Ballet Talk with Pacific Northwest Ballet

Swan Lake (2017-2018 Season)

Audience Education Manager Doug Fullington changes up the regular lecture format, and dedicates the 30-minutes of Ballet Talk to a Q&A for the attending audience. He answers questions like, "do the dancers look forward to this ballet?" and "are there different endings to Swan Lake?". Of course, as always, Doug is an encyclopedia of dance and music history and he has the audience laughing with his replies.

And don't forget, you can always listen to Ballet Talk live, one hour before every performance at McCaw Hall.

Her Story (2017-2018 Season)

Doug Fullington shines the light on the unique-to-PNB works in Her Story. While Peter Boal did not intend to create a repertory including exclusively female choreographers, that's what happened with works by Twyla Tharp, Crystal Pite and Jessica Lang.

Q&A with Crystal Pite

We were fortunate to have choreographer Crystal Pite in our studios for 4 weeks as she choreographed and reworked Plot Point. Originally choreographed for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2010, we are proud to present the American premiere here in Seattle.

The evening before opening night, PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal had a few questions for Crystal. Hear her discuss her beginnings in ballet, her own Company, Kidd Pivot and of course, Plot Point.

 

Jewels (2017-2018 Season)

Did you know the first performance of Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds a) wasn't even called Jewels and b) was on a mixed bill that included Prodigal Son? PNB Audience Education Manager Doug Fullington is back with all of his historical fun facts and insider knowledge about how we get our ballets from studio to stage. And don't forget, you can always listen to Ballet Talk (previously Pre-Performance Lectures) live, one hour before every performance at McCaw Hall.

Pictures at an Exhibition (2016-2017 Season)

Doug Fullington takes us behind the scenes on the last rep of our season, Pictures at an Exhibition. George Balanchine choreographed La Source to help push an upcoming dancer (John Clifford) to his highest potential, Jerome Robbins choreographed Opus 19/The Dreamer on Mikhail Baryshnikov during the year he was a dancer at New York City Ballet, and we learn why Alexei Ratmansky chose Wassily Kandinsky's work as the backdrop for Pictures at an Exhibition.

Q&A with Wendy Whelan

Peter Boal does a Q&A with Wendy Whelan, chatting about her first staging experience (with Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition), her new documentary Restless Creature, and how she was recently published in The New York Times writing about her first time dancing a Balanchine ballet (which coincidentally was the same day he died).

Ballet on Broadway (2016-2017 Season)

Doug Fullington takes us behind the scenes on Ballet on Broadway. He talks about the climactic moment in Wheeldon's Carousel (A Dance), reminds us about the ballet-within-a-play concept of Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue and has a few stories about Jerome Robbins' reputation for being a strict task-master.

Director's Choice (2016-2017 Season)

Doug Fullington (PNB's Audience Education Manager) introduces the three ballets included in Director's Choice: David Dawson's Empire Noir, William Forsythe's New Suite and Jessica Lang's Her Door to the Sky.

Cendrillon (2016-2017 Season)

Doug Fullington (PNB's Audience Education Manager) discusses Jean-Christophe Maillot's Cendrillon. He talks about the evolution of full-length story ballets and the way Maillot's Cendrillon is different from your traditional Cinderella.

Brief Fling (2016-2017 Season)

Doug Fullington talks about how we became the first company to perform Brief Fling music with a live orchestra, how the couples in Forgotten Land could be seen as the various stages of a relationship, and the amazing speed with which George Balanchine choreographed Stravinsky Violin Concerto, in honor of the death of Igor Stravinsky.