Season Encore Program

[sandik]

Peter Boal has consistently said that he wants to expand the standard repertory for ballet companies -- he wants people to see how many different things ballet dancers can perform. This philosophy has really governed his programming choices since he got here around 10 years ago, and the Encore program reflects those decisions.

While Bartee's Dirty Goods might look unusual to many long-term members of the audience, it's right in line with much contemporary choreography. It's got weaknesses, sure -- he's a young choreographer and was given a very challenging assignment -- but its overall style is a part of the field right now.

The Calling reads best if you're close to the performer. From a distance, the small details of focus and shape don't come through as much as the overall architectural effect. I keep thinking that this must be what Ruth St Denis or Loie Fuller could have looked like in their time.

And yes, Imler gave a great performance last night. After saying goodbye in my head to dancer after dancer, it was such a relief to see her there!

[Jayne]

I was there! Dirty Goods is Cleanly bad. It should be shelved. I enjoyed The Calling. I hope Maria Chapman gets a shot at it in the Fall season, I think she'd be great. The Vertiguous Forsythe piece read well from the 2nd tier. Looks like it's as much fun to dance as it is to watch. Rassemblement works better as a full piece, but I still feel a little strange about the cultural expropriation of Haitian slave music danced by a whiter-than-white female cast member. I felt like DTOH or Ailey should be dancing this, not PNB.

Emeralds was nicely danced, but the choreography isn't aging well into the 21st century. Coming after Forsythe it reads very staid and boring. But the dancers were nice. I enjoyed Rubies and I think IvyPink indeed *is* the only human being on this planet of 7 billion+ who does not enjoy Rubies. I think it's fabulous. Diamonds was mesmerizing, but I've gotten used to mesmerizing from Carla Korbes. Serenade was lovely, but *especially* lovely was La Imler playing the Russian role. It was almost her way of saying "I love Carla and I'm so sad she's leaving, but I'm still here, and I'm still going to leave it all on the stage every single chance Peter puts me out there!" I'm still a bit peeved that she didn't get an O-O this past April, even though I adored Korbes when I saw her.

I thought the Serenade lighting was too bright, Serenade looks better with more shade and variation to establish the mystery of the music, and the ideas of mortality.

I sat next to some foreign exchange students from China and Colombia who are studying for dance minors at the University of Washington. They were planning to write essays on the performance for their professors. They adored Carla (first up for Standing O's after her performances), perplexed by some of the contemporary stuff, and amazed at the length of the final ovations & bows for Carla. The Chinese student told me he saw the ABT Nut two years ago in NYC, which sparked his interest in ballet. He liked the Ratmansky Chinese divertissement, and did not think it was derivative of his culture, he just thought it was cute. He also liked the PNB Ratmansky Don Q more than the tragedies of ballet (Swan Lake, R&J, etc). The high energy, flourish and most importantly - athleticism - of the dancing is what hooked him.

So never fear, balletomanes! New generations of ballet are forming even as we speak.

[Helene]

Photos:

One of Carla Korbes' final bows:

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/photos/a.439537898951.224264.21358443951/10153076134053952/?type=1&theater

Lesley Rausch, Batkhurel Bold, and Carla Korbes in the final movement of "Serenade":

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/photos/a.439537898951.224264.21358443951/10153077348263952/?type=1&theater

[Fraildove]

Ivypink, you aren't alone! So I guess there are 3 people on the planet that dislike Rubies! My husband and I both detest it. I don't like watching it, and I didn't like dancing it. Never had to perform it, thank goodness, but the style and movement is so not in my comfort zone. Love diamonds though. I wish I had been able to see this. I've never had the chance to see much of PNB, but I will have 1 former student their next year

[kfw]

I was there! Dirty Goods is Cleanly bad.

LOL. No argument here. But I'm curious - Boal noted, or maybe someone here noted, that this was premiered at Wolf Trap. I remember seeing that multi-media program advertised and deciding to pass on it. Was what we saw last night just an excerpt? PNB's website refers to "Andrew Bartee’s Wolf Trap commission on a program of contemporary ballet, indie rock, and film." Did the company perform more of this in Seattle?

ETA: PNB, please come back to Wolf Trap or the Kennedy Center with some Balanchine!

[Helene]

As seattle_dancer posted above, we got to see traders and footage of the shoot in a studio presentation last summer. Season Encore was the first time we saw it as close to envisioned (since McCaw Hall is an indoor venue).

