Ballet & Dance
Music & Movement

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I first saw live Ballet in 1996, soon after moving to Seattle. I'd always been curious about this artform, but never previously gotten around to exploring. I was enthralled by what I saw. I was already a fan of classical music, and it was captivating to see it combined with stylish, emotive and beautiful movement. I've been attending for the last seven years with the same group of friends. This page lists performances I've seen, and in the case of some of the newer ones, adds my comments. This section has not been kept up to date, sadly.

Swan Lake - McCaw Hall - 27th September 2003

Alegria - Cirque du Soleil - 12th September 2003

Sleeping Beauty - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena - 7th June 2003

Tchaikovsky's music is some of the most memorable and compelling in the classical repertoire. Combined with Hynd & Petipa's choreography and you have a full length ballet that's worth the full length of an evening.

As always, Carrie Imler was excellent in the part of the Lilac Fairy. Her recent ascension to principal seems more than justified. Jeffrey Stanton is similarly strong as Florimund. And one of this year's two up-and-coming hot properties, Noelani Pantastico, took on the challenging role of Aurora with gusto.

The highlights of the ballet for me were the Christening scene, including the delightful parade of fairies (Rebecca Johnston was especially good here), and the Wedding, with both Stanton and Pantastico's excellent pas de deux and the witty performances of the other characters from fairy tales.

Another great show 8/10.

[Present: MartynL, EricSch & Mary]

Multiple Pieces - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena - 19th April 2003

Multiple Pieces - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena - 22nd March 2003

Multiple Pieces - Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Paramount Theatre - 9th March 2003

Multiple Pieces - Mercer Arts Arena, Pacific Northwest Ballet - 8th February 2003

Nutcracker - Paramount Theatre, Seattle - 6th December 2002

Bolshoi Ballet - Paramount Theatre, Seattle - 1st November 2002

Teatro Zinzanni: Dinner & Dreams - Downtown Seattle - 18th July 2002

Traditional circus, with dubious animal practices and smelly big tops is being supplanted. I first became aware of this trend when Cirque du Soleil came to prominence. It's drawn from a French tradition of circus - less animals, more humour, and more adult themes. This is a very welcome transition.

Teatro Zinzanni: Love, Chaos and Dinner first landed in Seattle in 1998, and transferred to San Francisco in 2000. I missed it the first time around, but wasn't going to miss their new show Dinner and Dreams which opened a few months ago.

The show is structured as a series of circus-style vignettes with assorted comedy and audience participation for connecting tissue. Dinner courses are served integrated with the entertainment itself. The standard of the circus set pieces was good, demonstrating good comic timing, athletic prowess, and truly unique and interesting deportment. All pieces were performed very close to or above and around the audience. Key pieces included trapeze, drag, Opera, juggling and other physical feats.

The food was extremely disappointing. While it was of high quality (the Tom Douglas moniker was in the menu), there was no choice for any of the courses. A five course meal isn't nearly as desirable when you don't get to choose what it is. Most people at our table seemed to find the food acceptable or better, so perhaps it simply all failed to match my tastes. And, of course, the compulsory food drives the cost of the show very high. I would much have preferred to go without dinner.

Definitely worth seeing 8/10.

[Present: Karen + Frank, MartynL, +3]

Multiple Pieces - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena, Seattle - 8th June 2002

Hail To The Conquering Hero

To begin the evening, PNB presented this interesting home-grown piece with Choreography by Kent Stowell to an excellent selection of music by G.F. Handel. Costumes and set were minimalist, leaving the dance and music out front. The piece was quite evocative, with flowing and mesmerising movement. An enjoyable journey through Handel's greatest hits. 7/10

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Unfortunately, we discovered at the performance, that Julie Tobiason, my personal favourite PNB Principal, is retiring at the end of this season. Julie's expressive features and warm countenance coupled with consummate, seamless movement have made her my dancer of choice for several seasons. Of course, she has been a PNB principal since 1991, so I guess it was inevitable she would retire soon.

Julie and Olivier Wevers repeated a segment we had seen before - the Pas de Deux from Romeo and Juliet with music by Tchaikovsky and some of Kent Stowell's best choreography. This is a truly excellent piece, with all the passion and intensity that Julie and Olivier deliver so well. 9/10.

After the performance, there was a tearful standing ovation for Julie, and well-deserved flowers, and hugs from all the cast and crew, and what appeared to be her husband and son too. She will be sorely missed.

The Seven Deadly Sins

When I describe the PNB to others, I always describe them doing a mix of modern and traditional ballet. But I always feel that they do slightly less modern work than I would prefer. The Seven Deadly Sins is a great example of how marvellous modern dance can be.

Based on music by Kurt Weill, libretto by Bertolt Brecht and Choreography by Donald Byrd, this piece traces the life story of unfortunate, ambitious Anna as she travels American cities and succumbs to the seven deadly sins. The production was energetic, witty, innovative and striking. The use of ballerinas dressed as adult entertainers in the Pride segment and as call girls in the Lust segment provided the most unexpected PNB imagery of the season. The addition of singing to the dance provided fascinating counterpoint. All the segments were visually appealing, unusual, and captivating. 10/10.

Ballard of You and Me

The preceeding three pieces were a tough act to follow, and this end piece was a bit of a let down, although it was still nice to see an innovative piece with unusual staging.

The theme of the piece was the works of Pete Seager, with which I have no familiarity at all. I am not a fan of this kind of folk music, political or otherwise. The staging was interesting, with historical images projected above the stage related to the song and dance in progress. But ultimately, while the dance was of the usual high standard, neither the music nor the context kept my interest well enough. 6/10.

[Present: MartynL, JulieJ, EricS, MaryS] 

Tango Tonight - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena, Seattle - 20th April 2002 

Cinderella - Pacific Northwest Ballet, Mercer Arts Arena, Seattle - 9th March 2002

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