Pacific Northwest Ballet gets a Star Spangled Salute | Rose Dennis | In Good Company

A Star Spangled Salute to Pacific Northwest Ballet dancer’s Ariana Lallone and Jeff Stanton took place on June 5 at the beautiful Yarrow Point waterfront home of Dr. Charles and Gigi Wallace. This memorable evening was created to honor the careers of these two accomplished PNB principal dancers. Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception with bountiful appetizers accompanied by live music and a program honoring both Ariana and Jeff.

June 16, 2011 8:05 pm

Lallone was with Pacific Northwest Ballet for 24-years. She came to PNB from Woodland Hills, Calif., with a scholarship from the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. She trained at the Rozann-Zimmerman Ballet Center (now known as California Dance Academy) in Chatsworth, Calif. She joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 1987 and was promoted to corps de ballet in 1988. In 1993, she was promoted to soloist and became a principal in 1994.

I remember when I first saw Ariana dance on stage and how she captured the audience with her individual style and powerful presence. She is 5’11”, and on pointe she becomes 6’5”! During her career at PNB she embraced many leading roles on stage.

We will never forget her title role as Carmen in Carmina Burana; the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty; Lady Capulet in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette; the Queen Mother in Swan Lake; along with being Flora and the Peacock in Nutcracker, just to name a few.

PNB’s Artistic Director, Peter Boal, shared “Ariana Lallone is at the very core of Pacific Northwest Ballet. As perhaps the most admired and identifiable presence onstage and off, we know that no one will match her contribution to our company. Ariana’s range as an artist has been tremendous.”

Fortunately, we will all continue to have the opportunity to watch Ariana perform at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle.

Stanton had a 23-year career in dance, of which 17 were with PNB. He trained at San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. In addition to classical ballet, he also studied ballroom, jazz, and tap dancing.

He joined the San Francisco Ballet in 1989 and left to join Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1994. He was promoted to soloist in 1995 and was made a principal in 1996.

He is originally from Santa Cruz, Calif. He shared “As I look back at my ballet career I feel a tremendous amount of pride and gratitude. It seems only yesterday that I was a student with high hopes and dreams to fulfill. What happened was everything and more than I ever hoped for. I can now retire from my professional ballet career knowing that I gave it everything I had. My hope is that it’s been as rewarding to the audience as it has been for me.”

Some of my favorite leading roles for Jeff include the Prince in Cinderella, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty; Count Danilo in Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow; Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs; and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux.

www.pnb.org

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