Pacific Northwest Ballet Season Encore

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 past season. As I wrote yesterday, it’s also a farewell to departing dancers. In fact, several pieces performed at Season Encore were not even from the last season.

Swan Lake

The program opened with a pas de deux from Swan Lake, which was February’s program. Before it began, my daughter and I turned to each other and hummed that melody – you know the one. It’s so famous that it simultaneously sounds hackneyed and causes goose bumps to rise on your arms.

But they didn’t perform that one. It was a quieter, sweeter one from earlier in the story (Act Two, I think). In February I saw Lesley Rausch and Jerome Tisserand perform Odette and Siegfried, but this year they had some role debuts among the multiple casts. It was one of those debuting pairs, Sarah Ricard Orza and Dylan Wald, who performed at Season Encore.

Even though he’s been with the company since 2014, I still think of Wald as one of the new kids, so seeing him in a leading role forced me to pay closer attention to him as a dancer. And the dance itself seemed different. Just like dipping into a favorite chapter of an oft-read book, the pas de deux at Season Encore was not quite as emotionally intense removed from the context of the other three acts, but it was easier to pay attention to the syntax, so to speak.

West Side Story Suite

I’ve never really been a fan of West Side Story, even though I love Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno and Shakespeare adaptations. Placing Romeo and Juliet in New York street gangs is brilliant idea, but when it comes to representation, 1950s Hollywood is not the place to look. I cringe at Natalie Wood’s fake Puerto Rican accent, and in the wake of Hurricane Maria, the song “America” seems particularly tone deaf.

But perhaps dancer Nicole Rizzitano, like my sister-in-law, grew up loving the movie, unaware of its problematic, progressive-for-its-time racial insensitivity. Whatever the reason, she picked it for her send-off, and PNB pulled out the stops for it. Using the full orchestra rather than a recording from the soundtrack, and with three singers performing the lyrics, they danced it in all its colorful, campy glory. Thank you Peter Boal for not asking the dancers to sing!

Don Quixote

I’m a sucker for a good backstory and retiring principal Karel Cruz’s choice has a great one. Cruz and his wife, Lindsi Dec, both joined PNB’s corps de ballet in 2002. As company newbies, they often spent extra time in the studios practicing together. Their relationship turned romantic rehearsing for “Don Quixote“. At Season Encore, Cruz performed the pas de deux with his wife, and you can bet there were tears in the audience when their tiny son toddled on stage to give Cruz a bouquet of flowers.

Beyond the backstory, “Don Quixote” was a great choice to show off his skills – not only in partnering, but also flashy moves men don’t always get in the classic story ballets Cruz favors.

The Nutcracker

As a corps member, I don’t think Carli Samuelson got to perform the Sugar Plum Fairy during the three years PNB has performed Balanchine’s version, but she got her chance at Season Encore. Dancing the pas de deux with soloist Ezra Thomson, she reminded the audience that even our corps dancers are competent to perform starring roles. Watching Thomson was also eye-opening. I tend to think of him as a “character dancer” because if there’s a role for an old man or an oddball he usually dances it (Drosselmeyer, Dr. Coppelius, and Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream). It was nice to see him play a leading man for a change.

After the Rain

I’m so glad I got a second chance to see this so-good-it-hurts pas de deux. Last week I got to see James Moore and Rachel Foster. In Season Encore I got to see Seth Orza and Elizabeth Murphy. Seeing both casts in close temporal proximity like that is a joy. You get to see how the expression of different dancers affects the piece. When you see a dance again a couple seasons later, you’re really seeing how you have changed as viewer.

Ironically, then, “After the Rain” with Orza/Murphy felt like watching the same couple after time had passed. They looked stronger than Moore/Foster. The viewer was less aware of their effort and their carefulness with each other, and more aware of the awkward shapes their bodies make as they try to come together. Moore/Foster’s performance was raw and stinging like scraped skin. Orza/Murphy were trying not to pick the scab.

Tarantella

To me, departing soloist Matthew Renko will always be the man who performed “State of Darkness.” But I can understand why that 36-minute solo won’t work as well for a farewell performance as “Tarantella.” Despite wondering if the title bore any connection to large, hairy spiders, this was my daughter’s favorite piece. The fun, upbeat music feels right for a going away party. And although the Neapolitan costumes (my daughter called them pirates) and tambourines kind of disguise it, “Tarantella” is a technical showcase.

Renko paired with Angelica Generosa for “Tarantella”. She’s one my favorite dancers to watch and a great choice for this dance. She can disappear into the corps like a chameleon, but when she solos, sassiness flies off her like sparklers. She’s perfect for dances like Rubies and Tarantella.

Diamonds

The season started with Jewels and ended with “Diamonds.” Karel Cruz and frequent partner Lesley Rausch performed the pas de deux from this homage to Russian ballet. “Diamonds” is one of those very classical pieces demanding a perfect partner that Cruz is most famous for. It finishes with the entire cast on stage, so that when Cruz took his final bows, he was already surrounded by his colleagues, ready to add their applause to the thunderous ovation coming from the audience.

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