In his program notes about "Suspension of Disbelief," choreographer Victor Quijada said that he wanted to move the dancers and the audience of Pacific Northwest Ballet outside of their comfort zones.
While "Suspension of Disbelief" expertly blended the pops and rolls of hip-hop dance with a few classical moves, neither the dancers nor the audience seemed anything other than enthusiastic about this addition to the company's repertoire.
In an evening completely filled with new works, the company never seemed anything other than smooth, stepping into each première with the same ease that they use to dance any well-known routine.
The "All Premiere" program opened with the beautifully titled and lovingly executed "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven." Here six dancers clad in simple white unitards opened in a pose similar to the classic portrayal of the Muses, a closed circle with hands clasped and upraised to the heavens.
The usual personalities of the dancers were subsumed into service to Ulysses Dove's subtle choreography, with corps dancer Lindsi Dec as strong as principal dancers Patricia Barker and Ariana Lallone. Principal male dancers Bathurel Bold, Christophe Maraval and Stanko Milov easily moved in and out of the chain of solos and duets.
The dancers transformed Dove's work into a personal paean of praise to the beauty of dance, and the emotion flowing from the stage moved many members of the audience to a standing ovation at the end.
While "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven" showed PNB gracefully entering new territory, Peter Martins' "Valse Triste" showed off PNB's best ethereal waltzer, principal dancer Louise Nadeau, in slow duet with principal dancer Jeffrey Stanton. As the woman dancing with the ghost of a past lover, Nadeau conveyed her usual fragility combined with an iron control of technique.
The funkier "Suspension of Disbelief" followed the classical "Valse Triste." Quijada had the curtains and backdrops pulled away to reveal the black brick wall at the back of McCaw Hall and filled his bare stage with a jovial, joshing crew of dancers, seemingly caught during a break in rehearsals. Here the "guys" competed in a spectacular series of rolls and jumps, led with ease by principal dancers Jonathan Porretta (carefully keeping his trademark grin hidden under a "tough" look of pursed lips) and Olivier Wevers.
The "gals" who wandered through this backstage world proved to be just as hip and ready to hop, with standout performances from Chalnessa Eames and Maria Chapman.
The newly commissioned score of Mitchell Akiyama was another plus for the evening, with several people in the lobby wondering if the work would be recorded and made available for download to their iPods.
The evening ended with Twyla Tharp's "Waterbaby Bagatelles." Like last year's "Nine Sinatra Songs," this piece proved a crowd-pleaser, from the women in bathing caps doing routines vaguely reminiscent of Esther Williams' aquatic antics to the men imitating hyperactive fish in an aquarium. Some standout denizens of the deep were corps members Kiyon Gaines, Taureen Green, Barry Kerollis, James Moore and Josh Spell.
Principal dancer Le Yin was a particular pleasure, opening and closing Tharp's bagatelles with spectacular jumps in the beginning and, at the end, sensitive partnering of principal dancer Kaori Nakamura.
"All Premiere" continues at McCaw Hall through Nov. 12. And then the company goes back to the very, very familiar and wildly popular "Nutcracker," opening Nov. 24.
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