Douglas Fullington, education programs manager, has coordinated an eclectic season of free or inexpensive talks, studio visits, and free events around the city for anyone interested in learning a little more about ballet.
One of the more ambitious parts of this program is the lecture-demonstrations, 90-minute presentations on ballet with dancers demonstrating various aspects of the program.
"The Twyla Tharp lecture-demonstration on Sept. 18 was her idea," said Doug. "Which was great, as it allowed us to move into McCaw Hall and use that bigger space."
PNB sold more than 1,200 tickets for the Tharp Sept. 18 event before the end of August. This lecture-demonstration concentrates on Tharp's new works created for the company's 2009 season with excerpts being performed on stage.
"Tharp will use dancers, music, some media and discuss her background and how the new pieces are coming together for a full experience on stage," said Fullington.
"And the lecture-demonstration is the perfect place for this. As opposed to a program note, where the reader just takes away what's on the page, you can substantiate whatever you're discussing with dancers performing the movement. And there's the wonderful attraction of hearing directly from Twyla Tharp about her work."
Calling the early interest "huge" for the Tharp lecture-demonstration, Fullington added, "This is definitely a first for us, using the mainstage for an education event, and we're thrilled that the response has been so great."
The next two lecture-demonstrations move back to Studio C at the Phelps Center next to McCaw Hall. There, the audience sits in the PNB School's dance studio, surrounded by the usual barres and mirrors, as members of the company and students from the school perform the dances discussed.
Fullington will lecture on the influence of 19th-century Russian choreographer Marius Petipa upon Georg Balanchine's work. This Oct. 1 event will include "dancers in practice attire. We'll have piano accompaniment and we'll show the excerpts, maybe have the dancers repeat something to demonstrate a point, and we welcome questions from the audience. It's a more casual atmosphere than a performance. Explanation and background is given," Fullington said.
He continued, "I try to give an explanation of the early versions of the ballets that the Russians who came to the U.S. knew and taught, the ones that Balanchine would have learned in Russia."
As past lecture-demonstrations have shown, the changes wrought by Balanchine shifted movement up and away from the body in some cases. The Petipa choreography, with a greater emphasis a stiffer upper body, can feel a little strange to modern ballet dancer.
"I try to be a little accommodating to dancers, to how they move now, sometimes I really have them stick to the way that the dance was notated. It's important for the dance to look comfortable on whoever is performing it," Fullington said. "To make it look natural, we might make some minor tweaks."
Fullington added, "Technically, the stuff that we do is often hard work for the dancers. A lot of jumping in a Petipa demo. But the dancers are always enthusiastic and nice about doing this."
The last lecture-demonstration occurs on Oct. 4 and features Robert Greskovic, dance writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of the book "Ballet 101."
"This was really created in response from many members of the audience to explain the basics of ballet," said Fullington. "And we've got this great barre demonstration, where the students from Level 1 to the professional division do the exercises which show how a dancer develops from a child to an adult. It's the coolest thing to watch. It only takes about 10 minutes, but right before your eyes, you see where they start and where they end and all the things in between."
Fullington calls this three-hour event "user-friendly" and appropriate for older children interested in learning more about ballet.
Tickets for all the lecture-demonstrations are $20 per person and available through the PNB Box Office. The events at Studio C often sell out due to the limited number of seats (usually fewer than 200 for a lecture-demonstration).
Another wildly popular event, already sold-out for September, is the company's $5 Fridays. Also happening in Studio C at the school, these hour-long dance previews are led by Peter Boal and feature company dancers performing excerpts for the programs opening the following week.
Last season, tickets for this event sold out months in advance, frustrating many who wanted to drop into a Friday preview. To help spread out the audience and make it a little more available to everyone, PNB is breaking up the "on sale" date for a $5 Friday.
"We changed it so we are putting tickets on sale eight weeks before the event. That's so somebody who hears about the program halfway through the year won't encounter a completely sold-out event," explained Fullington. "And we have student groups that we want to be able to accommodate and they often don't know their schedule until a month in advance."
The appeal of the $5 Friday program "is being right in the studio and seeing the dancer up close," said Fullington. "This is really the studio rehearsal that we offer to the general public. And seeing it up close is a lot different than seeing it on stage. It enhances the athleticism of the dance for the audience. And you can talk to the dancers, ask them questions about how something feels. A lot of people use this to introduce their children to ballet, because it is only an hour, a manageable time for most."
Another, more in-depth program is the PNB Lecture Series that includes a chance to listen to an interview with performers and then attend a dress rehearsal. "The $25 ticket, which includes the lecture and the dress rehearsal, is a really good deal because the dress rehearsal is a full performance (with sets, costumes and orchestra)," said Fullington.
For those just interested in attending the Lecture Series and not going to the dress rehearsal, the tickets are $12.
The first lecture of the season takes place Sept. 24 and will have PNB artistic director Peter Boal discussing the new season as well as his experiences working with Twyla Tharp.
Other education events include free previews at the downtown Seattle Public Library such as the noon preview of the "All Tharp" program on Sept. 23.
Tharp fans can also meet her at the Sept. 21 event at Elliot Bay Book Company, where she will be signing copies of her latest book. Other free Sunday afternoon events at the Pioneer Square bookstore include hour-long conversations with company dancers and choreographers throughout the season.
A full accounting of the Audience Education Events can be found in the PNB season brochure on the web at www.pnb.org.
Rosemary Jones can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.[[In-content Ad]]