Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is a ballet company based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, in the United States. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers; there are more than 100 performances throughout the year. PNB performs in

McCaw Hall Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (often abbreviated to McCaw Hall) is a performing arts hall in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located on the grounds of Seattle Center and owned by the city of Seattle, McCaw Hall's two principal tenants are the Seat ...

at the Seattle Center. It is especially known for its performance of the Stowell/

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book ''Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 200 ...

'' Nutcracker'', which it had presented from 1983 through 2014, as well as made into a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. In 2006, the company was chosen to perform in the

Fall for Dance Festival Fall for Dance is an annual dance festival presented by New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational par ...

at New York's City Center Theatre and at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

History

Pacific Northwest Ballet was founded in 1972, after the two-month residency of First Chamber Dance Company, Campbell cites the residency as occurring in 1971. as part of the Seattle Opera and named the Pacific Northwest Dance Association. Under the directorship of Kent Stowell and

Francia Russell Francia Russell (born January 10, 1938) is the former co-artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and former director of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, from 1977 to 2005. She was a soloist with the New York City Ballet, where she later bec ...

, originally of

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

, it broke away from the Opera in 1977 and took its current name in 1978. Stowell and Russell left at the end of the 2004–2005 season. A portrait by artist

Michele Rushworth Michele Rushworth is an American artist noted for her oil-based portrait paintings. She has painted the official portraits of leading figures in government, law, education, medicine and the arts, including nine state gubernatorial portraits

was painted of Stowell and Russell and installed in the Phelps Center, Seattle, to commemorate their careers and retirement. Both had studied with and danced for

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

. In July 2005,

Peter Boal Peter Boal is artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and director of its affiliated school in Seattle, Washington. He was born in Bedford, New York, in 1965 and began studies at the School of American Ballet (SAB) at age nine. Boal assumed ...

succeeded Stowell and Russell as artistic director following their retirement. After dancing with the New York City Ballet for 22 years, he had been a full-time faculty member at The School of American Ballet from 1995-2005. In 2013, the company and its orchestra toured to New York for the first time in sixteen years. The ''New York Times'' dance critic Alastair Macaulay, stated of their presentation that "This is a true company," more "unified in its understanding of Balanchine" than the

. In 2012, PNB brought in

Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1966 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music. Fr ...

as its first artist in residence for a year-long residency.

Pacific Northwest Ballet School

The Pacific Northwest Ballet School was founded in 1974. Formerly directed by Francia Russell, and now directed by Peter Boal, it has been considered to be "one of the leading, if not the definitive, professional training school in the country." The teaching is structured on that of the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

. Pacific Northwest Ballet holds an annual summer course in the month of July and is considered one of the leading summer dance education facilities in the country.

Dancers

Pacific Northwest Ballet is noted for choosing dancers that have physique, expressivity and a variety of body shapes.

Principals

* Jonathan Batista * Leta Biasucci * Kyle Davis *

Angelica Generosa Angelica Generosa (born ) is an American ballet dancer. She joined the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2011 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2020. Early life and training Generosa was born to parents from the Philippines and was raised in Sou ...

* Cecilia Iliesiu * Elle Macy * James Yoichi Moore * Elizabeth Murphy * Lucien Postlewaite * Lesley Rausch * James Kirby Rogers * Dylan Wald

Soloists

* Madison Rayn Abeo * Dammiel Cruz-Garrido * Christopher D'Ariano * Amanda Morgan * Miles Pertl * Christian Poppe * Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan * Price Suddarth * Leah Terada * Ezra Thomson

Corps de ballet

* Malena Ani * Ryan Cardea * Mark Cuddihee * Abby Jayne DeAngelo * Luther DeMyer * Ashton Edwards * Melisa Guilliams * Connor Horton * Zsilas Michael Hughes * Clara Ruf Maldonado * Audrey Malek * Noah Martzall * Joh Morrill * Ginabel Peterson * Juliet Prine * Kuu Sakuragi * Yuki Takahashi * Genevieve Waldorf * Lily Wills

Notable former dancers

* Patricia Barker * Chalnessa Eames * Carrie Imler * Carla Körbes * Louise Nadeau * Kaori Nakamura * Noelani Pantastico * Miranda Weese

References

Reviews

NY Times
by Alastair Macaulay, November 5, 2007
NY Times
by Alastair Macaulay, September 25, 2007

External links

*
Pacific Northwest Ballet
at HistoryLink {{authority control Culture of Seattle Ballet companies in the United States Ballet schools in the United States 1972 establishments in Washington (state) Performing groups established in 1972 Dance in Washington (state) Non-profit organizations based in Washington (state) Organizations based in Seattle