It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since Noelani Pantastico joined the faculty of her alma mater, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. The beloved dancer had officially hung up her pointe shoes only a few months prior, capping off an incredible 25-year career onstage with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Now, […]
On the day of her final performance with Pacific Northwest Ballet in February 2022, principal dancer Noelani Pantastico stepped onto the stage for one last company class and was greeted by a round of applause. Her colleagues had decorated her spot at the barre with balloons in the shape of her name, and she had […]
A few years ago, dance teacher Elaine Mannix of Commonwealth Dance Academy in Walpole, Massachusetts, learned a 10-year-old student had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The dancer had just added hip hop and lyrical to her class schedule and would sometimes dance three hours a day, building toward participating in more competitions as she […]
Simply put, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan is a dazzling performer. We couldn’t take our eyes off of her when she danced the lead pas de deux from “Rubies” during an online company performance in October. In Pointe‘s March/April digital cover story, PNB artistic director Peter Boal describes the 23-year-old corps member as having a “go-for-broke presence, […]
When legendary Black ballet dancer Kabby Mitchell III died unexpectedly in 2017, two months before opening his Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center, his friend and business partner Klair Ethridge wasn’t sure she had what it took to carry his legacy. Ethridge had been working with Mitchell to co-found TUPAC and planned to serve as its […]
In a windowless subterranean studio under the New York State Theater, I pulled back an imaginary arrow and let it fly. “Good!” said ballet master Tommy Abbott. “I think you’re ready. Tomorrow you rehearse with Mr. Robbins.” I was slated to play Cupid in Jerome Robbins’ compilation of fairy tales called Mother Goose. It was […]
These four ballet companies refreshed their productions of the beloved holiday classic. Pacific Northwest Ballet School student Eden Anan as Clara. Photo courtesy of PNB. From 1983 to 2014, PNB had performed its own Nutcracker, choreographed by founding artistic director Kent Stowell, with scenic and costume design by children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. […]
To create a multimedia piece that premiered at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in 2014, choreographer Andrew Bartee filmed Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers performing in vastly different surroundings, all within Olympic National Park. While dancing in a rainforest, on a snow-covered mountaintop and along a pebbly beach—all during the making of one […]
It’s important to keep a student with a chronic health condition safe and happy in class. One step you can take is to understand that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all plan for dealing with chronic illness. Part of the reason it’s important for you and your staff to read up on the illness and to communicate […]
For many dancers, performing in some version of The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition—albeit an inescapable, monthlong one that can quickly grow tedious. But for Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Noelani Pantastico, it’s a welcome return to her roots. After an 11-year career with PNB, where she annually performed Kent Stowell and Maurice Sendak’s fantastical adaptation, […]