As a dancer, Peter Boal learned that there was a significant difference between working with Jerome Robbins and George Balanchine.
"With Robbins," Boal noted recently, "you danced the steps exactly as he choreographed them. If the piece called for two pirouettes at a particular moment in the music, then you did exactly two pirouettes. If Balanchine called for two pirouettes and the dancer was able to pull off four in that moment, he would be so excited. There was more opportunity for spontaneity with Balanchine, but it also puts the dancer at a greater risk - because the four pirouettes might put you off count for the next movement."
Boal is entering his second year as artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet, and both Robbins and Balanchine are represented in a season nicely balanced between the expected and the unexpected. The company will première 21 ballets this year as well as bringing back such audience favorites as "Swan Lake," "Nutcracker" and Kent Stowell's ballet adaptation of "Carmina Burana."
Newly promoted principal dancer Casey Herd is eagerly looking forward to his eighth season with PNB. In the opening program of the season, he dances the "tall sailor" in Robbins' "Fancy Free."
"I came here because PNB had a good mix of classical, neo-classical and contemporary in their repertoire," said Herd, who had previously danced at American Ballet Theatre. "And after Peter [Boal] got here last season, it just got even better."
This is Herd's first time dancing in "Fancy Free," Robbins' loving tribute to the joys of being set loose in New York. The ballet, Robbins' first and still most famous, follows three sailors during a one-day shore leave in New York.
"I know the story line basically, but I never got to watch it all the way through. At ABT, only principals danced it. I was in the corps and had to go get ready for the next thing before the piece was over," said Herd.
Besides working on his rumba-dancing sailor, Herd also is rehearsing in the other two pieces of the season's first program. William Forsyth's contemporary piece "In the middle, somewhat elevated" and George Balan-chine's classical work "Theme and Variations" return to PNB in the "opening rep."
"I told Peter last spring what ballets I wanted to do, and he gave me this I-don't-know look - but I found myself in all of them," Herd said.
Herd admitted that getting his wish to dance in all his favorites does mean he needs to be a bit careful about his personal routine. "I'm worried about keeping my energy level up and keeping healthy," he said. "So not too much partying on the weekends, eating right, getting enough sleep."
To relax, Herd draws. His subject matter, not surprisingly, is ballet dancers. "I used to draw a lot when I was a little kid. I decided to do some big 3-foot-by-2-foot sketches." For his initial subjects, Herd worked from photos of Alexandra Dixon and Melanie Skinner, two retired dancers he partnered frequently during his early years at PNB.
"I like to take a photograph and then change it a little, deepen the textures. I've never taken art classes; I just learned with a pencil and whatever paper was available," he said.
Recently, a PNB patron, called the office, saying that she was looking for a drawing of a ballerina for her home. She was referred to Herd, who has now taken on his first commissioned drawing. "If somebody wants to pay me to do a drawing for them, I'm more than happy to do it."
But, at the beginning of September, the focus of Herd's energy was on the Director's Choice program. "I hope to dance in [Ulysses Dove's] 'Front Porch' when that comes up," said Herd. "But I'm really focused on the first rep. I always do that - I focus on the dancing day-by-day so I don't always look beyond the current program. But we have had a really good mix of choreographers in the past and have a good mix coming up."
For the Director's Choice, Boal picked what he calls proven crowd pleasers, although he did note that the most modern work, Forsyth's "In the middle, somewhat elevated" was a piece that initially met some resistance from the PNB audience.
The rest of the season, however, includes a greater mix of surprises, including some newly commissioned works by Paul Gibson, a former PNB dancer who created "Piano Dances," and Victor Quijada, the director of the Rubberband Dance Company.
When asked whether he'd rather place it safe, do the two pirouettes expected or go for the four, Boal supported the excitement of taking a chance. "Only I'd probably ask for five pirouettes," he concluded.
Pacific Northwest Ballet's 'Director's Choice'
Sept. 21 to Oct. 1
McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St.
Tickets $18-$145
PNB Box Office, 441-2424, 301 Mercer St.
Online at www.pnb.org
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