When You're Obsessed With a Ballet...

Francia Russell, seated, in a 1957 "Agon" rehearsal with George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky at New York City Ballet
photo courtesy Russell and PNB

I could watch George Balanchine’s 1957 masterpiece “Agon” 100 times and still find something new and magical with each viewing. Lucky for me, “Agon” was half the season-opening bill at Pacific Northwest Ballet this past weekend.

I first saw “Agon” in 1993, when PNB gave its Seattle premiere. A quarter century later, Balanchine’s choreography looks both of its era and eternally fresh.

“Agon” is Balanchine’s disciplined and imaginative embodiment of Igor Stravinsky’s commissioned score--wild, challenging, influenced by Schoenberg’s 12-tone music. One of Balanchine’s acclaimed “black and whites,” “Agon” was paired by Kent Stowell’s 1993 voluptuous crowd-pleaser, “Carmina Burana.” The bill was both a study in contrasts, and a salute to Stowell and his wife and partner Francia Russell, PNB’s founding co-artistic directors.

Russell, an internationally-known stager of Balanchine’s ballets, performed in the original “Agon.” She brought the ballet, and many other Balanchine works, to PNB. I’ve had the great fortune to watch Russell at work in the PNB studios, to see both her reverence for the choreography and her meticulous attention to detail. Both were on full display in this new production.

PNB Principal Dancer Lesley Rausch in the 2013 production of "Agon."
photo by Angela Sterling, courtesy PNB

When I first saw “Agon” onstage, I didn’t know Russell’s history, or really anything about the ballet. But I was enthralled by the central pas de deux (I suspect Patricia Barker was one of the dancers). I remember the couple facing the audience, the woman’s backside up against the front of her partner. She bent at the waist, wrapped her leg around his back, her foot extended, then flung her arms back as if to challenge the audience: ‘ha, just wait until you see what else I have in store for you.’

Here's Rausch in 2013 with retired Principal Dancer Karel Cruz, photo @ Angela Sterling.
See what I mean?

On opening night this time around, I happened to be seated next to retired PNB principal dancer Olivier Wevers, who has performed that pas. He told me the two dancers are meant to egg each other on, the ballet version of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better." On opening night, PNB principals Lesley Rausch and Seth Orza delivered. Rausch, who is always clean and precise, offered some mind-boggling moments. When Orza lifts her up at one point, she throws open her legs into a wide split, then holds the position as Orza slowly rotates, then finally lowers her carefully to the stage. At another point, Orza is supine while Rausch flits above him. He scoots his body beneath her, his pointed toes fluttering like a hummingbird.

PNB's Seth Orza lies supine beneath fellow Principal Dancer Lesley Rausch in the 2019 "Agon"
photo @ Angela Sterling, courtesy PNB

I can’t recount every choreographic detail for you, but Balanchine has packed this 28 minute dance with dozens of these captivating moments. Principal Benjamin Griffiths, in a polished solo, whips off a series of leaps. Nothing unusual, except for the fact that only one leg is extended; the other remains vertical, slightly above the stage floor.

I particularly loved a pas de trois featuring beloved (at least to me) principal dancer Noelani Pantastico with two of the company’s rising stars: soloist Dylan Wald and corps de ballet member Christopher D’Ariano. This trio was fierce and unrelentingly daring. I gasped out loud when Wald lifted Pantastico off the floor, her body perpendicular, then tossed her, still vertical, over to D’Ariano, who caught her neatly then lowered her to the stage. Yikes!

PNB rising stars Dylan Wald, left, with Christopher D'Ariano in "Agon," 2019
photo @ Angela Sterling, courtesy PNB

“Agon” contains dozens of these moments, and they (cor)respond wonderfully to the Stravinsky score. (Interesting side note—PNB recently streamed a rehearsal on Facebook, and one viewer commented that she liked the dance but thought PNB should swap out the music. That would be like a PB&J sandwich without the jelly!)

George Balanchine made so many, and such varied, ballets over the course of his career. I love many of them, but “Agon” is among my favorites. This coming weekend you have four more opportunities to watch PNB’s most excellent dancers perform this masterwork, lovingly passed on to them by the woman who learned it from Balanchine himself. All praise to Francia Russell!

