Their two decades of dance will be honored at Season Encore Performance, June 11, 2017.

Pacific Northwest Ballet Artistic Director Peter Boal, with principal dancers Carrie Imler and Batkhurel Bold, has announced that Ms. Imler and Mr. Bold will retire at the end of the 2016/2017 season. Their acclaimed careers will be celebrated at PNB’s Season Encore Performance on Sunday, June 11, 2017. (Tickets go on sale to the public in March 2017.)

“Both Carrie and Bold have been such central parts of PNB, it’s hard to imagine the Company after their retirements,” said Mr. Boal in his announcement. “Tens of thousands of us have applauded their work and a smaller number has treasured every moment working alongside these two over the past two decades. Their contributions to the Company are beyond measure and they will be missed.”

Batkhurel Bold is from Ulan Bator, Mongolia. He trained at the Perm Choreographic Academy in Russia. He joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1996 and was promoted to soloist in 1999 and principal in 2004.

“Early on, Bold earned the nickname ‘Air Bold’ because of his gravity defying leaps, and the name still fits,” said Mr. Boal. “A technical powerhouse, a consummate partner, a dramatic stage presence, Bold has been a true mainstay of this Company. Though he’s played every leading male role in the book and excelled in each, I won’t forget his dramatic performances in Nacho Duato’s Rassemblement. Here we saw the tenderness that is such an integral part of this man. Offstage and on, Bold cares deeply for those around him; from his current partner to the newest member of the Company, he’s a prince to all.”

In a statement, Mr. Bold added, “Dreams do come true. Thanks to the amazing generosity of Kent Stowell, Francia Russell, Peter Boal and every single person both past and present at Pacific Northwest Ballet. I am truly blessed, humbled and forever grateful.”

ARTIST BIOS

Carrie Imler has danced leading roles in George Balanchine’s Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Chaconne, Concerto Barocco,Coppélia, Diamonds, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania, Hippolyta), The Nutcracker®, Rubies, Serenade, Square Dance, Stars and Stripes, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Theme and Variations, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, La Valse, Western Symphony, and Who Cares?; Peter Boal’s Giselle (Myrtha); Val Caniparoli’s The Bridge, Lambarena, The Seasons, and Torque; Alejandro Cerrudo’s Memory Glow; David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to My Skin; Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels and Vespers; Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement; William Forsythe’s In the middle, somewhat elevated, New Suite, One Flat Thing, reproduced and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow (Hanna) and The Sleeping Beauty (Aurora, Lilac Fairy, Gold and Silver pas de trois); Jiri Kylian’s Forgotten Land, Petite Mort, and Sechs Tänze (Six Dances); Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette (Lady Capulet, Nurse); Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries; Mark Morris’ A Garden and Pacific; Kevin O’Day’s Aract; Kirk Peterson’s Amazed in Burning Dreams; Marius Petipa’s Le Corsaire Pas de Trois, Don Quixote (Kitri), and Paquita; Crystal Pite’s Emergence; Victor Quijada’s Suspension of Disbelief; Alexei Ratmanksy’s Concerto DSCH and Don Quixote (Kitri, Mercedes); Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, and In the Night; Kent Stowell’s Carmen, Carmina Burana, Cinderella (Cinderella, Fairy Godmother), Coppélia (Dance of the Hours, Dawn, Discord and War), Delicate Balance, Dumbarton Oaks, Firebird, Hail to the Conquering Hero, Kammergarten Tänze, Nutcracker (Clara, Flora), Poème St. Saëns, Quaternary, Silver Lining, Swan Lake(Odette/Odile, Queen Mother), and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Juliet, Lady Capulet); Richard Tanner’s Ancient Airs and Dances; Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Mercury; Paul Taylor’s Roses; Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries; Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; Rudi van Dantzig’s Ginastera; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Variations Sérieuses (Ballerina). Ms. Imler has originated leading roles in Andrew Bartee’s arms that work, Kiyon Gaines’ M-Pulse and Sum Stravinsky, Nicolo Fonte’s Almost Tango, Morris’ Kammermusik No. 3, Quijada’s Mating Theory, Christopher Stowell’s Zaïs, Susan Stroman’s TAKE FIVE…More or Less, Tharp’s Opus 111 and Waiting at the Station, and Olivier Wevers’ Shindig.

Ms. Imler danced in the BBC’s 1999 film version of PNB’s production of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, filmed at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. She was also featured in Children with a Dream, a PBS documentary about Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

Batkhurel Bold has danced leading roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Concerto Barocco, Coppélia (Discord and War), Diamonds, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania’s Cavalier, Theseus, Divertissement pas de deux), The Nutcracker®, Serenade, Stars and Stripes, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Theme and Variations, and La Valse; Peter Boal’s Giselle (Albrecht, Hilarion); Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena and The Seasons; Donald Byrd’s Subtext Rage; Ulysses Dove’s Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, Red Angels, and Serious Pleasures; David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin; Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement; Nicolo Fonte’s Almost Tango; William Forsythe’s Artifact II, In the middle, somewhat elevated, and One Flat Thing, reproduced; Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow and The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Florimund); Jiri Kylian’s Forgotten Land and Petite Mort; Edwaard Liang’s Für Alina; José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane; Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette (Tybalt); Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries; Mark Morris’ Pacific; David Parsons’ Caught; Toni Pimble’s Two’s Company; Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote and Paquita; Crystal Pite’s Emergence; Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH and Don Quixote(Basilio, Espada); Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces, In the Night, and West Side Story Suite (Bernardo); Kent Stowell’s Carmen, Carmina Burana, Cinderella (Prince), Dumbarton Oaks, Duo Fantasy, Firebird, Kammergarten Tänze, Nutcracker (Prince), Orpheus Portrait, Quaternary, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt), Silver Lining, Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried), and Zirkus Weill; Price Suddarth’s Signature; Glen Tetley’s The Rite of Spring and Voluntaries; Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux and Polyphonia.

Mr. Bold has originated leading roles in Kiyon Gaines’ Interrupted Pri’si’zhen and Sum Stravinsky; Benjamin Millepied’s 3 Movements; Twyla Tharp’s Opus 111; Olivier Wevers’ Shindig; Christopher Wheeldon’s Tide Harmonic. Mr. Bold performed the role of Theseus in the BBC’s 1999 film version of PNB’s production of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, filmed at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London. In 2007, Mr. Bold performed in the worldwide company debut performance of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. He also has performed as a guest artist on the Vail International Dance Festival’s “International Evenings of Dance” galas.

TICKET INFORMATION

Ms. Imler and Mr. Bold are scheduled to dance in several more performances, including George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker^®, before the end of PNB’s 2016/2017 season. The Nutcracker runs now through December 28.

Carrie is scheduled to perform The Nutcracker in the following performances: Sunday, December 11 at 5:30 (Sugar Plum Fairy), Tuesday, December 20 at 7:30 (Sugar Plum Fairy), Wednesday, December 21 at 7:30 (Dewdrop). Bold is scheduled to perform The Nutcracker at the following performance: Thursday, December 22 at 7:30 (Cavalier). Casting subject to change.

PNB’s Season Encore Performance will be presented one night only, Sunday, June 11 at 6:30 pm. The performance will include a special tribute to Carrie Imler and Batkhurel Bold. Tickets to the Season Encore Performance will go on sale to subscribers in early 2017, and the general public in March 2017.

Tickets may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, in person at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org. Programming and casting are subject to change. For further information, please visit PNB.org.