director's Notebook, Performances, The Nutcracker|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Artistic Director’s Notebook: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® 2023
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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.

2023-11-07T14:28:24-08:00November 3rd, 2023|Categories: Dancer Announcements, Dancers, Life at PNB|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Dancer Promotions! Clara Ruf Maldonado, Kuu Sakuragi, and Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan
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