A Dancer’s Perspective – Kyle Davis on The Sleeping Beauty

Dear PNB Family and Friends,

On the eve of Pacific Northwest Ballet opening our new production of The Sleeping Beauty, I am feeling reflective. Over the course of my seventeen seasons with PNB I have seen so many exquisite artists step onto the McCaw Hall stage to perform iconic roles in this everlasting classic. My first Sleeping Beauty with the Company was in 2010. I performed as a Courtier, a member of the Garland Dance, and a Hunt Scene peasant, as well as having performed the featured roles of Gold and Silver and Bluebird – later I would go on to add Prince Florimund to my list of Sleeping Beauty roles. This time around, as we share a new Beauty with our community, I will perform Prince Désiré (same prince, different name) and Silver Fairy. During the rehearsal process, it has been a gift to see steps traditional and historic become vibrantly new through the interpretations of our current company roster. It has been six years since PNB last presented a production of The Sleeping Beauty, which by my count means twenty-four current company dancers were not in our ranks back in 2019, and for several of these fine artists they are experiencing Sleeping Beauty for the first time.

Nothing creates opportunities for an entire company of dancers to shine like a full-length ballet and the best example of this may well be The Sleeping Beauty. Fairytale couple aside, The Sleeping Beauty retinue features seven gift-giving fairies (not all with gifts of good), four divertissements of dancing storybook characters, and a delightfully exact pas de quatre of precious gems and metals. With so many leading and solo roles – and multiple casts of each part – it seems as though every rehearsal I have been in, someone new steps up to the challenge of another leading role. Thirty-seven company artists are scheduled to perform featured roles in The Sleeping Beauty, and several of them have more than one featured part, so there is absolutely no chance you will go to any show and not see at least one of your current favorite dancers – and a high chance you will walk away having been introduced to someone new you will be excited to follow for years to come.

There are many gems within this new production, and it has been a privilege to watch everything come together – from studio to stage. My tenure at Pacific Northwest Ballet has seen only a handful of full-length constructions and a finite number of those have been world premieres. To say this is exciting for the Company would be the understatement of the season. From the historic restoration of steps, all carefully read from notation by Doug Fullington, to the creative nuances and conceptualization of Artistic Director Peter Boal, the creation of The Sleeping Beauty has been a ride. While some of the choreography for these featured parts may look familiar to audience members who watched the retired Ronald Hynd production, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty starts with the historic and takes you somewhere truly magical. I would be remiss if I did not encourage everyone to see all six casts of Aurora and Désiré, and in doing so see all thirty-seven artists in leading roles. You will not be disappointed.

Read more – with casting tidbits – on the PNB blog and visit McCaw Hall January 31 – February 9 for our eleven-show world premiere run of The Sleeping Beauty. Tickets available exclusively through Pacific Northwest Ballet in person at the box office and online at www.pnb.org.

Yours truly,

Kyle Davis