Tag: ballet

Getting In On the Ground Floor with zoe | juniper
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

Getting In On the Ground Floor with zoe | juniper

Last Friday night, after a few Euros (shot of Fernet and a Radeberger) at St. John’s, I was lying flat on my back trying to keep the people I saw from spinning. I was having no luck, though, because I was watching a dance performance (of sorts: It was also an experiment, research, and rehearsal). Zoe | juniper’s “No one to witness and adjust, Study #4” took place in a small studio at Velocity Dance Center. Continue reading Getting In On the Ground Floor with zoe | juniper

A Third-Degree Slow Burn, at Whim W’Him
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

A Third-Degree Slow Burn, at Whim W’Him

The light seems to drip down planes that are the front and back of Andrew Bartee, at the outset of L’Effleuré. Lighting designer Michael Mazzola catches Bartee from all angles throughout the course of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s dance piece, whether “elastic technician” Bartee is soaring in a leap or sinking to his haunches in a grand plié, pulsing slightly to a rhythm like breathing or heartbeat. Continue reading A Third-Degree Slow Burn, at Whim W’Him

In Step With a PNB Ballet Master: Paul Gibson
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

In Step With a PNB Ballet Master: Paul Gibson

Asked what are the qualities needed by a ballet master, Gibson cites patience as the first. “You have to be able to deal with everybody’s completely different personalities, and know them as individuals. They learn at different speeds. Some can be pushed, others can’t, they’ll back off. You have to teach every dancer individually, so each rehearsal is different, the vibe is different.” Continue reading In Step With a PNB Ballet Master: Paul Gibson

PNB’s Modern Masterpieces Lives Up to the Hype
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

PNB’s Modern Masterpieces Lives Up to the Hype

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.” Continue reading PNB’s Modern Masterpieces Lives Up to the Hype

Maillot’s Knockout “Roméo et Juliette” Returns to PNB
Arts & Entertainment, Dance

Maillot’s Knockout “Roméo et Juliette” Returns to PNB

With Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette in PNB’s repertoire, the company now had the perfect Valentine’s Day ballet to go with The Nutcracker at Christmas. Its bold infusion of frank sensuality with gorgeous pas de deux left mouths agape — one moment Juliette was arcing backward, held aloft by her Roméo, the next, hands were everywhere! Continue reading Maillot’s Knockout “Roméo et Juliette” Returns to PNB