“I love tickets!” squeals Cameron Diaz’s character in the first Charlie’s Angels movie. (And why has no one ever made a gif of that?) It’s supposed to illustrate what an eccentric character she is, but I understand completely. I love tickets. And spring is ticket season. Season-ticket season, to be precise. All of the arts organizations announce their upcoming seasons, tickets go on sale, and I spend hours each spring planning what I will be doing on Saturday nights all next winter. I’ve already written about next season’s offerings at Seattle Opera. Now let’s talk about ballet. Read More
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Ticket Season, Part Two: Pacific Northwest Ballet
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Omakase at Pacific Northwest Ballet
Photo © Angela Sterling c/o PNB
Omakase, written with the character for trust, is the word you use when you order chef’s choice at a sushi restaurant. It shows that you trust the skill of the chef to know better than you what is in season and what will taste best together. When you say omakase, instead of giving an order, you are trusting the chef to create the best experience for you, like a DJ controlling the atmosphere of a party by selecting the right beats. You are likely to be served dishes outside of your comfort zone, and while you might not like all of them, a good chef will create a more delicious and memorable meal than you could have selected for yourself.
Each spring, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Director’s Choice program is ballet omakase. The mixed rep program is Director Peter Boal’s opportunity to express his own taste and to stretch the audience and the dancers with dances that are more challenging or unusual than the regular season fare. Read More
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Nutcracker
I’m working on an article about Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new production of the Nutcracker right now. They are hard at work rehearsing George Ballanchine’s choreography and putting together new sets designed by children’s author Ian Falconer, of Olivia fame. I’m excited to see what they come up with. But I’m also going to miss this.
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The Vertiginous Thrill of Forsythe
Photo by Angela Sterling for Pacific Northwest Ballet
Before I saw Pacific Northwest Ballet’s all Forsythe repertory The Vertiginous Thrill of Forsythe, I never realized that in some ways, the avant-garde contemporary ballet that thrills me has more in common with the straight-laced classical ballet that puts me to sleep than it does with anything that came between. Read More
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Don Quixote at Pacific Northwest Ballet Makes Me Penitent
Photo by Angela Sterling, courtesy of PNB.
I have a confession to make. It’s a little ironic, because I’m a writer. Stories are my life and my livelihood.
I don’t love story ballets. Too much time in stately processions and miming instead of dancing, while the dancing that does occur interrupts the story. And then along comes Don Quixote, a story ballet about an obsession with stories. It has subplots and cinematic pacing that disguises rigorous classical technique with gorgeous choreography and laugh-out-loud humor. Read More