Pacific Northwest Ballet – Page 3

ByGD

PNB@Home: Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2020 Virtual Season

After Covid cancelled half a season of Pacific Northwest Ballet performances, and Seattle Dance Collective put out a great virtual summer season, I bought season tickets to PNB@Home without paying much attention to what it involved. I just knew I wanted to support the company and make sure it was still around when “real” ballet was possible again. But then I saw the first program of the virtual season, and to my surprise, I enjoyed it just as much as a night at McCaw Hall. So now I’m taking a closer look at the rest of the season.

ByGD

Pacific Northwest Ballet, PNB@Home, Rep 1

More of PNB@Home Rep 1

I can never curb my enthusiasm over a good night out at the ballet. I didn’t expect to have the same problem with a virtual ballet performance. But the first program of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s digital 2020-2021 season was just as good as anything I’ve seen live. Of course there are trade-offs, but I discovered that recorded ballet can be worth buying tickets to. And as much as I loved what I saw in Act 1 of Rep 1, Act 2 topped it.

PNB soloist Dylan Wald in The Calling. Photo © Angela Sterling c/o PNB

ByGD

Pacific Northwest Ballet, PNB@Home, Rep 1

PNB@Home Rep 1

This is the post where I put the cart before the horse. Between paid work and keeping up with Seattle Opera’s weekly online releases, I haven’t had a chance to preview Pacific Northwest Ballet’s virtual season. But PNB@Home Rep 1 posted last night, and it’s only available until Monday, so I have to write about it now or anyone who reads this won’t have a chance to see it. And missing this program would be a shame.

I’ve watched a lot of art online since the pandemic started, and while virtual performances are better than nothing, they are rarely better than live ones. But I rank this first program of PNB’s online 2020-2021 season among some of my favorite nights of ballet since that fateful Nutcracker in 1992 that hooked me on the art form.

ByGD

1000 Pieces, Alejandro Cerrudo, arts funding, David Dawson, Empire Noir, Pacific Northwest Ballet, pandemic

1000 Pieces at Pacific Northwest Ballet

Jerome Tisserand in David Dawson’s Empire Noir, DIRECTOR’S CHOICE 2017. Photo © Angela Sterling c/o PNB

Little did I suspect when I watched the final performance of Yardbird at Seattle Opera that it would be the last performance anyone saw at McCaw Hall for the foreseeable future. Like many others, I had tickets to see Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new program 1000 Pieces the following weekend. But two days before the program was to premiere, the governor shut down all large gatherings. In the midst of pandemic, it was a minor tragedy, but it wasn’t a total loss. In fact, it turned into a special event, the memory of which I will both cherish and grieve.

ByGD

ballet, Cinderella, Kent Stowell, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Prokofiev

Pacific Northwest Ballet Completes My Cinderella Season

Fairy tales, by definition, are timeless. And yet they also seem to have their moments. This year, Cinderella seems to be having hers. I’m not sure what it is about Cinderella that makes it more important to people right now than Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. But I have seen three different adaptations of Cinderella this season across three different art forms. The Cinderella season concluded for me last weekend at opening night of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Cinderella by Kent Stowell.

Tag Archive Pacific Northwest Ballet

PNB@Home: Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2020 Virtual Season