Roger Downey

Born in Canada moved to Peru's altiplano at the age of six; came to the U.S. at 10 to discover that you don't use your feet to dribble the ball. Learned from the git-go that "America" is an idea, not a place.

Review: PNB’s Lifeless “Giselle”

When it was new, in Paris, in 1841, it was exotic, atmospheric, exhaling a mossy dark fragrance of olden times, a tale of a disguised prince, a dishonored maiden, and supernatural revenge; what we call “Gothick.”

Reconsidering the “Grand” in Grand Opera

By the time Camille Saint-Saëns got serious about composing Samson et Dalilah in 1877, grand opéra had already received its death blow, though nobody realized yet that the perky, melodious little opéra comique named Carmen was really an assassin.

Filling Spaces: Peter Brook and John Aylward

Brook’s misfortune as an artist was success: too much, too incessant, too routine.

SSO: Dancing Through the Dark

Symphony supporters have had some lovely distractions from the twin menaces of cabal and COVID during the darkest days of the year over the Holidays.

Through the Murk: A Bad Night at Benaroya

When sounds fails one in the concert hall, the mind is left to wander.

Crabby ’bout Crab

Nearly two weeks after the Big Day, local gourmets are justified in crying out, like the old lady in 1984’s memorable Wendy’s commercial: “Where’s the crab??”

Seattle Symphony: With and Without

I felt as if I had been strapped to a platform and slowly driven through one of sculptor Richard Serra’s immense steel plate installations, with my eyes fixed three inches from its surface, the better to appreciate every noble rusty nuance.

Chain Chain Chain

At the end of Beyond Ballet, PNB’s second live program under current live-performance COVID rules, my date and I joined the hearty applause for the company premiere of Jason...

At Home with Dick and Jane

Carry your impression of the couple with you as you view the remarkable assembly of art works which were their everyday home environment. You’ll find connections between artists and images you’d otherwise miss.

Longer and Longeur: PNB’s Alejandro Cerrudo and the Mirroring of Coincident Sounds

The choreography is fluid, flexible, constantly folding, an interaction of equal mutual forces embodied by undifferentiated partnering as unlike the polar gender opposition of classical ballet as imaginable. 

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