Starting With a Bang!

Whim W'Him company members in Kyra Jean Green's "Smile Club"
photo @ Stefano Altamura @salt.photo

If Friday the 13^th offered up any omens this year, they were all lucky for Seattle contemporary dance troupe Whim W’Him.

The company opened its 10^th season with its fifth annual Choreographic Shindig program: three new works created by choreographers the dancers themselves get to choose. This year, as is now customary, the bill featured three completely different dances that showcased the cornucopia of talents these capable dancers possess.

Jim Kent and Liane Aung in "See-Saw" by Joshua Manculich
photo @ Stefano Altamura, salt.photo

Shindig V opened with Joshua Manculich’s “See-Saw,” a work the choreographer describes as a counterpoint between the immediacy of a child’s world and the wider, more nuanced world view of an adult. Manculich depicted this, in part, through the juxtaposition of melodic, balletic sections and interludes of jangly, goofy movement. Designer Michael Mazzola punched up those tensions through abrupt shifts in the lighting, echoed by changes in Michael Wall's score.

Cameron Birts in "See-Saw." I wish you could see him stretched out in all his gracefulness!
photo by Stefano Altamura, @ salt.photo

I was struck in particular by a tender pas de deux performed by long-time company member Jim Kent, dancing at the top of his form, and the ever-amazing Cameron Birts. When Birts unfurls his long arms, or extends his foot and gracefully points his toes, he seems to transcend his small stature, and he becomes the proverbial swan. Kent is confident in his movements, owning the space. (By the way, that space--Capitol Hill's Erickson Theater--is a dandy location for watching dance. Small, intimate, with seats raised above the dance floor. You get a great view of everything.)

Whim W'Him company members in Yoshito Sakuraba's "Laurentide"
photo by Stefano Altamura @salt.photo

All seven Whim W’Him dancers displayed similar elegance in the evening’s closing dance, “Laurentide,” created by Yoshito Sakuraba to a haunting score. This piece was inspired by the long-lost Laurentide Ice Sheet which once covered most of Canada, and this lyrical, highly physical work was a perfect showcase for the dancers’ versatility: stately, poignant, technically demanding.

I was impressed by both “Laurentide” and “See-Saw,” but for me the program highlight was sandwiched between these two new dances.

Jim Kent and Liane Aung, center, with Whim W'Him company members in Kyra Jean Green's "Smile Club"
photo by Stefano Altamura @salt.photo

Kyra Jean Green’s quirky “Smile Club” was quite a change from Whim W’Him’s usual offerings. Instead of drawing on the company’s core—movements evolved from the classical training artistic director Olivier Wevers and many of the company members bring to the table—“Smile Club” seems rooted in a dance vernacular you might see in contemporary hip-hop; the Robot, the worm, side-to-side articulation of the neck, subtle flicks of fingers, arms and feet. The choreography might have been challenging, but these dancers nailed it.

Most striking, though, was what Green demanded of the dancers’ faces. They stretched their mouths from grimaces into grins, opened eyes wide in shock, dragged their cheeks and chins down into sagging despair. These faces were mesmerizing.

With “Smile Club,” Green asks the audience to consider what drives human emotions, how much they are external to the self. In this work, as poignant as it is humorous, she stirs the embers in search of answers.

Jane Cracovaner is molded by Adrian Hoffman's mad scientist in "Smile Club"
photo by Stefano Altamura @salt.photo

All of the dancers were fabulous in Green’s piece, but Liane Aung, Jane Cracovaner and Adrian Hoffman were particular adept at rearranging facial features and synching their bodies to Pascal Champagne’s driving sound design.

Choreographic Shindig V demonstrated once again the versatility and technical prowess of the Whim W’Him dancers, their ability to not only perform diverse works but to invigorate them. I’ve said it before, but it bears frequent repetition: one of the biggest gifts Wevers has given Seattle dance fans is the opportunity to experience a range of choreographers from outside our region, even our country. He celebrates ten years of hard work forging this dance troupe by inviting some of those creators back to the Pacific Northwest. Look for in-demand Anabel Lopez Ochoa’s return, plus the Whim W’Him debut of acclaimed choreographer Sidra Bell.

Woo-Ho! It’s dance season in Seattle!