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And Those Who Will Be Joining


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Peter Boal announced in this evening post-Choreographer's Workshop Q&A that Ezra Thomson will join the Company as an apprentice, which got a great response from the crowd.

Thomson was featured in three works, by Stanko Milov, Olivier Wevers, and Kiyon Gaines. He first caught my eye as a Jet in "Cool" at Louise Nadeau's retirement performance last weekend.

Congratulations to him :wub:

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I'm not sure that the reporters have their facts straight, but according to this article in Lubbock online, Michael Burfield will be joining Pacific Northwest Ballet, after attending the summer program.

He received employment offers from both, and, according to Ballet Lubbock marketing director Nicholas Dragga, accepted the offer from Pacific Northwest Ballet, with locations in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash.

Dragga pointed out, "This is a huge accomplishment for anyone right out of high school, and especially in a time when most professional ballet companies are making cuts, not new hires.

What makes me question this is that while the school has locations in Seattle and Bellevue, the company does not. Was Burfield offered an apprenticeship or corps position, or was he offered a place in the regular year Professional Division?

Hopefully, this will be clarified soon.

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A follow-up article shows that Burfield was offered a place in the Professional Division, where he will be training as a sub for the three big productions that use PD students: "Coppelia", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Nutcracker". He turned down an apprenticeship with North Carolina Dance Theatre and a place at SAB for the following year. His teacher in Lubbock, Yvonne Key, was quoted as follows:

"[Peter Boal] picked Michael out this summer to express to him how much he enjoyed his dancing, and invited him to come back in the fall and continue his training with their professional division. ... It is a huge, rare privilege, and I have no doubt Michael will be promoted into the company very soon."

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/083009/fea_487761879.shtml

There is only one apprentice, Ezra Thompson, this year so far, and with the departure of Kari Brunson, who presumably was at the higher salary scale for corps since she has been at PNB for seven or nine years, depending on the article cited, there may be room for another apprentice or corps member.

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I wonder if Adomaitis is still in the school. She's not listed in the graduation program as having joined a company, and she was incredibly busy this spring, one of the PD students doing double-duty in First and Third Movements of "Symphony in C", and in "Swan Lake" in the regular season and the Louise Nadeau Tribute, and also in "Serenade" first half first movement in the Tribute.

She was also in Sonia Dawkins' "where ART thou?", Olivier Wevers' "The one dance about that one thing #2", and Kiyon Gaines' "[NO HOLDS]^barre'd" in the Choreography Workshop.

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For the past few years, the company has announced promotions and new hires at their gala season opener, but this year, due to the economy, they decided not to hold that additional performance, so the first notice I saw of promotions was a short note in the program opening night. The press release showed up in my inbox this morning, and I'll just copy it here. Nothing too surprising.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET ANNOUNCES DANCER PROMOTIONS FOR 2009-2010 SEASON

SEATTLE, WA — At a benefit dinner prior to tonight’s opening performance of Roméo et Juliette, Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal announced a series of much-anticipated dancer promotions for the 2009-2010 season. Maria Chapman, who joined PNB as an apprentice in 1995, was promoted to the rank of principal dancer, as was Karel Cruz, who joined PNB as a member of the corps de ballet in 2002. Lindsi Dec, a member of PNB’s corps de ballet since 2002, was promoted to the rank of soloist. Mr. Boal was also pleased to announce that apprentices Andrew Bartee, Amanda Clark, Kyle Davis, Emma Love, Margaret Mullin, and Sean Rollofson have all been promoted to the corps de ballet, and two new apprentices join the company: Chelsea Adomaitis and Ezra Thomson.

Maria Chapman is from St. Simons Island, Georgia. She was a student of Magdalena Maury and studied under Patricia Bromley at Terpsichore Co., Ltd. in Atlanta. She continued her training at the School of American Ballet and attended summer courses at Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and SAB. She joined PNB as an apprentice in 1995, was promoted to corps de ballet in 1996 and to soloist in 2005. In addition to her performing career, Ms. Chapman is a founding member of Second Stage, PNB's career transition program for dancers. She is currently chairperson of the Second Stage Committee.

Karel Cruz is from Havana, Cuba, and received his training at Cuba's Escuela Nacional de Artes. He joined Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1996 and left in 1998 to join Ballet Clasico de Camara in Venezuela. From 1999 to 2000, he danced with Teatro Teresa Carreno, also in Venezuela. He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2002 and was promoted to soloist in 2007.

