The SunBreak » balanchine

In Seattle, Wheeldon’s “Tide Harmonic” Nets Waves of Applause

Michael van Baker — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 22:27:56 +0000

On opening night, Jerome Tisserand and James Moore looked almost like tumblers, while Carla Körbes and Joshua Grant unspooled a ravishing and eerie pas de deux, underlaid by the bass harmonics of tidal suction.

PNB’s Modern Masterpieces Lives Up to the Hype

Michael van Baker — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:24:09 +0000

The only question about Pacific Northwest Ballet's Modern Masterpieces program (at McCaw Hall through March 24) is at which point your soul may incandesce. My instinct is that this is likely to occur in the second half, during Ulysses Dove's Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven or Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room, with its spectacular use of the "fog of minimalism."

An Impish Sparkle Lights Up PNB’s Entrancing Coppélia

Philippa Kiraly — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:22:15 +0000

Fast forward to Friday night’s opening performance and Nakamura had that same impish sparkle only more so, a willful, fun-loving, charming teen. Nakamura has never ceased to grow as a dancer, and when she was on stage Thursday it was hard to take the eyes off her. Her technique is impeccable, her footwork exquisite and always in tempo, light as a feather when she touches the ground.

PNB’s “Love Stories” Catches Two Dancers in Bloom

Philippa Kiraly — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:51:36 +0000

Robbins places the action in a ballet studio, and another Jerome, last name Tisserand, who has been in the corps at PNB since 2007, danced the faun, a male dancer alone in the studio who rests on the floor, then begins to practice, watching himself in the mirror (actually the audience). Tisserand embodied the vanity of the faun, enamoured of his own beauty.

Christopher Wheeldon on Ballet Life, Balanchine, and His Hoover

Michael van Baker — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:36:09 +0000

Wheeldon is in Seattle for PNB's All Wheeldon program (through October 2), and has been working with the dancers on his choreography for Carousel (A Dance), After the Rain pas de deux, Polyphonia, and Variations Sérieuses. Wednesday night, after a conversation with Boal, he and Boal watched as the dancers performed excerpts, then commented on what they'd seen.

A Preview of PNB’s Season Encore, This Sunday Only

Rosie Gaynor — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:14:20 +0000

If you’ve never tried ballet, PNB’s Season Encore this Sunday (June 12 at 6:30 p.m.; tickets start at $30) is a good introduction, as it offers a wide variety of styles. Think of it as dim sum for dance: a bit of this, a bit of that, super tasty, not too pricy. If you’ve been avoiding PNB this year because of the story ballets, then this is a good time to return, as the program includes excerpts from works like the fast, sexy Red Angels; the jazzy Rubies; Lambarena, that Seattle favorite that mixes Bach and African music, ballet and African dance; Petite Mort, which takes its translation into the English word orgasm almost literally, albeit elegantly; and the architectural Agon.