When you watch a great dancer, time stands still, and their years of hard work and training fall away: All that\u2019s left is that moment and that beauty and those incredible, perfect movements, and you wish it could last forever.<\/p>\n
But time doesn\u2019t hold still offstage, and for two of Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s most beloved principal dancers, the moment has come to end their long performing careers. Elizabeth Murphy and Lucien Postlewaite, who have a combined total of 33 years with the company, will take their final bows in a special “Season Encore<\/a>” performance on Sunday, June 7, at McCaw Hall, before whirling off to new stages in their lives.<\/p>\n It was a difficult decision \u2014 and not one dictated by immediate necessity, as both are still dancing beautifully \u2014 but both feel confident that it\u2019s time.<\/p>\n \u201cMy whole career has been a process of listening to my body, to my environment \u2026 to all the things that make me an artist,\u201d Postlewaite said, in an interview between rehearsals this spring. \u201cListening to that voice is what has guided me, and this is the right time.\u201d He has begun a new career as a life coach<\/a>, and is eager to take the lessons he\u2019s learned in his dancing years into his new business.<\/p>\n Murphy, likewise, said the decision has been \u201cpulling at my heart\u201d for a while, but leaving now feels right. \u201cI\u2019ve had a wonderful career here, and I\u2019m really proud of everything I\u2019ve gotten to do.\u201d The mother of two young daughters (with husband Reed Nakayama, PNB\u2019s resident lighting designer), she\u2019s looking forward to focusing on her family. And she\u2019s considering other possibilities: working toward Pilates certification, doing some teaching this summer, and moving toward \u201cthe rehab side of dance,\u201d perhaps through studying physical or occupational therapy.<\/p>\n Currently the two most senior principal dancers in the company, Postlewaite and Murphy\u00a0took different roads to PNB. Postlewaite, originally from Santa Cruz, Calif., joined as a young apprentice in 2003, quickly rising through the ranks to principal status by 2008. He left in 2012 to dance overseas in Jean-Christophe Maillot\u2019s Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, returning to PNB in 2017. Murphy, who grew up in Chelmsford, Mass., danced with several companies before joining PNB as a corps member in 2011, rising to principal in 2015.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to single out a favorite performance from each of these two, after so many years, but I think of Postlewaite\u2019s dreamy, ever-youthful Rom\u00e9o<\/a> (in Maillot\u2019s \u201cRom\u00e9o et Juliette\u201d), the soaring leaps of his \u201cProdigal Son,\u201d the shimmery beauty of his work in \u201cAfternoon of a Faun.\u201d For Murphy, I think of the ethereal softness of her \u201cEmeralds\u201d solo in George Balanchine\u2019s \u201cJewels<\/a>,\u201d her quicksilver partnership with Dylan Wald in Alejandro Cerrudo\u2019s ballets (particularly \u201cLittle mortal jump\u201d and \u201cSilent Ghost\u201d), the delicate madness of her Giselle.<\/p>\n PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal, reflecting on the duo\u2019s legacy, praised Postlewaite\u2019s unbreaking commitment to his roles, both in and out of the studio, and called him \u201ca favorite of so many choreographers and a go-for-broke dancer willing to try anything.\u201d He singled out Murphy\u2019s technique, but added, \u201cShe has the stuff that you can\u2019t teach \u2026 She just lives in the art, in a way that connects us to the art. She seems to experience the art in real time.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back at favorite performances, Murphy said she\u2019d long had an affinity for the story ballets, particularly \u201cMidsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d and \u201cGiselle,\u201d both favorites since childhood. \u201cI remember acting out the mad scene (in \u201cGiselle\u201d) when I was probably like 7 years old!\u201d she said. Her love for contemporary choreography, particularly Cerrudo\u2019s, came later.