Mark Morris' "Pacific" opens PNB's 3-week dance fest

Artistic director Peter Boal joked with the crowd before the curtain rose on the opening program of Pacific Northwest Ballet's Celebrate Seattle Festival, a three-week tribute to Northwest choreographers. "I hope the ushers told you that we're not letting you out," he said. "You're here for three weeks."

I can imagine far worse fates than camping out in McCaw Hall, particularly if the experience included repeated viewings of Mark Morris' "Pacific," the short ballet that opened the evening. Though Morris, who grew up in Seattle, is considered one of the greatest choreographers working today, he has not been represented at PNB since an early work in 1978. It's an omission that's long needed rectifying.

"Pacific," created in 1995 for San Francisco Ballet, is a quiet ballet, gentle as a sigh; its jumps seem to linger in the air like the scent of spring. Its nine dancers (five women, four men) all wear long, culottelike skirts that ripple like waves, underlining the dance's theme of the sea. Set to Lou Harrison's trio for violin, cello and piano (beautifully performed by members of the PNB orchestra), it unfolds in four brief sections, each flowing into the next. Though the dance's vocabulary is essentially classical, Morris adds a few contemporary twists — a spin with a dropped head; a grounded, earthbound quality to many of the jumps.

The calmness of "Pacific" contrasted sharply with the energetic, often frenetic "Carmina Burana." Kent Stowell's 1993 work, set to Carl Orff's cantata, is a lavish and often breathtaking spectacle, featuring three vocal soloists, a vast onstage choir, the full PNB orchestra under Stewart Kershaw's baton, designer Ming Cho Lee's enormous gold wheel hanging over the stage, and dozens of dancers, who switch from colorful peasant garb (by Theoni V. Aldredge and Larae Theige Hascall) to nude unitards.

Choreographically, its themes are murky, and there aren't always enough ideas to fill up the music. (The peasants' dances, at first pretty to watch, quickly grow repetitive.) But within its flurry of activity, there are some lovely moments. Patricia Barker bends delicately backwards over Olivier Wevers' arm, the movement growing in tandem with Catherine Haight's shimmering soprano. Always a crowd favorite, "Carmina Burana" received a standing ovation. Two choreographers down, 12 to go: The Celebrate Seattle Festival is off and running.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com