As Kent Stowell and Francia Russell prepare to retire from Pacific Northwest Ballet, the programs are becoming more personal for the couple, the dancers and, now, the choreographers involved.
"My parents wanted me involved in their last season, and originally they were going to repeat 'Zais,'" said Christopher Stowell, who became artistic director of Oregon Ballet after retiring from San Francisco Ballet as a dancer. His "Zais" premièred at PNB in 2003. "Then they asked if I'd like to do something new, which is always better, even though the scheduling has been really hectic. But creating a hectic schedule for me for their last season is totally worth it."
The couple also invited PNB assistant ballet master Paul Gibson to contribute a work for the "American Choreographers" program. Gibson, once a principal dancer for the company, said that he still cannot imagine entering the PNB building next season and not seeing Stowell and Russell there. Like Christopher Stowell, he was not only delighted to choreograph a work for this season, but he also agreed to come out of retirement as a dancer. "I am going to do 'Silver Linings' for Kent and Francia, because it is their last season," said Gibson. "But I don't want to be one of those dancers who goes back and forth. I had my career and had a great time, but now I want to do something different."
The "different" for Gibson is working full-time as a ballet master at PNB and choreographing work when he has the right inspiration.
"The easiest thing is being a dancer," said Gibson about his three different careers. "Being a dancer, you're focused on you and your dancing, so you're only responsible for delivering how you look. A ballet master is a little different because you're not worried about yourself but about how the other people look. So it's a complete flip-flop of being a dancer.
"Being a choreographer is the most stressful of the three because you have to be more responsible for how it looks, and it's lot more nerve-wracking. As a ballet master, when you set something, it's not your piece that they're performing, it's someone else's. While as the choreographer, you're going to be critiqued personally on what you did."
For "The Piano Dance," Gibson created a set of contrasting dances for four couples accompanied by 10 works for the solo piano, ranging from Chopin to Bartok. Although each piece of music is very different, Gibson said, they all "have a lot of the same melodic tone underneath."
As "The Piano Dances" developed at PNB, Gibson worked with pianist Dianne Chilgren and the dancers to form the interactions between the music, the dance, and the couples. "It's a collaboration - and that's what I enjoy, the interaction between the choreographer and the dancers," said Gibson. "It's not about me, but about how they're going to look on stage."
Christopher Stowell also focused on the appearance of the dancers for his new work, "Quick Time."
"I was trying to, subtly, promote the dancers as stars," he said. "We readily accept Britney Spears or whomever as a star, and here are some of the most refined athletes/artists! But we hide behind the reticence of this art. Sometimes, we should say 'Here's a star, here's what they can do, and isn't it fantastic!' and not shy away from that kind of notice."
Like Gibson's work, Christopher Stowell used piano music, but he placed his two pianists, Chilgren and Allan Dameron, on the stage with dancers. The music, Saint-Saens' Variations on a Theme of Beethoven, also dictated the interaction between the lead couple and ensemble of eight dancers. "I like chamber music, and what attracted me about this piece is the combative, almost competitive, nature of the two pianists. And I tried to reflect that in my choreography," he said.
The evening also includes Henry Purcell's "Moor's Pavane" and Val Caniparoli's "Lambarena," longtime favorites of PNB and its audience.[[In-content Ad]]
