Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Plot Points

Rep 4 of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2021-2022 season is Plot Points, a mixed rep program of four pieces that play with the concept of storytelling. I’m a little late to the party because I attended on the second weekend. There’s a world premiere and a PNB premiere by choreographers who are already well-loved by PNB audiences. The (almost) title piece, Plot Point, is already an audience favorite.

Before I Was

World Premiere
Music: Macie Stewart & Sima Cunningham (formerly known as OHMME)
Choreography: Robyn Mineko Williams 
Scenic Design: Andrew Boyce and Robyn Mineko Williams
Lighting Design: Reed Nakayama
Costume Design: Hogan McLaughlin
Running Time: 20 minutes

PNB audiences already know Robyn Mineko Williams from the 2019 world premiere of The Trees The Trees and its 2020 recorded version released as part of the PNB digital season during the pandemic. Seattle Dance Collective fans will also know her site-specific film Where You Stay from their last season.

Before I Was uses a set that drops down from the ceiling, an insubstantial outline evoking a house. A chair in front of – or are we inside of it? – the house acts as a focal point for the action. While a duo dances on and around the chair, two children play games in the garage. They are eventually replaced on stage by the composers, Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham, who sing the lyrics throughout the performance.

I can’t quite say why, since dance is by definition visceral, but for some reason, Robin Mineko Williams’ choreography always feels “brainy” to me, like an arthouse film I don’t quite understand. Even as a I recognize that a piece is doing interesting things, I always feel a bit detached while watching them, and they only start to grow on me upon reflection afterwards. I’m really glad that PNB subscriptions now come with digital streams. Because I think watching Before I Was again when it streams next week will give me a much better understanding of the work.

Cast I Saw:

Clara Ruf Maldonado
Jonathan Batista

Reed Benedict
Naomi Casem

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Caught

Music: Robert Fripp (1984, 1981)
Choreography: David Parsons
Staging: Jaime Martinez
Lighting Concept and Design: David Parsons
Running Time: 7 minutes
Premiere: 1982, Dance Theater Workshop (New York)
PNB Premiere: September 15, 2007

 It’s only seven minutes long, and you could even call it gimmicky, but Caught makes quite an impact. Simultaneously humorous and delightful and technically impressive, Caught is a solo dance illuminated by a combination of spotlights and strobe light. At first, the dancer moves from one spotlight to another as they light up. But soon the pace escalates, and the spotlights give way to a strobe light and the dance begins to look a bit like the opening video at Majestic Bay. (For the nonlocal, it’s a slowly accelerating bunch of stills of a running horse that speeds up into a film, based on the earliest film footage.) The dancer moves across the stage in what looks like a series of huge jumps, thanks to the strobe light. You start to think, “This doesn’t require impressive timing; it would look cool no matter which part of the jump gets illuminated.” Then the next burst of the strobe light turns into a spotlight on the dancer holding perfectly still in the center of the stage. So cool. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the digital release.

Cast I Saw:

Kuu Sakuragi

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Plot Point

Music: Bernard Herrmann (from Psycho, 1960), with additional soundtrack by Owen Belton
Choreography: Crystal Pite
Staging: Sandra Marin Garcia
Scenic Design: Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Design: Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design: Alan Brodie
Running Time: 36 minutes
Premiere: April 22, 2010, Nederlands Dans Theater
PNB Premiere: November 3, 2017

PNB doesn’t have a lot of Crystal Pite in the repertory but everything we have is great. Emergence is one of my all-time favorite ballets, and when it premiered at PNB in 2017, Plot Point became another one. Repurposing the Psycho soundtrack and film noir character types, Plot Point doesn’t tell a story so much as it explores storytelling. When I read my original thoughts on it, it sounds a little different from what I saw this time. At first I thought the changes made it more streamlined, but the new runtime is listed as four minutes longer. It’s funny how a story changes, not only in memory, but even as you experience it at different times in your life. I’m looking forward to the digital release so I can go back and watch it again with both my first and second impressions fresh in my head. I wonder what will seem new or different the third time?

Cast I Saw:

James Yoichi Moore
Sarah Gabrielle Ryan
Miles Pertl
Elizabeth Murphy
Lucien Postlewaite
Elle Macy
Ryan Cardea
James Kirby Rogers

Noah Martzall
Leta Biasucci
Christopher D’Ariano
Madison Rayn Abeo
Kyle Davis
Leah Terada

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The Times Are Racing

PNB Premiere
Music: “USA I-IV” from the album America by Dan Deacon
Choreography: Justin Peck
Staging: Craig Hall
Costume Design: Humberto Leon
Lighting Design: Brandon Stirling Baker
Sound Design: Abe Jacob
Running Time: 25 minutes
Premiere: January 26, 2017, New York City Ballet

Justin Peck is another choreographer beloved by PNB that I never quite seem to connect with. Or at least, I didn’t before. I literally missed Debonair in 2014; I didn’t really get Year of the Rabbit, although I did appreciate its informal, emotional vibe; I enjoyed Countenance of Kings at the time, but didn’t remember it later. Part of the problem is that Peck enjoys the music of Sufjan Stevens, and that’s not really my jam. But I do like Dan Deacon. I never took a laid back summer road trip in the ‘80s, but his music always makes me feel like I did. The Times Are Racing was a lot of dancers on stage in casual wear just kinda rocking out and having a good time. It was a vibe I didn’t even know I desperately needed and by the end of it I was breathing easier when I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding my breath.

Cast I Saw:

Genevieve Waldorf
Christian Poppe
Sarah Gabrielle Ryan
Luther DeMyer
Amanda Morgan
Sarah Pasch
Cecilia Iliesiu
Ezra Thomson
Madison Rayn Abeo
Clara Ruf Maldonado
Malena Ani
Yuki Takahashi
Ginabel Peterson
Abby Jayne DeAngelo
Ryan Cardea
Joh Morrill
Connor Horton
Mark Cuddihee
Zsilas Michael Hughes
Guillaume Basso

Plot Points Details

By the time I post this, the program will be over. But it will be available digitally, (minus Caught) streaming March 31- April 4.