Nov. 5-8 and Nov. 12-15
Pacific Northwest Ballet presented a varied program of contemporary ballet, modern, and even musical theater with Director’s Choice at McCaw Hall. The choice of pieces presented was lacking, and failed to highlight the strengths of the PNB Company.
My favorite piece of the evening was Petite Mort, largely because of its amusing use of props and its seamless partnering sequences. In the beginning, the male dancers balanced and flipped fencing foils, while at times the female dancers peered out from behind stand alone dresses. The alternating use of lines and right angles made the choreography very strong. Perhaps my only criticism is that the billowing black fabric used for transitions seemed to stop the flow of the piece. The ending was an amusing and surprising treat, when the dresses whisked out to stand alone onstage.
The following piece, Mopey, from the repertory of the Artistic Director’s previous company, Peter Boal and Company, was a low point of the evening for me. I personally believe that only the world’s greatest dancers are entitled to solos lasting more than five minutes. This piece lasted far longer than five minutes, and I found my attention wandering accordingly. The soloist, Jonothan Porretta, entered wearing a black hoodie, in a manner resembling a knuckle-dragging ape to the contrasting sounds of a cello. His movements were eccentric, performed mostly facing away from the audience, and included a fair amount of twitching fingers and flopping hands. However, the frenzied movements and body percussion made far more sense when the music transitioned from a classical cello solo to the rock sounds of The Cramps. Despite Mr. Porretta’s strong physicality, I found the piece too disjointed and bizarre to appreciate it much.
West Side Story Suite, a small collection of dance numbers from the well-known musical theater adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”, was another poor choice on the part of the Artistic Director. The redeeming point of the suite was the all female number, “America”, in which the dancers sparkled and appeared to be having a blast. Unfortunately, the relatively easy choreography wasted the amazing technique and facility of the Company. The dancers executed the steps flawlessly, but the live chorus singing was muffled and unclear, likely because the PNB dancers are not highly trained singers. The dancers also looked distinctly uncomfortable and awkward during the ensemble singing, leading me to conclude that West Side Story Suite was a piece better left to those on Broadway.
The Director’s Choice performance failed to meet the high expectations that I set for PNB. Petite Mort was most definitely the highlight of the evening for me, followed by the beautiful recreation of The Seasons (not described in this article). Unfortunately, the absurd solo Mopey and the West Side Story Suite seemed a poor fit for the primarily neoclassical company. However, the good outweighed the bad in Director’s Choice, and I found it fairly worthwhile.
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