PNB’s Digital Season Rep 4

The fourth program of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s digital season, appropriately titled Rep 4 – launched? opened? posted? Premiered? – on Thursday, but I couldn’t watch it until Friday. It’s only available until Monday. So since time is short, I’ll try to keep my comments short. Rep 4 is a mixed rep program comprising world premieres by two of my favorite choreographers, and archival video of a third piece that PNB performed in 2017. I have mixed feelings about it.

And the sky is not cloudy all day (World Premiere)

Music: John Adams (“Rag the Bone”, “Judah to Ocean”, “Toot Nipple”, “Dogjam”, and “Pavane: She’s so Fine” from John’s Book of Alleged Dances, 1994)
Choreography: Donald Byrd
Costume Design: Doris Black
Lighting Design: Reed Nakayama

Ballet dancers in Western wear, on a harshly lit stage adorned with only an image of high desert. It makes for some great silhouettes for transitions. But having grown up in the Southwest, I just can’t muster up the suspension of disbelief necessary to romanticize cowboys. If this piece had been by a French choreographer, I would think it was some kind of Old West romanticization, or a take on the classic ballet trope of “and then the peasants danced.” But this is citizen artist Donald Byrd. I love Donald Byrd, and I’m always excited when PNB (or Seattle Opera) performs his work. Surely there is some kind of criticism or commentary in this cowboy-themed work?

Yes, there is.

It presents a picture of something that existed only in my boyhood imagination. It is like the ‘dream ballet’ in a Broadway musical. It steps out of time and reality to present a vision free of harshness, where the bloody narrative of the massacre of Native people is not there. There is a tension created by what we know happened and this confection. It is my boyhood dream, a boy from the past’s playtime. Ultimately, however, as we watch, we must ask ourselves to consider and grapple with the myth of the West, the true West and its cruelty, and its terrible legacy… Yet if only for one brief moment, it also allows us to accept those contradictions.

Donald Byrd, program notes

But I didn’t really get that watching it. The first part seemed kind of hokey – it makes more sense thinking of it as kids playing – but it still wasn’t my favorite choreography of his. The second part felt more self-aware. There was a winking quality or irony to it, and um, it kind of seemed like … well, like the dancer was about to take off more than just the hat. But the third part. This was the kind of dance I expect from Byrd – it’s definitely ballet, but it doesn’t look like any ballet you’ve seen before. What are these movements? Can bodies really do that?

I’m really not sure about the first part of “And the sky is not cloudy all day” but I loved the last part. And I’ve got to admit, dancers wear the look better than any real-life cowboy I’ve ever seen.

Cast

Kyle Davis

Dylan Wald

Mark Cuddihee
Christopher D’Ariano
Noah Martzall
Ezra Thomson

Future Memory (World Premiere)

Music: Peter Gregson (“Alan Doesn’t Fight” from the motion picture Forgotten Man, 2019, and “Gavottes” from the album Recomposed by Peter Gregson: Bach – The Cello Suites, 2018), Dustin O’Halloran (“An Ending, a Beginning” from the album Other Lights, 2019), Jóhann Jóhannsson (“Stuk” from the album Jóhann Jóhannsson: 12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann, 2019), Jean-Michel Blais (“outsiders” from the album Dans ma main, 2018)

Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo
Scenic Design: Reed Nakayama and Alejandro Cerrudo
Costume Design: Mark Zappone
Lighting Design: Reed Nakayama
Assistant to the Choreographer: Ana Lopez
Premiere: April 1, 2021; Pacific Northwest Ballet (digital release)
Filmed March 2021

I was so excited when I heard that Alejandro Cerrudo was going to be an artist in residence for PNB because I love everything of his that I have seen. And I’ve never really seen anything else that looks like his work. Memory Glow, Little Mortal Jump, Silent Ghost and 1000 Pieces are all amazing. “Future Memory,” a double pas de deux, has the same qualities I love in those other pieces. Slow, controlled movements, synchronized movements that in no way resemble dance steps, unusual lifts and bizarre contact points between dancers who seem to be moving according to different physics than the rest of us. As always, Cerrudo’s choreography reminds me of the line from an episode of Curious George, “Magnetism is one of my favorite invisible forces.” This was the highlight of the program.

Cast

Leah Terada
Miles Pertl

Elle Macy
Dylan Wald

Pictures at an Exhibition

Music: Modest Mussorgsky (1874)
Choreography: Alexei Ratmansky
Staging: Wendy Whelan
Costume Design: Adeline André
Lighting Design: Mark Stanley
Projection Design: Wendall K. Harrington, using Wassily Kandinsky’s Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles (1913)
Piano Soloist: Allan Dameron
Premiere: October 2, 2014, New York City Ballet
PNB Premiere: June 2, 2017
Running Time: 35 minutes

PNB’s digital performance of Pictures at an Exhibition is an archival recording from 2017.

It’s strange. I could swear I have seen “Pictures at an Exhibition” before, but I can’t find any mention of it on my blog or any of the places I’ve reviewed ballet. So I guess it’s lucky that I got a chance to see it again. Since the performance was recorded in 2017, it includes several dancers who are no longer with PNB – some breathtaking lifts by now-retired Karel Cruz were a highlight. Cerrudo is a tough act to follow, and I’ve noted before that I have a hard time paying proper attention to anything that shares a bill with him. “Pictures at an Exhibition” suffered that fate as well, but it’s a little unfair, because it is actually a very good ballet. Although it felt tame compared to “Future Memory,” on another program I think it would stand out as very unusual and interesting choreography. Also, it’s nice to see more than four dancers on a stage for a change.  

Cast

Rachel Foster
Carrie Imler
Elizabeth Murphy
Sarah Ricard Orza
Noelani Pantastico

Karel Cruz
Kyle Davis
Seth Orza
Jonathan Porretta
Jerome Tisserand

Extras

Fanfare for the Women

Music: Libby Larsen
Trumpet: Sarah Viens
Filmed February 2021

I’ve really enjoyed to getting to see the musicians during this digital season. For this program they chose a trumpet solo by a female artist, celebrating women. Not quite in time for International Women’s Day, but close enough.

kawsay (World Premiere)

Music: Frederic Chopin (“Nocturne #20 in C-Sharp Minor”, 1870) 
Choreography: Margarita Armas 
Videography: Lindsay Thomas 
Pianist Christina Siemens
Premiere: April 1, 2021; Pacific Northwest Ballet (digital release) 
Filmed March 2021  

Cast

Cecilia Iliesiu
Amanda Morgan
Clara Ruf Maldonado 

Guillaume Basso
Abby Jayne DeAngelo 

Don’t forget to scroll down and watch the additional piece, “kawsay” another world premiere. This one is choreographed by Margarita Armas. I’m not a huge fan of narrated works without music, but in this case the choice makes sense. Armas, a choreography student at PNB, has created three solos to represent three aspects of her identity, narrated in English, Spanish, and Quechua. A final pas de deux is set to music, the universal language chosen by the Peruvian-American dancer.  

{I purchased season tickets for access to PNB’s virtual programming, and I highly recommend that you do, too. You can do that here.}