Romeo, Juliet … and COVID: Pacific Northwest Ballet returns to the stage

The curtain goes up Friday, Feb. 4, on the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of “Roméo et Juliette.” It’s a romantic tragedy made more challenging by the era of COVID.

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But before the music fills McCaw Hall and dancers rush to the stage, there’s a lot of practice — and a lot of COVID protocols.

“As artists, we want to make it happen in any way possible. There’s always a way,” says Principal Dancer Noelani Pantastico, who became accustomed to taking ballet classes at home, online.

“A lot of dancers had a little piece of dance floor. It’s like a type of linoleum,” she said. “You just held onto something, and made yourself take class.”

Artistic Director Peter Boal taught many of those online classes.

“One and two,” he’s heard telling his house-bound artists. “You can let go of the, uh, counter — face the blender,” he chuckled.

Even as the dancers start resuming in-person classes and rehearsals, they are taking every precaution.

“We’re doing antigen testing all the time, PCR testing if necessary,” Pantastico said. “We mask all the time. The masks are still kind of unfortunate, because it’s a lot of acting and we can’t really see each other’s faces.”

But she says they will get to take the masks off for performances, which is key in this production.

Not only is this Romeo and Juliet, but the choreography is from Frenchman Jean Christophe Maillot, set to Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s lush score.

As Boal points out, “the physicality is raw, the kissing is real.”

The focus is intimately on the dancers, their acting, and their movement, with other aspects playing a strategic, supporting role. There’s a minimalistic approach to the sets and props.

“Just a beautiful, contemporary take on a classic story,” said Pantastico, who has chosen this production to take her final bow with PNB.

“It was a conscious decision to do this ballet because it was such a huge part of my career, and I thought it would be a beautiful way to end my 25-year career,” she said.

Boal agrees.

“There’s something about her raw humanity,” he said. “There’s something about every person that she brings to the stage. There’s an honesty, and an authenticity, and a vulnerability. It’s like looking at a great work of art and in the canvas you see something that resonates directly to you and speaks to you.”

That connection — between artist and audience — is why Boal says dancers craved to get back in front of live audiences, once again sharing Romeo and Juliet: a classic story of smiles and tears.

“Aren’t we all crying a little more, and hopefully laughing a little more,” he said. “It’s good. It’s what we need.”

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