It's not on the roster for next season, unlike "The Calling."

PNB was the first ballet company asked to do a work for this series. Boal asked Bartee, whose choreography style is well within the range of expectations set by the modern dance choreographers in earlier works.

[kfw]

Thanks for the reply, Helene, but what perplexes me is that it's so short. Oregon Ballet Theatre and A Band of Horses were on the same program, so I guess that added up to a full evening. Perhaps if I'd been in the theater, or at Wolf Trap, and especially if I knew the dancers and saw new qualities in them in this work, I would have appreciated it for what it was.

[Helene]

It wasn't meant to be a full evening work. We just saw the amazing "Concerto DSCH," which clocks in at 19 minutes, paired with the 70-minute "Carmina Burana," and "Concerto Barocco" is listed at 18 minutes.

I know those dancers very well and love them all, but I can't say I learned much about them from this piece.

[SandyMcKean]

What a privilege to have been there Sunday night for the Encore performance. My idiosyncratic reactions?

1. The highlight = seeing my 3 heroines, Carla Korbes, Carrie Imler, and Leslie Rausch all together, all at once, on stage in Serenade.

2. Glorious moment = the cheers, falling flower pedals, the rain of flowers, the love we all felt as Carla gave her final bows.

3. Saddest moment = realizing with finality that we've lost Jahna Frantziskonis

4. Most missed = William Lin Yee

5. Most admired = as usual, Carrie Imler

[Birdwatcher]

I was at Wolf Trap last summer. It was a wonderful experience. This entire evening was meant to celebrate our national parks and in particular those in the Pacific Northwest. It began with a film of majestic Mt. Rainier National Park. Next up was Robust Love by Trey McIntyre performed by OBT. Alison Roper was outstanding. Films of the San Juan Islands and the Cascade National Park were also shown on that impressive large screen. Band of Horses performed to the delight of the audience. Dirty Goods closed this performance. Andrew Bartee incorporated video of the dancers at Olympic National Park and then choreographed a piece to music of The Chromatics. It was stunning. The night was warm, the stars were out, and the dancing and music brought a little of the Pacific Northwest to the East coast.

[kfw]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Birdwatcher. I see there are some related videos.

[seattle_dancer]

Thank you Birdwatcher, for putting the piece in perspective. I don't know a ton about Wolftrap, but I thought the objective was to showcase our national parks.

That said, I don't believe you should just focus on Dirty Goods' choreography separate from the video. I actually found myself focusing on the video, maybe because it was new to me, and maybe because I had seen a couple of studio rehearsals. I believe the simplicity of the white costumes also help put the focus on the park scenery. Maybe the video didn't translate well on the live stream, but it looked great in the house, despite some bright lighting probably for the filming.

Andrew Bartee oversaw everything, and he had never attempted this type of project before. I loved the video and thought he represented the Pacific Northwest very well.

Additionally, even though the dancers had to endure extreme winter weather for the filming (it was sunny on the beach but actually a cold April day, also a blizzard in the mountains) they said they had fun and enjoyed the experience.

At the demo last summer, I noticed Elle Macy, something interesting about her in this piece. Later in the year, that experience furthered by her performance in the Forsythe pas de deux and In The Middle. I'm looking forward to more from her next year.

[sandik]

(For those who aren't familiar with the mountains here, the snow in the first shots of the video is what supplies our water during the summer months. The mountains are considerably more bare this year, and we're concerned about water supply...)

[Helene]

A precious minute-and-a-half of Carla Korbes and Karel Cruz in the "Diamonds" Pas de Deux:

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/videos/vb.21358443951/10153098827513952/

[kfw]

A precious minute-and-a-half of Carla Korbes and Karel Cruz in the "Diamonds" Pas de Deux:

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/videos/vb.21358443951/10153098827513952/

Gorgeous. Thank you!

[Helene]

NYC Dance Project: An interview and portraits of Carla Korbes, including one with Peter Boal:

http://nycdanceproject.com/carla-korbes/

What career would you choose if you could not be a dancer?
CK: My other passion in life is helping others in some way or another. I love to learn about the human body and learn different ways one can heal. Whenever I get to help someone in a small way with their bodies or mind, it makes me feel alive and connected to the world. So I think I would enjoy being some kind of doctor or healer practitioner. Another dream I have is to one day start some kind of organization to help a good cause, like preserving the Amazon, or assisting kids and women around the globe. I have ideas about this and after I retire from PNB in June I would love to start working on it.