Seth Orza retires

[sandik]

The company has just announced that Seth Orza is retiring -- here is most of the press release:

August 12, 2021 - SEATTLE, WA - Following a lifelong career in dance, Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Seth Orza has announced his retirement from the company and his leap into a new venture as CEO and Founder of ORZA, a new shoe company committed to the mission of prolonging dancers' careers by helping to make their feet and bodies feel better. The company's first product, the ORZA PRO-ONE, has a launch scheduled for this winter.

Seth Orza is from San Francisco, where he grew up in a dance family. All five of his siblings danced, as did his father and mother. He trained at San Francisco Ballet School and on full scholarship at the School of American Ballet. In 1999, he joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice: He was awarded the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise that same year. He became a corps de ballet member in 2000, and in 2007 he was promoted to soloist. Mr. Orza joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2007, was promoted to soloist in 2008 and to principal in 2010.

As a tribute to Mr. Orza and his illustrious career, PNB has created a video celebration including numerous performance clips and testimonials. (Click here<https://youtu.be/bAQ2EavKC_0>.)

"I am grateful to have had a very fulfilling 23-year professional dance career," said Mr. Orza in his announcement. "I began my career dancing with the New York City Ballet, where I was surrounded by many of the most talented dancers in the world. The time spent there shaped me as an artist, instilling a work ethic that I carry with me still. Joining Pacific Northwest Ballet offered further fulfillment and growth, allowing me the opportunity to pursue family life and other goals. As I say goodbye to this career, I am humbled by the opportunities I have had. I send much affection and respect to those who have guided and supported me and wish the next generation of dancer's fulfillment of all their wildest dreams."

"Seth Orza has had a distinguished career as one of America's leading male dancers," said Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, PNB's Founding Artistic Directors, in a statement. "Greatly admired by colleagues, choreographers, directors, and audiences, he is ideally positioned to use his experience to benefit dancers.  ORZA PRO-ONE shows unique promise to enhance dancers' careers and lessen the pain and injuries they have always had to cope with.

"Seth is a man of great intelligence and energy," continued Stowell and Russell. "The commitment he has shown to developing ORZA is typical of him and guarantees a successful product, of benefit to dancers around the world."

Being well-acquainted with the injuries that can sideline a dancer throughout their career, Mr. Orza founded ORZA to focus on dancers and their bodies, exploring new and progressive ways to deal with and manage the daily pains and injuries of a dancer. As Founder and CEO, Mr. Orza manages all aspects of the company, including managing the overall operations and resources of the company and acting as the main point of communication between investors and corporate operations.

Mr. Orza began work on his shoe in 2010 and incorporated ORZA in 2013. He has continued to work to fill a unique need entirely unmet in the current marketplace-an innovative patented dance shoe that will perform for dancers in the 2000's like the innovative Nike shoe performed for runners in the 1970s. Every generation of dancers has tinkered with improvised solutions, all unsatisfactory, to try to address frustrating problems with the conventional shoe, such as overall bulkiness, folds, clumping, bunching, gaps, poor flexibility, slippage, the failure to flatter the foot, and most importantly, the lack of adequate structural support and shock absorbing cushioned padding. Until now, no dance manufacturer has tackled these problems, in fact, the dance shoe has remained basically unchanged since the 1920s.

"Our mission at ORZA is to enhance the dancer's well-being-and the dancer's career-by reducing the chance of injury and enhancing dance performance," said Mr. Orza. "ORZA aims to achieve this with technologically sophisticated breakthrough dance products like the ORZA PRO-ONE dance shoe. We look forward to supporting current and future dance generations."

For more information and to sign up for product alerts, visit the ORZA website at ORZAbrand.com.

Early business developmental funding for ORZA was provided in part by Second Stage, PNB's career transition program for its company dancers. Conceived in 1999, Second Stage supports PNB dancers in achieving their goals following a career in dance. Its resources allow dancers to take classes, access mentors and vocation counseling, and receive grants. At its inception, only a handful of dancers actively planned for their career after dance. Since that time, Second Stage has provided nearly $1.1 million in grants to over 200 dancers. For more information, visit PNB.org<https://www.pnb.org/support/special-projects/second-stage/>.

 

