Q&A with Dave Jensen, Summer Residence Director
Meet Dave Jensen, PNB School’s longtime Summer Residence Director, in this Q&A about student life, Seattle adventures, and 30+ years of summer courses.
PNB School Faculty’s Favorite Dance Movies
With the Oscars happening at the end of April, this month’s PNB School Spotlight is all about our PNB School faculty’s favorite dance films! Read on for favorites (spoiler alert: everybody loves Billy Elliot and Dirty Dancing), guilty pleasures, and movies that inspired our faculty to become dancers. [Parental Advisory: Please note that not all of these movies […]
Q and A Marjorie Thompson
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. This school year I am teaching […]
Q&A with Deborah Kenner
PNB School students know Deborah Kenner for her active, playful ballet classes for all ages and fun Instagram videos. But did you know she is also a dancer and has even been an artistic director? Keep reading to learn more about Ms. Kenner’s background and a few of her favorite things in this Q&A! Deborah Kenner: I […]
Meet the Artist Mark Haim
Originally from New York City, Mark Haim has been making dances and teaching dance for 35 years. He is creating a new work for NEXT STEP: OUTSIDE/IN on June 14, featuring PNB Principal dancer Noelani Pantastico and six PNB School students. In April 2019, Mark presented a new 70-minute solo work, Parts to a Sum, in which he recreated “movements […]
Meet the Artist Eva Stone
Eva Stone is a teaching artist, choreographer, and founder/producer of CHOP SHOP: Bodies of Work, an annual contemporary dance festival. She received her BFA in Performance & Choreography from Arizona State University, and later earned an MA in Choreography & Choreological Studies from Trinity Laban in the UK. She’s created work for Spectrum Dance Theater, Pacific […]
Tips for Thriving at Summer Course: Part 3
10 Strategies for thriving at summer course Read Part I here and Part II here! The faculty at PNB is rarely aware of any issues of homesickness during the summer course because of the extensive experience of the dorm staff. Dave Jensen, Summer Course Residence Director, will be in his 21st year of overseeing the dorm lives of PNB […]
Tips from a Professional Dancer on Surviving Summer Course: Part 2
Read tips 1-3 in Part I here! Take advantage of all the opportunities that your summer course has to offer you! Be open to trying new things and experimenting with new styles & methods of dancing. Not only will your Modern, Spanish and Jazz classes make you more ready for contemporary work, but exploring other […]
Tips from a Professional Dancer on Surviving Summer Course Part 1
When you think about the professional dancers that you see in magazines and on social media, it might be hard to imagine them having fretted over decisions about which summer intensive would be the best fit for them. Believe it or not, though, all dancers start as students who go through the same training processes […]
What is NEXT STEP?
Pacific Northwest Ballet fosters young choreographers in an unique program called – NEXT STEP. What is it? NEXT STEP is where Company dancers rise as choreographers and PNB School’s Professional Division students take center stage in an all-premiere lineup of works created just for them. “PNB has to be constantly creative and open to new ideas […]