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Pacific Northwest Ballet corps de ballet member Genevieve Waldorf, left, with soloist Christopher D'Ariano in Penny Saunders' Wonderland. Photo @ Angela Sterling |
Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal made a good choice when he named the company’s latest program.
Boundless means
limitless, according to my dictionary; an apt description when I think back on
the three dances that make up the Boundless bill.
Boal has made it his practice to bring audiences two
contemporary ballet programs each year, in November and March. Sometimes those dances
are imported from other companies. In the case of Boundless—and thanks
to the season-long celebration of PNB’s 50th anniversary--we get two
world premieres plus the stage debut of Penny Saunder’s witty Wonderland,
originally commissioned and presented as part of PNB’s 2020-21 digital-only
artistic season.
Saunders, PNB resident choreographer Alejandro
Cerrudo and the internationally acclaimed dancemaker Jessica Lang offered up
three completely different works, each showcasing the company dancers to their
best advantage.
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PNB Principal Dancer Lucien Postlewaite, left, with company members in Penny Saunders' Wonderland. Photo @ Angela Sterling |
Wonderland, a love letter to theaters and the artists
who inhabit them, originally was videotaped in various locations in the empty McCaw
Hall, where PNB (and Seattle Opera) regularly perform. In 2020, when Saunders
created the dance, the world had been shut down for months, and nobody knew
when we’d all gather again in person. In revisiting Wonderland almost
three years later, Saunders had to address our changed circumstances while
retaining the essence of her homage to the magic that can happen in a theater.
The new Wonderland is bookended by the always
fabulous Elle Macy. She emerges from the orchestra pit at the beginning, baton
at the ready, to conduct a set of white-gloved hands that have poked their way
under the heavy red velvet curtain. Macy reprises her conducting role at the
end of the dance. In between, we revel in soloist Christopher D’Ariano and
corps de ballet member Genevieve Waldorf’s duet on the stage, as well as
principal dancer Lucien Postlewaite’s pas de deux with corps member Mark Cuddihee,
performed in separate box seats above and across the sea of audience
members.
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Elle Macy, left, with Dylan Wald in Wonderland. photo @ Angela Sterling |
Saunders’ work not only survived the jump from small screen
to live stage, it transcended, providing haunting moments of pure beauty along
with the whimsy. One of the highlights was welcoming back principal dancer
Dylan Wald, who’s been out for almost a year with a serious injury. Saunders
made Wonderland with him in 2020, and it was truly a joy to see this
talented artist back in his element.
If Wonderland left us feeling upbeat, Alejandro
Cerrudo’s new Black on Black on Black, a combination of demanding,
sometimes confounding, stage wizardry (kudos to the backstage crew and stage
management for what had to be a monumental evening of scrim jockeying)
and moments of simply lyrical dance.
Watching the sheer beauty of Leah Terada, perched atop Chris
D’Ariano’s behind, slowly surfing a sea of dancers lying prone onstage is
something to behold.
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Luminous Angelica Generosa with James Kirby Rogers in Alejandro Cerrudo's Black on Black on Black. Photo @ Angela Sterling |
Two other sections linger: principals Angelica Generosa and
James Kirby Rogers performed a lovely duet that showcased both their technical
prowess and their artistry. (In fact, Generosa danced in all three pieces on
opening night, and shone equally (and blindingly) in each).
The other highlight was a solo for corps de ballet member
Noah Martzall. I wish I had a picture to show you, but you’ll have to content
yourself with this photo of Martzall in Crystal Pite’s amazing The Seasons’
Canon. He’s definitely a rising presence in a ballet company that boasts
any number of talented dancers.
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That's Noah Martzall in the middle, surrounded by fellow PNB dancers in Crystal Pite's fabulous The Seasons' Canon. Photo @ Angela Sterling |
The program’s final work was Jessica Lang’s Let Me Mingle
Tears With Thee, (LMMTWT for short) set to Giovanni Battista
Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, performed by the always wonderful PNB
orchestra with singers Christina Siemens and Sarra Sharif Doyle. LMMTWT
couldn’t be more different from the two dances that preceded it.
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PNB dancers in Jessica Lang's Let Me Mingle Tears With Thee photo @ Angela Sterling |
The 18th century Stabat Mater is about Mary’s grief at the death of her son, Jesus. While there’s no mistaking the Christian symbolism in this ballet, Lang intends her work to transcend this particular story. But with the dancers clad in flowing costumes in faded gold, peach and blue and re-creating what look like Renaissance-era Church frescos, it’s hard to think beyond the New Testament. As a non-Christian, religious artworks like this often leave me cold. The assumption of the universality of their message is ignorant of the experiences of those of us on the outside.
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PNB company members in Jessica Lang's Let Me Mingle Tears With Thee Photo @ Angela Sterling |
But mid-way through, the cast swaps the pastel tights,
skirts and flowing shirts for costumes rendered in super-saturated purple,
blue, green and red. Despite the gigantic crucifix set piece, the costume
change is where this ballet opened up for me.
I don’t want to give much away, but choreographically (and
musically) the end of LMMTWT is magnificent; it is Lang’s visual rendering of
the fugue we hear the orchestra play. The intricacy and the dancers’ grace truly
are something to behold.
LMMTWT is an ensemble work; opening night featured
some solid performances from several of the company’s newer members including
Audrey Malek, Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi. They were as strong as such
veterans as James Yoichi Moore, Elizabeth Murphy and Generosa, who truly was
luminous.
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Angelica Generosa with James Moore in Jessica Lang's Let Me Mingle Tears With Thee Photo @ Angela Sterling |
Boundless, onstage March 23-26 at McCaw Hall, offered a smorgasbord of new work. There were those moments of
transcendent beauty, the ones I always hope to see; there were also times when
I wondered what I was watching.
What I am certain about is that PNB’s dancers look great
right now, from the five newly-hired apprentices to accomplished principal
dancers like Macy, Wald, Postlewaite and Generosa. Watching Martzall, D’Ariano,
Terada and Sakuragi on opening night left me excited for the company’s future,
whatever choreography comes their way.
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