Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 50th Anniversary Season with The Seasons’ Canon

Pacific Northwest Ballet continues its 50th Anniversary Season with The Seasons’ Canon, a program of works featuring the American premiere of the eponymous The Seasons’ Canon from dance innovator Crystal Pite (Emergence, Plot Point.) The Seasons’ Canon will be performed on a triple-bill with Catching Feelings, a world premiere by choreographer and artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Dwight Rhoden; and George Balanchine’s Duo Concertant.

In his playbill comments, PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal notes that the three works span the lifetime of PNB: “George Balanchine’s Duo Concertant, one of 34 offerings in a landmark New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival in 1972, is 50; Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon is six, and Dwight Rhoden’s new creation is either newborn or in its first ten days of existence, depending on which show you attend!”

Dwight Rhoden has established a remarkably wide-ranging career, earning distinction from The New York Times as “one of the most sought-out choreographers of the day.” A native of Dayton, Ohio who began dancing at 17, Rhoden has performed with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Les Ballet Jazz De Montreal and as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 1994, Rhoden and legendary dancer Desmond Richardson founded Complexions Contemporary Ballet. Under his direction, Complexions has been presented on five continents and in over 20 countries.

Balanchine long admired Stravinsky’s Duo Concertant and finally choreographed the score as a pas de deux for New York City Ballet’s historic 1972 Stravinsky Festival. Nancy Reynolds, Director of Research for The George Balanchine Foundation, writes, “Duo Concertant was seen as the essence of what the festival was all about: it was not only a close union of dance with music, dancers with musicians (pianist and violinist were on the stage); here, the music actually penetrated the dancing, and did not merely accompany it: the dancers stood still at times and visibly listened. And in its intimacy, the ballet recalled the very personal nature of the fifty-year collaboration that the festival both celebrated and prolonged.”

The Seasons’ Canon is the third work of Crystal Pite’s to enter Pacific Northwest Ballet’s repertoire after Emergence and Plot Point. “Creation for me is like looking through a lens. It’s a way to see the world in greater detail and clarity; it’s a magnified experience. It is the act of making that sharpens my awareness and connects me most deeply to the natural world and all the brutality and beauty it contains. The Seasons’ Canon is a gesture, an offering. It is as much my way of coping with the vastness and complexity of the natural world as it is a way of giving thanks for it,” said Pite.

The Seasons’ Canon runs for seven performances, November 4 through 13 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at just $37. The program will also stream digitally from November 17 through 21. Tickets for the digital access are $35. For tickets and additional information, contact the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, in person at 301 Mercer Street, or online 24/7 at PNB.org.