Ballet Imperial
At Seattle Opera House
By Dan Larsen, for SeattleInsider.com
Originally published by Cox Interactive Media

The snow flakes have been swept aside, the enormous Christmas tree folded away as carefully as it was opened and the even bigger Rat King has been tempted back into his cage with temptations of cheese chunks the size of Paul Allen's weekend cash clip.

With the most-popular revisitation of "The Nutcracker" and a well-deserved break over with, the Pacific Northwest Ballet moves onto its 2000 program in classical to contemporary style with a pastiche collection of works packaged tidily under the title of "Ballet Imperial." This program will feature revivals of two 25th Anniversary premieres - George Balanchine's "Ballet Imperial" and Rudi van Dantzig's "Ginastera" - and Lynne Taylor-Corbett's "The Quilt."

As the name would suggest, "Ballet Imperial" is a celebration of grander times, of the lavish elegance surrounding the pinnacle of classical Russian ballet. It is Balanchine's tribute to the "father of classical ballet," Marius Petipa and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set to Tchaikovsky's own Piano Concerto No. 2 in G.

The subsequent elements of the program take on a slightly different tone. Rudi van Dantzig, former Dutch National Ballet Artistic Director, highlights the men of his company in "Ginastera" a more challenging and abstract work with fast and bold movement, set to String Quartet #2 by Alberto Ginastera.

Finally, with music by Benjamin Britten, Lynne Taylor-Corbett's "The Quilt" draws artistic influence from her experiences with her first visit to the AIDS Memorial Quilt display, with a story that weaves its own tapestry from patches of life and people.

Ballet Imperial is only running for a little over a week, from February 3 - 12. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster or by calling the PNB box office at (206) 625 1418.

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