Changes In The Pacific Northwest - Pacific Northwest Ballet moves to Mercer Arts Arena - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Sept, 2001 by Gigi Berardi

The usually steady Pacific Northwest Ballet experienced some unfamiliar upheaval at the end of last season. When they return this fall, they'll look a little different and will soon be dancing in a new space. June 9 marked the final performance for eight company dancers--several of them company stalwarts--and the end of PNB's last full season in the Seattle Center Opera House for two years. The company will move to the nearby Mercer Arts Arena after The Nutcracker performances this December while the Opera House undergoes a $125 million renovation and seismic retrofitting.

The Arena will require some improvements of its own to serve as PNB's temporary theater, including building an orchestra pit larger than that in the current Opera House. Seats from the main floor of the Opera House will be transported to create an intimate orchestra section in what was formerly only flat-floor seating. Sight lines will be improved, side sound shells will be constructed, and sound tiles in the rafters will be removed to expose the original wooden ceiling. In the end, the arena will have the same seating capacity as the Opera House. Operation costs are also expected to be the same.

The move might seem like nothing more than a disruption, but PNB's co-artistic director, Francia Russell, is looking on the bright side. The Ballet plans to make use of the Arena's casual feel to attract people who may have been reluctant to go to the more formal Opera House. Plans are even in the works to offer onstage tango classes prior to PNB's tango program. "The Arts Arena is certainly not an elegant venue," Russell says, "but it really gives the audience a chance to experience the personalities of the performers."

And the up-close-and-personal setting should ready dancers for the renovated Opera House, which will be called Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Work on PNB's permanent home, built in 1927 as a civic hall, will involve shrinking the size of the auditorium, moving balconies forward, and adding side boxes to create a more intimate theater with better sight lines. Other features of the renovated facility include a new entrance and a three-story, glass-enclosed grand lobby, a new 388-seat lecture hall, and seismic reinforcement. Earthquake concerns are what led Opera House to take on the refurbishment now. And it has quickly made headway in financing the work.

The Seattle Center Foundation, in partnership with PNB and the Seattle Opera, is leading the campaign to raise $70 million ($30 million of which was already in hand in July thanks to two single gifts, $20 million and $10 million, respectively, from the McCaw family and the Kreielsheimer Foundation) to complement $55 million from city, county, and state sources. And, at press time, a public campaign was about to be launched.

But a number of dancers won't appear in the Arena or at the new Opera House--at least not as company members. Turnover in ballet troupes is inevitable, but the changes at PNB are more notable since the company's roster tends to be relatively stable and the departures included some well-known performers. Seth Belliston, an audience favorite who had been promoted to principal this past season, left to freelance in New York. Soloist Charles Newton has retired to teach in the company's school while completing his undergraduate degree in political science.

Departures have affected the corps, too. Rachel Butler followed her husband, Phillip Otto, who was once a soloist with the company, to Connecticut, where he will be artistic director of the New Haven Ballet. And Astrit Zejnati, who delivered a stunning performance in the Le Corsaire pas de trois this spring and would have been promoted to soloist for the upcoming season, joined Miami City Ballet as a principal dancer. "It's difficult when your friends leave, but such changes are to be expected every season," says Timothy Lynch, who begins his ninth season with the company this year.

The number of new arrivals is almost as notable as the departures, however. With promotions and new hires, this season will start with up to nine new corps members.

But even with all the changes, PNB dancers are looking forward to the new season. As principal Jeffrey Stanton puts it, "Performing in the Mercer Arts Arena will be a challenge, but I left San Francisco Ballet just before it moved from the Opera House for refurbishment and I know that, as a result of the temporary move, a lot of the younger dancers had more opportunities to perform. My hope is that the public in Seattle will invest in PNB and feel proud of it, supporting us as it does our baseball team, the Mariners. We are Seattle's ballet company."