Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist James Moore in Marco Goecke's "Mopey." Photo © Copyright Chris Bennion.

Artistic Balance

11/05/2009

Choreographer Val Caniparoli, a Renton native, spent most of October creating a new ballet with Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) company members. Caniparoli's "Seasons" is one of four dances on PNB's "Director's Choice" program. It opens tonight at McCaw Hall. The contemporary program give observers a good idea of how the Northwest's largest ballet company has evolved under Artist Director Peter Boal's leadership.

When former PNB Artistic Directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell announced their retirement plans five years ago, Peter Boal wasn't looking for a job running a large regional ballet company:

Boal: "Um, I'm not sure I wanted it."

Boal was happily dancing as a principal with New York City Ballet.

Boal: "I was definitely planning to dance another year, doing well, technically strong. I didn't see why I couldn't have danced another three years."

But when a friend of Boal's learned of the job opening, he urged the dancer to apply:

Boal: "I got on the phone with Kent, gave him a call, asked if he'd endorse me applying for the job. You know, Kent said, we were waiting for your call."

Boal says Kent Stowell and his wife Francia Russell built a ballet company with a reputation for accomplished productions of the work of 20th century choreographer George Balanchine. While Peter Boal knows and loves the Balanchine repertoire, he wants to introduce Seattle audiences to new choreographers:

Boal: "I see certain responsibilities in the job. One is to commission new work, it's really my obligation to my profession."

To that end, Boal has added work by everyone from Twyla Tharp to Susan Stroman to company members Olivier Wevers and Kiyon Gaines.

Eight dancers watch as choreographer Val Caniparoli demonstrates a series of movements he wants them to perform, part of his world premiere "The Seasons."

"The Seasons" was co–commissioned with Louisville Ballet, but has its world premier in Seattle. Premiers like this are funded by PNB's New Works Initiative. Longtime Pacific Northwest Ballet board member Glenn Kawasaki chairs the program:

Kawasaki: "New works are geared to a younger audience, which we really need. Ballet is expensive, the mindset is that everyone is wearing tutus, classical ballet is what people think. But it's evolving a lot at PNB, it's far ahead in Europe. So that's why we're moving things forward, Peter sees that."

Not everything Boal has brought in has met with acclaim. Two years ago, when the company first performed a dance called "One Flat Thing", some audience members were so outraged they wrote letters to the editor of The Seattle Times, and to Peter Boal:

Boal: "Oh, did they. You can spin it any way you like but when people are arguing over the water cooler the next day about the ballet they saw, we're doing something right. So I love when people are talking about ballet. It's a sad day when the ballet is dismissable entertainment."

For the most part, local critics have welcomed Boal's vision for PNB. This fall The Stranger honored the company with one of its annual Genius Awards. Outside the region, Pacific Northwest Ballet also enjoys critical respect for its Balanchine performances. New York Times Chief Dance Critic Alastair McCauley rates PNB and Peter Boal up with the best of what he calls the Balanchine diaspora, companies headed up by former New York City Ballet dancers influenced by George Balanchine.

McCauley: "The overall standards are absolutely high, from the corps upwards. His bringing on certain individual dancers who are among the leading Balanchine stylists in America, which means the world."

McCauley is less sold on PNB's productions of some of the newer ballets, especially work by the late choreographer Ulysses Dove:

McCauley: "To me that's uninteresting choreography, it doesn't show off the qualities of well–trained dancers."

No matter how talented and well trained the dancers, how innovative the choreography, Pacific Northwest Ballet is in the same quandary as every other nonprofit arts organization in the city and across the country. Artistic Director Peter Boal says it's impossible to escape the impact of the recession:

Boal: "It was a crappy year, for lack of a better word."

Corporate donations are way down, audiences aren't buying full–season subscriptions, and last year's holiday snowstorm was devastating to "Nutcracker" ticket sales, PNB's major source of ticket revenue. When he's putting together artistic programs, Boal says he tries to balance a menu of sure–fire crowd–pleasers with his desire to present challenging new work:

Boal: "I did come with the intention of really extending what was in place, and people feel like I turned the place upside down. I can't start the process of catering to what people are asking for, then I'm a mess. The hardest thing has been the doubt. I did well in life, for the first time, I question myself constantly."

PNB's Board of Directors doesn't seem to have any doubts about Peter Boal. They just extended Boal's contract for five more years. Two years from now, PNB turns 40, and Peter Boal promises to celebrate by commissioning new work from what he calls some really big names. PNB fans will have to wait until then to find out what he means.

I'm Marcie Sillman, KUOW News.

© Copyright 2009, KUOW