Helene Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 In Sandra Kurtz's -- that's "sandik"'s to you -- year-end review of dance in Seattle in 2006, she ended with a tribute to Fleming Halby, who retired as PNB Principal Character Dancer and Principal of the Seattle school. Another loss for the community is Flemming Halby, who retired last spring from his positions as school principal and character artist for Pacific Northwest Ballet, bringing a long and varied career to a close. Halby arrived in Seattle in the 1970s as a dancer in the First Chamber Dance company, with a unique combination of classical training in the Danish tradition and a curiosity about other dance styles. Since then, he'd done a little bit of almost everything: teaching around the Northwest, founding the Dance Lab studio, running his own ensemble (Halby Dance Theater), and staging works by the renowned August Bournonville. The Danish school is known for its detailed character performers, artists who are actors as well as dancers, and Halby brought those skills to a series of roles in the PNB rep, including a benevolent Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet and his last performances (pictured) as Gallison, the feckless tutor in Sleeping Beauty. Link to comment
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