Not a tutu in sight.

Thursday evening, Ken and I attended opening night of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s repertory program, 3 by Dove.  At the pre-performance donors’ dinner, in addition to sitting with friends, Dan & Michelle Heidt, Sharon Richardson, and others, we had the opportunity to sit at the same table with Parrish Maynard, who was in town to stage Serious Pleasures, PNB’s fourth Ulysses Dove choreographic acquisition.  As PNB Artistic Director, Peter Boal shared in his Director’s Notebook, “Parrish Maynard was the central figure in the original premiere of the work created for American Ballet Theatre in 1992 turning in career-defining performances.  The work was controversial for addressing the shadowy underworld of sexuality at the dawn of the AIDS epidemic.  Audiences loved it.  The work was nearly lost, with the exception of a few grainy videos and Parrish’s keen memory.  He has brought the work back from extinction for this revival.”

I had not seen the Company in any of their rehearsals, so at dinner Parrish described the set of nine doors that were opened and closed rapidly as dancers entered and exited the stage.  The Lighting Designer, Rico Chiarelli, and his team had their hands full in managing the quick lighting changes in exact sequence.  We were astounded when Parrish shared that there were 53 lighting changes in just the first six minutes of the work!

The entire production and the PNB dancers were incredible!  Principal dancer, Lucien Postlewaite, had the role of the “narrator”.  In this case, the “narrator” doesn’t talk, but tells the story through dance and according to the program is the story of “the merciless battle between spirit and flesh.”  In addition, opening and slamming doors and dancing visually compelling vignettes with names such as “Demons of Light” and “Angels of Darkness” were Lindsi Dec, Karel Cruz, Sara Ricard Orzo, Seth Orzo, Ariana Lallone, Jordan Pacitti, Leslie Rausch and James Moore.

I have to pass along kudos and big thanks to friends and fellow ballet aficionados, Aya Hamilton, Carl & Renee Behnke, and Bob & Joan Cremin for their generous underwriting of this PNB premiere.  What a privilege to have a world-class ballet company of this quality in our community!