The Pacific Northwest Ballet presented three exquisite and enthralling works choreographed by three acclaimed choreographers, performed by an extraordinarily talented group of dances accompanied by spellbinding live music by the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. Fostering having a deeper experience and enjoyment of the evening was that the 30-minute pieces were followed by a 20-minute intermission that allowed the audience to stay with the emotionally unique theatric nature of each work before transitioning to the next.

“Little mortal jump” by the company’s resident choreographer, Alejandro Cerrudo,  offers an abstract, mysterious, and dreamlike scenario in which the dancers dressed in black interact on a spot-lit darken stage surrounded by large black moving cubic panels. The dancers’ flawless and fluid technical movements seem, at times, like the intermeshing of clockwork gears as they intermingle with each other. With varying styles and genres of music, which featured a string quarter and harp, the work, as a whole, feels like we are witnessing  a “magic theater” of the mind that has transported us into a subconscious realm that offers glimpses of the hidden nature of human relationships.

Pacific Northwest Ballet, principal dancer James Moore, with company; dancers in Crystal Pite’s Plot Point; photo by Angela Sterling 

“Plot Point,” created by Crystal Pite was inspired by film noir and is choreographed to the very haunting and iconic Bernard Hermann score for the movie “Psycho.” In this piece, each of the amazingly skilled dancers in contemporary costume is matched by another dancer representing their ghostly “replica.”  They move through  a series of scenarios that are framed by drop-down sets that take them into night-time settings of a living room, a kitchen, abasement, the outside street, and a forest clearing. Totally drawn into the with the abstract scenic design, cleverly stylized choreographic movement that created an emotional tension, which was punctuated by the music and precisely placed sound effects, it felt as if I was watching a compelling graphic novel come to life.

Pacific Northwest Ballet, principal dancer James Moore, with company; dancers in Twyla Tharp’s Waiting at the Station; photo by Angela Sterling 

The final work of the evening, Twyla Tharp’s “Waiting at the Station,” was an energetic and  uplifting narrative work performed to  the musical compositions of R&B artist Allen Toussaint and featured the costume design and large-scale scenic designs  of Santo Loquasto. The piece is set in the 1940”s New Orleans and portrays the poignant story of a man attempting to reconnect a final time with his son in order to pass on his dance steps before he is led off to his ultimate fate. The ensemble rocks the stage with a celebratory frolickingly series of jazz, waltz, and swing dances.

Credits for the Pacific Northwest Ballet go to Peter Boal, the Artistic Director and Emil de Cou, Music Director/Principal Conductor. For each of  the recent three performances at the Music Center, the Pacific Northwest Ballet featured a rotation of  members of their Principals, Soloists, and Corps De Ballets. Please go to https://www.pnb.org/ for more information

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