Pacific Northwest Ballet's Choreographer's Showcase was created to encourage the dancers in the company to try their hand at creating new works. The 2007 Showcase further matches the future of ballet choreography with the future dancers by having the choreographers create new works to be danced by the professional-level students of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School.
The Choreographer's Showcase caps a day of school performances on Saturday, June 16, at McCaw Hall.
Although several of the male dancers have created works for past showcases, corps member Stacy Lowenberg became the first woman in the company to sign up.
"It added some pressure," said Lowenberg, who trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the PNB School. She joined the PNB corps in 1999 after dancing with Oregon Ballet Theatre. When she is not dancing, Lowenberg is a Pilates instructor for Pacific Northwest Ballet's conditioning program. She also teaches frequently at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and has been a guest teacher at Des Moines Ballet Theatre School and the Tri-Cities Academy of Dance.
"Every year, I've wanted to volunteer for the showcase, but I never had enough confidence. But this year, it was choreographing on the students - which seemed a little less intimidating than choreographing on my co-workers - and I decided to go for it," Lowenberg said.
Besides being the first PNB female dancer to choreograph a new work for the showcase, this was Lowenberg's first venture into choreography.
Early support came from principal dancer Olivier Wevers, whose past work in the showcase includes "Perpetual Cipher," "One's Symphony," "Pigment" and "X stasis."
"He told me not to worry about what other people think about it; if you like it, that's all you need, he said - and that's what all the male choreographers told me!" revealed Lowenberg.
As well as new pieces by Wevers and Lowenberg, this year's showcase will present new work by PNB corps member Kiyon Gaines, Seattle choreographer and PNB School faculty member Sonia Dawkins, choreographer and LA Ballet dancer Melissa Barak and choreographer Brian Reeder.
Inspired by the song "Rushed Goodbye," Lowenberg decided to create a pas de deux, working with four professional-level students: one principal pair and one understudy pair. "It's very different seeing something in your head than seeing it in the studio. I didn't know if I could do it, but after the first day, I knew," said Lowenberg. "Once we started, it was easy. It just happened. I knew exactly what I wanted."
Lowenberg has had numerous pieces choreographed on her, and that experience as a PNB dancer helped her develop her own piece. "I didn't know what type of choreographer I would be: one who just comes in with the music, one who has some ideas but works it out in the studio, or one who has it all worked out down to every detail."
As she developed her work this spring, Lowenberg found herself to one of those choreographers with definite ideas about where the piece should go, but also willing to take advantage of those "accidents" that occur during a rehearsal. It might be something as simple as a different handhold or variation on a lift, said Lowenberg. "And I'd say, 'That move is awe-some, let's refine that more.'"
She also emphasized to the students that she wanted the movement to portray the emotion in the song. "I wanted to see it in their faces - I told them that they had to have a story within, even though the piece is not that literal."
What Lowenberg did not do is create her own definitive story for "Rushed Goodbye." "I'm not that black-and-white," she said. "It's like a piece of artwork. If the artist has to explain every detail, it's not as much fun."
Lowenberg enjoyed working with the students. "I just get everything out of teaching," she said. "To explain to someone what you want and to see them get it - that's an incredible feeling."
Although she has no plans to retire from dancing in the foreseeable future, choreographing proved to be "a different way to stretch myself," said Lowenberg. "I'd like to choreograph again. Next time, maybe something a little longer and with more people."
CHOREOGRAPHER'S SHOWCASE
McCaw Hall
Saturday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $12 to $32
26TH ANNUAL PNB SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
McCaw Hall
Saturday, June 16, noon and 3:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20 to $60
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