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was something I liked watching, but whenever I would try to do it, I would think, oh, it takes a different sort of vulnerability to explore movements that don\u2019t have a distinct name \u2014 someone\u2019s not telling you exactly how to do it,\u201d she said. But she fell in love with \u201cLittle mortal jump,\u201d and \u201cthat was that for me. That experience, building with everything I learned there, how to become more grounded and drop into the floor, it became a really special part of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Postlewaite said his favorite ballet was \u201cwhatever I\u2019m dancing at the moment,\u201d he also expressed a fondness for narrative works. \u201cI love to tell stories,\u201d he said. \u201cPeter (Boal) asked me how do I distinguish being an artist, a storyteller and a dancer, and I said for me, they\u2019re one and the same. Even if I\u2019m doing a ballet that doesn\u2019t have a narrative, I create a story for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019ll very much miss connecting with a partner \u2014 \u201cto be so synchronized, so tuned to your own craft and to the other person, that it\u2019s like you\u2019re swimming together.\u201d\u00a0As dancers, he said, \u201cwe get to create a world. Sometimes this world\u2019s a hard one for me, for a lot of people. Having a space where I can look around and connect with my partner \u2014 we are in this together, creating an alternate world.\u201d<\/p>\n Both have been able to choose multiple dances that they will perform in “Season Encore” \u2014 a career mini-retrospective, as it were. Murphy has chosen selections from \u201cLittle mortal jump,\u201d Kent Stowell\u2019s \u201cCinderella,\u201d the Jessica Lang solo \u201cThe Calling,\u201d and Christopher Wheeldon\u2019s \u201cThis Bitter Earth,\u201d which has not previously been seen on PNB\u2019s stage. Postlewaite will perform in Balanchine\u2019s \u201cDuo Concertant,\u201d Jerome Robbins\u2019 \u201cDances at a Gathering,\u201d Kent Stowell\u2019s \u201cSwan Lake,\u201d Wheeldon\u2019s \u201cCurious Kingdom\u201d (another PNB premiere) and, one last time, the balcony scene from \u201cRom\u00e9o et Juliette.\u201d (Get your handkerchiefs ready.)<\/p>\n And what do they think it will feel like, to dance for a PNB audience for the last time? Postlewaite said he\u2019s been thinking about it, \u201cplacing myself in that future self. Because I\u2019m so grateful to the audience, to the space, and I think about that future self and how to honor that.\u201d He\u2019s been envisioning \u201chow to be fully present in the magic of that moment, with room for the unexpected. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to feel like because I\u2019ve never done this before.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy said she\u2019s been \u201cprotecting myself \u2026 I think in ‘Encore,’ there\u2019s going to be a lot of feelings!\u201d Those emotions have been rising to the surface throughout the season. She described being on stage at the beginning of \u201cEmeralds\u201d last fall as the curtain rose: \u201cThe stage is really warm, and when the curtain rises, it suddenly becomes cool as the air drifts in, it\u2019s this very magical sensation of experiencing the curtain rise. You feel so alive. At dress rehearsal, you don\u2019t feel the buzz, but when the whole audience is there, it\u2019s like a heartbeat \u2014 you can feel this pulsing. I just started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n While there\u2019s sadness at an end to this stage in their lives, there\u2019s optimism for the future, whatever it might look like. Ballet is \u201csuch a magical art form that I was captivated by at such a young age,\u201d said Murphy. \u201cI\u2019m going to find a new chair, a new seat \u2014 I want to continue being a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Postlewaite spoke of discovering a new kind of life, one not dictated by the constant rhythms of daily class and rehearsals. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to exploring what devotion looks like, what commitment to my body looks like, when it\u2019s not intertwined with work,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m so focused on showing up really well for myself and the audience, sometimes that becomes a louder voice in the room than the joy \u2026 I\u2019m excited to explore the other side of that.\u201d In the meantime, he said, “It’s just deep gratitude.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you watch a great dancer, time stands still, and their years of hard work and training fall away: All that\u2019s left is that moment and that beauty and those incredible, perfect movements, and you wish it could last forever. 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