Lindsi Dec is from Fairfax, Virginia. She trained at Washington Ballet School and on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2001 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 2002. Ms. Dec has performed as a guest artist with California Ballet, Dance Arts Theatre, and Mid-Columbia Ballet.

Andrew Bartee is from Everett, Washington. He studied on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and attended summer courses at PNBS and the School of American Ballet. He was a recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School and a 2007 Princess Grace Award recipient. Mr. Bartee joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2008.

Amanda Clark is from Fairfax, Virginia. She studied on scholarship at Washington School of Ballet, the School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and attended summer courses at San Francisco Ballet School, the SAB, and PNBS. She also studied with Shirley Bennett and Barbara Walczak. Ms. Clark joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2008.

Kyle Davis is from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He trained at Makaroff School of Ballet, Rock School for Dance Education, and North Carolina School of the Arts, and attended summer courses at Milwaukee Ballet School, the School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He has also studied with Ethan Stiefel and Warren Connover. In 2008, Mr. Davis won the Prix de Lausanne competition in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also won various awards in the Youth American Grand Prix Regional and Finals in 2005 and 2006. He was a 2007–2008 recipient of the Elizabeth Harriet Weaver Memorial Scholarship and the Martha and Spencer Love Foundation Scholarship for Excellence in the Arts at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Mr. Davis joined PNB as an apprentice in 2008.

Emma Love is from Wichita, Kansas. She studied with Sharon Rogers and on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and attended summer courses at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Ballet Academy East, and PNBS. She was a recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School and was also a 2004 and 2005 recipient of a Kansas Cultural Trust Grant. Ms. Love joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2008.

Margaret Mullin is from Tucson, Arizona. She studied on scholarship at Ballet Arts Tucson with Mary-Beth Cabana and at Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and attended summer courses at Ballet Tucson, PNBS, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp with Jefferson Baum. She was the recipient of a Thurber Scholarship Award in 2003 and 2004, and the 2007 Founding Director Scholarship Award from Angela Whitehill of Burklyn Ballet. Ms. Mullin joined PNB as an apprentice in 2008.

Sean Rollofson is from Redmond, Washington. He studied with Deborah Hadley at Washington Academy of Performing Arts and began attending Pacific Northwest Ballet School at age seven. He attended summer courses at the National Ballet School (Toronto) and on scholarship at the School of American Ballet. Mr. Rollofson joined PNB as an apprentice in 2008.

PNB is happy to welcome two new faces to the ranks of the company, as apprentices:

Chelsea Adomaitis is from Boston, Massachusetts. She studied with Wayne Stewarte in Massachusetts and at Harid Conservatory and Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and she attended summer courses at PNBS, Harid Conservatory, the Royal Ballet School (London), and National Ballet School (Canada). While a student at PNBS, Ms. Adomaitis performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Cortège Hongrois and La Source and originated roles in ballets by Sonia Dawkins, Kiyon Gaines, and Olivier Wevers. She also performed corps de ballet roles with PNB in Balanchine’s Diamonds, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Symphony in C; Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite; Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel (A Dance); and Kent Stowell’s Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In 2009, Ms. Adomaitis won a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts youngARTS Level I award. She was also a Youth America Grand Prix finalist in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Ezra Thomson is from San Bernardino, California. He studied on scholarship at Riverside Ballet Arts, Orlando Ballet School, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School and attended summer courses at PNBS, the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet School (Canada), the Rock School, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Burklyn Ballet Theatre. Mr. Thomson was a 2009 recipient of the Flemming Halby Exchange with the Royal Danish Ballet School. He danced with Orlando Ballet before joining PNB as an apprentice. While a student at PNBS, Mr. Thomson performed the lead in George Balanchine’s La Source and also originated roles in ballets by Kiyon Gaines, Stanko Milov, and Olivier Wevers, as well as the role of Geppetto in Bruce Wells’ Pinocchio. He also performed corps de ballet roles with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Balanchine’s Diamonds, Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite, and Kent Stowell’s Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In 2007, Mr. Thomson won the gold medal in the regional Youth America Grand Prix competition.

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I got an email today from PNB, I think from being a donor.

In it are Peter Boal's notes about the upcoming program, and I was delighted to see this one:

Watch for Ryan Cardea in this rep. He started as our newest apprentice this week.

Congratulations to Cardea :off topic:

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