When the bright crimson curtain dropped with a flood of lights glinting off thousands of subtle sequins, the audience of parents with their toddlers and elementary-school children hushed in collective awe, awaiting the start of the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) School's production of "Pinocchio."
Adapted from Italian author Carlo Collodi's original stories about the misadventures of a puppet transformed into a boy and his father-creator Geppetto, "Pinocchio's" three-performance, world-premiere run from Feb. 7 and 8 at Seattle Center's McCaw Hall served as a perfect introduction for children and adults to the fluid beauty and colorful fun that ballet embodies.
Running at just under an hour, "Pinocchio" featured 60 students from the PNB's nationally renowned dance school performing alongside some of company's lead dancers.
Their overwhelmingly young audience sat propped up on booster cushions, clapping for the performers throughout and listening to a narrator guide the dance's story line. This last feature is rare in ballet, and it allowed the one-act dance to unfold like the stories that inspired it, to keep the young audience members' attentions focused on the stage action rather than each other.
Falling under the PNB's family-oriented division PNB Kids, "Pinocchio" was the latest premiere outreach performance by the storied dance company's professional and scholastic divisions.
One of the largest ballet groups in the United States, PNB was founded in 1972 and features of company of more than 50 dancers presenting an average of 100 performances a year at home in Seattle and abroad in the country and world under Peter Boal's artistic direction. Additionally, the PNB School, founded in 1974, is recognized as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the country.
"We slowly started to do different programs for schools in the '90s," noted Kayti Bouljon, one of 20 PNB School instructors the outreach manager for the PNB Kids Discover Dance program. "In 1992, PNB formalized their outreach. The focus is on student matinees and accompanying activities."
In addition to original productions like "Pinocchio," Bouljon said PNB Kids strives to create opportunities for performances with participatory elements. Children's activities before shows - like the legendary "Nutcracker," featuring set designs by children's literature icon Maurice Sendak of "Where the Wild Things Are" fame - as well as the special student-and-teacher-oriented matinees of the ballet company's current productions are hallmarks of this effort.
But perhaps the most exciting tool the Seattle Center-based dance company is using to introduce young generations to their art form is through the PNB's public school based activities conducted throughout the school year.
"The in-school workshops involve introducing the fundamentals of dance, what to look for in the performances and, with the "Nutcracker," an introduction to the story line," Bouljon said.
Within this push to introduce the Puget Sound region youths to the art of dance is the compelling Discover Dance program taking place in Seattle's Graham Hill, Daniel Bagley and Summit elementary schools, Kirkland's Rose Hill Elementary School and Bellevue's East Gate Elementary School.
"In 1997, PNB formalized the inschool workshop and residency program, called Discover Dance," Bouljon said. "It trains kids to be in performances, but it's not a long-term training program. It's an in-school program where entire classrooms participate."
Bouljon noted there are 13 classrooms at the schools, and each of the classrooms works with a PNB artist/instructor that designs a program to work with their classroom curriculum.
"It's a three-to-four month program," Bouljon said. "It's highly customized and a collaboration with the teachers."
All the classes are creating choreography for Discover Dance's March 21 showcase presentation at McCaw Hall.
"Our company dancers will perform four five-minute excerpts between the kids' performances," Bouljon said. "The program is about two hours. Each class dance is between four and six minutes long."
Tracking the impact the PNB Kids Discover Dance program has had into the participating children's adult lives is, Bouljon admits, beyond the PNB's tracking abilities. However, she noted a continual expansion in interest in both the PNB's school-year activities and its summer workshops, both of which can last from an hour to a few weeks depending on the program.
Ultimately, Bouljon feels the PNB is continuing to broaden their audience and, more importantly, improve the educational and artistic lives of young people across the region.
"One of our goals is to help kids sharpen their eyes," Bouljon said.
The PNB Kids Discover Dance performance showcase will take place on, March 21 at 2 p.m. in Seattle Center's McCaw Hall. Tickets are $12 each or $10 for groups of 10 or more. Call 441-2424 for more information on the performance. For information on PNB's educational and community programs, call Doug Fullington at 441-2445.
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