By Marcie Sillman Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new season, opening later this month, will be the first in more than two decades without longtime principal Lesley Rausch. The ballerina was acclaimed for nuanced performances in everything from Swan Lake to Ulysses Dove’s very contemporary Red Angels. She will be missed, but Rausch’s retirement is an inflection
By Marcie Sillman Seattle’s dance scene has been sizzling. From world premieres that tackled topical subjects like immigration and the pandemic shutdown to a site-specific work created for the city’s historic monorail, artists and their presenters served up an array of intriguing new dances over the last few months. Olivier Wevers’ contemporary company Whim W’Him
By Marcie Sillman When Kent Stowell and Francia Russell arrived in Seattle in 1977 to take the reins of a five-year old ballet company, they had one big goal: “We wanted to make a company and a school that we would be proud to be part of as dancers,” Russell recalls. Forty-five years later, the