Farewell Karel

I’ve attended regular season ballet performances since I was 18. But this is the first season that I’ve attended any of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “extra” events – like performance previews, lectures, and now the Season Encore performance. Although it’s called a season encore, it’s not just a highlights reel of the most popular dances of the past season. The Encore program is also a farewell to company members who are leaving for other companies or retiring.

The Program

This season, PNB said farewell to four dancers:

• Principal Karel Cruz
• Soloist Matthew Renko
• Corps de Ballet member Nicole Rizzitano
• Corps de Ballet member Carli Samuelson

I found it touching that each of those dancers, regardless of their rank in the company, was allowed to choose one piece for their final performance with the company. The combination of season highlights and departing artist choices created a unique and densely-packed program. (And just think – literally the day before, the dancers were performing a different program!)

• Swan Lake
• West Side Story Suite
• Don Quixote
• George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
• After the Rain
• Tarantella
• Diamonds

Farewell Karel

Everyone is special, but some of us are more special than the rest of us, and at Season Encore, that person was Karel Cruz. Instead of a normal program booklet, this program had a collector-quality folded book. The subtitle on the cover said, “A Celebration of Karel Cruz” and the inside pages were filled with full color photos from Cruz’s 16 years with the company. The text was mostly glowing press clips in praise of Cruz. The letter from the director began:

I’ve often heard it said, ‘You don’t look at the guy unless the ballerina’s falling over.’ If that were true, we may never have seen Karel Cruz.

Besides representing the best of classical ballet, Cruz is a walking American Dream. He reached the pinnacle of his field abroad before coming to the U.S. and starting all over again at the bottom, in an unfamiliar language. Now that he is at the peak again, he is retiring from performance to focus on family and an entrepreneurial venture, leaving audiences and colleagues with tears in their eyes. (Movie rights still available – probably).

Party On

Anyone can buy tickets to the Season Encore performance. But it feels a little more like going to a party than going to a performance. Of course, there are actual ballet parties, and you can go to those too, if you make a big donation or buy a ticket. But for me, real parties, even ones where I know people, are stressful. Going to a party where I’m a fan, rather than a friend, of the guests would be agony.

“I love your work!” Of course you do, or you wouldn’t have bought a ticket to the party.

So Season Encore is like going to a party without the social anxiety. There’s the festive feeling of a roomful of people who are all there to celebrate the guest of honor. There’s even a slide show at the beginning to put everyone in a nostalgic move. Then there’s music and dancing, confetti, and shared expressions of emotion before going home tired and happy.

Except at the Season Encore, the dancers are all really good, the emotional outpourings are not drunken confessions but ovations that rival rock concerts at Key Arena and it all happens within the comfortable anonymity of a darkened theater. It really felt like being part of something rather than just watching something.

Tickets

Season Encore is only performed once, so it’s too late for you to see it this year. (I’m still going to write about the actual performance). But another one-night-only performance, Next Step, is on Friday, and next season has already been announced, and you can buy tickets to that.

{I attended Season Encore compliments of PNB. All opinion my own.}