In case you missed PNB's Choreographers' Showcase

In 2004, I had something better to do than watch a football game. The next day, the entire world was talking about the “Wardrobe Malfunction” and I missed it. After seeing Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Choreographers’ Showcase April 21, I get to be the one talking about the thing everyone else missed.

In theory, creating an eight minute ballet performance should be easy. Play some Tchaikovsky, throw on some tutus and Pointe shoes. A couple lifts, add a pirouette or two and call it a day. That might cover the bases, but it won’t impress anyone. This year’s Choreographers’ Showcase blew the audience away.

“I just had a dancegasm,” one audience member said during the performance.

Jonathan Porretta started off the show Spring Waltz. In the introductory video, he said he just wanted to make a pretty dance. Clearly, he is an overachiever.

Like the rest of the performances, it was danced by members of the PNB School. While technically proficient, my critical mind was trying to tell me I was unimpressed, yet I was moved by the performance. Ballet isn’t all leaps and lifts, that is just the athletics of it. Good ballet is art. And Art moves you. Even if you can’t explain why.

It started out simple enough. The black walls and backdrop with a single ballerina reminded me of one of those jewelry boxes. It made me think that this is what happens when the lid is closed. She doesn’t stop dancing just because there is no one to see her. And maybe, she is joined by her friends.

Emma Appel was the clear standout, out dancing her partner for most of the performance. From start to finish Spring Waltz was a joy to watch. Alas, the waltz, like spring, ended all too soon.

If Spring Waltz was a homerun, The Anxiety Variations was a grand slam. The short performance was broken into five mini-acts, Opening, Entrance of the Anxieties, Anxious, Respiration and Panic. Inspired by being diagnosed with asthma as a young child, this was more of a dark piece and heavily conceptual.

The music was dramatic, changing tempo to highlight the dancing. There was a great mix of light and shadow. Often dancers would be out of the light and silhouetted against the red backdrop. There was a mix of dance styles, classical ballet, contemporary and even some signature Paso Doble moves. In the end, it all came together beautifully. So well in fact, that is how the night should have ended.

Seth Orza’s Fragment was up after the intermission. Orza most stands out in my mind from his performances in the West Side Story. In the introductory video before his piece, he said one of the hard parts about being a choreographer is being judged, he needn’t have worried. While there might have been inspiration from other choreographers, there wasn’t any imitation. I liked how he played around with movement. There was even a short part where it looked like the men were on Pointe.

The pas de deux with Price Suddarth and Julia Cinquemani was breath taking. Suddarth also stood out in Anxiety.

Dramatic music changes that reflected the tempo and mood. Lighting was once again a factor and well utilized.

“We have this choreographic love child,” Andrew Bartee said of Shatter his joint venture with frequent collaborator Margaret Mullin. A love child, unlike some children, is the one you find most endearing. I know that they said that there was “nothing to get” in the piece. But we all put or get something out of everything. The only performance with the dancers in socks instead of Pointe shoes, with the dancers wearing spandex shorts, tank tops and socks, it had the look of a slumber party.

Again, the pas de deux was amazing. If the rest of the piece was a slumber party, this was Steven Loch and Sarah Pasch sneaking away for a private moment. Their moves were well executed, their lines were perfect and their connection could be felt in the audience. The trust Pasch had in her partner is something you usually see in more seasoned dancers.

Choreographers’ Showcase is the perfect venue to show how deep the talent pool is at PNB. If dancers like Suddarth and Appel are what are coming out of the PNB School, the future of ballet is secure. If the dancers have the creativity and vision that we saw tonight, the world of ballet will always be fresh and entertaining.

Randall Chiarelli deserves special attention for lighting design. After the performance, some of the choreographers admitted to putting little thought into the lighting. You never would have known it. Especially in Anxiety. The use of lighting was perfect and PNB is lucky to have a production team that supports them so well. When you don’t even have to think about such an important element as the lighting, you are truly spoiled by talent.

If you missed it, keep an eye out for the titles and you might see them elsewhere. One of Porretta’s earlier choreographic works was shown at Bumbershoot. Who knows, you might get lucky and catch one of these. This was without a doubt a show worth seeing.



*at press time there were no photos