ADDITIONAL ARTIST BIO INFO

Mr. Orza has danced leading roles in George Balanchine's Agon, Apollo, Coppélia (Franz), Diamonds, Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® (Cavalier, Herr Drosselmeier), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Divertissement pas de deux, Demetrius, Theseus, Cavalier), Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Hoofer), Square Dance, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony in C; Peter Boal's Giselle (Albrecht); Val Caniparoli's The Seasons; David Dawson's A Million Kisses to My Skin; Ulysses Dove's Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, Red Angels, and Serious Pleasures; Nacho Duato's Jardí Tancat; William Forsythe's In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated and One Flat Thing, reproduced; Kiyon Gaines' Sum Stravinsky; Paul Gibson's Sense of Doubt, The Piano Dance, and Rush; Ronald Hynd's The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Florimund, Gold & Silver pas de trois); Jiri Kylian's Forgotten Land and Petite Mort; Jean-Christophe Maillot's Cendrillon (Father) and Roméo et Juliette (Romeo, Tybalt); Susan Marshall's Kiss; Benjamin Millepied's Appassionata; Mark Morris' Kammermusik No. 3; Justin Peck's Year of the Rabbit; Yuri Possokhov's RAkU (Samurai); Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, Don Quixote (Basilio, Espada), and Pictures at an Exhibition; Jerome Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, Fancy Free, Glass Pieces, In the Night, Other Dances, and West Side Story Suite (Riff); Kent Stowell's Carmina Burana, Cinderella (Prince, Harlequin), Nutcracker (Prince), and Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried); Price Suddarth's Signature; Twyla Tharp's Brief Fling, In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, Opus 111, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain pas de deux, Carousel (A Dance), Polyphonia, Tide Harmonic, and Variations Sérieuses (Premier Danseur). He originated leading roles in Millepied's 3 Movements, Margaret Mullin's Lost in Light, Jonathan Porretta's Lacrymosa, Susan Stroman's TAKE FIVE...More or Less, and Price Suddarth's The Intermission Project.

At New York City Ballet, Mr. Orza danced leading roles in Balanchine's Agon, Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bottom, Lysander), The Nutcracker, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Symphony in C, and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2; Peter Martins' Reliquary and Romeo + Juliet (Romeo); Robbins' Fancy Free, Fanfare, In Memory Of..., Interplay, and Piano Pieces; and Wheeldon's Carousel (A Dance), Evenfall, and Polyphonia. He originated featured roles in Albert Evans's Haiku, Robbins' NY Export: Opus Jazz (revival), Stroman's Double Feature, and Richard Tanner's Soirée.

Mr. Orza has performed on some of the most prestigious stages in the world. In 2009, as a guest artist with San Francisco Ballet in Balanchine's Emeralds. In 2015, Mr. Orza performed in Sofia, Bulgaria, with the National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria. In 2019, Mr. Orza was giving the opportunity to perform in Moscow, Russia, for the Benois De Le Dance at the Bolshoi Theatre.

 

[Helene]

This is such sad news for me as audience, but I am so thrilled for Seth Orza that he has come so far to make this long-term and very dear-to-his-heart project so close to launch.  

Orza was such a strong presence onstage.  His dancing was muscular and plush and his energy palpable.  Dramatically, he was equally convincing as Romeo and as Tybalt,  in the Maillot Romeo et Juliette. He was not afraid to be dark and damaged like the Father in Maillot's Cendrillon,while showing the warmth and whimsy of Herr Drosselmeier in the Balanchine Nutcracker.  He was stellar in the Robbins rep, from his authentic sailor in  Fancy Free to the Husband in The Concert to Dances at a Gathering to West Side Story Suite.  But it's often in smaller, more concentrated spaces that a true gift of a dramatic dancer come out, and I won't forget his proud exit as the Husband/Warrior off to war in RAkU.

We were so lucky to see him paired with his wife, Sarah Ricard Orza.  There was a performance of Nutcracker where they pushed it to the very edge in the Act II Pas de Deux that still makes me squeee thinking about it, and there was a playful simpatico when they danced DAAG together.  It was in two ballets that their connection was so strong but nuanced that made the performances among the most moving I've seen:  in Carousel (A Dance) and in Benjamin Millepied's Appassionata.

My all-time favorite Orza performance was in Giselle, with Rachel Foster.  Neither dancer would have been typecast in those roles; Orza would have been as Hilarion.  But to see two dancers drawing deep and putting everything that had to make those characters their own, not as archetypes, but as vivid, living people as if the dancers were creating them in the moment is one of my favorite dance memories.

Here is the direct link to "Celebrating Seth Orza," in which Daniel Ulbricht, Jonathan Stafford, and Kathryn Morgan from his NYCB days and Noelani Pantastico and Sarah Ricard Orza spoke about him.  It was so Orza of him to thank the doctors and physical therapists as well as the people backstage, and his acknowledgement of Wheeldon spanned Orza's career from SAB to NYCB to PNB.  He also got to speak about his new project/product from about the 15-minute mark.

May ORZA be a great success, and I wish the Orza family health and happiness in their new future

[Kathleen O'Connell]

On 8/12/2021 at 3:40 PM, Helene said:

This is such sad news for me as audience

As someone who mourned Seth Orza's and Sarah Ricard Orza's departure from NYCB to join NYCB PNB, I feel your pain ...

Edited August 14, 2021 by Kathleen O'Connell

[sandik]

4 hours ago, Kathleen O&#x27;Connell said:

As someone who mourned Seth Orza's and Sarah Ricard Orza's departure from NYCB to join NYCB, I feel your pain ...

He arrived here with his reputation preceding him, but she was an unexpected bonus -- watching her develop while she was here was such a pleasure.  I know that they both have worked very hard to develop their post-performance lives, but I hope that they can manage to include some kind of coaching or teaching, in order to pass their skills on.