Runs June 2nd – 11th
Closing out Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 50th anniversary season is Worlds to Come with two world premieres: Khepri by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and …throes of increasing wonder from PNB associate artistic director, Kiyon Ross. The show runs from June 2nd – 11th and will be available to stream digitally from June 15th – 19th. Also slated to take the live stage for the first time is Edwaard Liang’s The Veil Between Worlds, which premiered digitally during the pandemic on June 10 in 2021. Scored by UK-composer Oliver Davis, Liang’s first work for Pacific Northwest Ballet oscillates between the energetic and the serene—past performances include a tender pas de deux from Laura and Jerome Tisserand—but ultimately, uses dance to explore themes of connection and distance in interpersonal relationships. “Dance becomes a lens through which we contemplate the elimination of barriers, while discovering unexpected points of connection,” says PNB artistic director Peter Boal.
While the other two works in the lineup are essentially a mystery, we do have some teasers: Ross’s promises to be an electric homage to PNB’s 50th anniversary, while Lopez Ochoa’s work evokes the Egyptian god Khepri, inspired by the scarab beetle that used the sun as a navigation system and is associated with rebirth and renewal. “I am fascinated by how these tiny insects were perceived as a deity through the eyes of humans. And I’m even more fascinated by how dancers can transform into subliminal deities by the grace and power of movement,” says Lopez Ochoa. Overall, audiences can expect a wholly contemporary show that “imagine[s] what ballet may become over the next century.”
💌 Be Our Pen Pal! Find out what’s happening in Seattle by subscribing to our newsletter.
