Pacific Northwest Ballet
All Photos © Angela Sterling
Black Wave
Choreography: Jessica Lang
Music: Salina Fisher (Kinstugi, Rainphase, Heal)
Costume Design: Jillian Lewis
Lighting Design: Brandon Stirling Baker
Scenic Design: Libby Stadstad
Commissioned by Pacific Northwest Ballet, Artistic Director Peter Boal
World Premiere September 20, 2024
McCaw Hall Theater
Cast: Leah Terada, Leta Biasucci, Dylan Wald, Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan, Luther DeMeyer, Kuu Sakuragi, Malena Ani, Dylan Calahan, Ashton Edwards, Zsilas Michael Hughes, Audrey Malek.
Cast: Christopher D'Ariano, Angelica Generosa, Elle Macy, Melisa Guilliams, Noah Martzell, Clara Ruf Maldanado, Luca Anaya, Kali Kleiman, Juliet Prine, Larry Lancaster, Destiny Wimpye.
"Jessica Lang hits one out of the park for Pacific Northwest Ballet...One could attempt to describe this dance in terms of steps, movement, music, mood, and colors - but it would fall short of the impact it had on the audience... Black Wave was beautiful, intricate, and thrilling - truly, a home run. It received a well-deserved roar of approval from the audience at curtain calls. It's wonderful to anticipate what Lang will do as the new resident choreographer at PNB."
- Sharon Cumberland, SGN, September 29, 2024
"Black Wave might have been the program’s most intellectually rigorous piece, but also an exciting auger for ballet’s future, bringing us a fresh way to contemplate what some people call a heritage art form...as Lang’s dance built to its conclusion, I marveled at its sophistication, at how the structure of her dance amplified the beauty of the movements she’d strung together. I fell under her spell, marveling at the skill it takes to make something that takes a viewer from a start to a conclusion. Black Wave wasn’t merely eye candy, but an artwork with something very nuanced to convey. Bravo!"
- Marcie Sillman, And Another Thing, September 23, 2024
"Jessica Lang's Black Wave is a dark beauty."
- Rich Smith, The Stranger, September 23, 2024
"Jessica Lang’s “Black Wave,” her first creation as Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new resident choreographer, is an elusive allegory wrapped inside a metaphor wrapped inside a dream.... she belongs to a rank of ballet choreographers operating not just as step-makers but as true artists—her “Let Me Mingle Tears with Thee,” a treatment of Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater,” was one of the most memorable ballets I saw in 2023. Lang always works with music of substance; she creates clear but nuanced movement with interest in every phrase; and each ballet she makes draws you into a world apart."
- Rachel Howard, Fjord Review, October 2024
"It is clear that Ms. Lang can and does create gorgeous abstract work."
- Tam Warner, LA Dance Chronicle, October 13, 2024
"But I have to thank Jessica Lang for creating a work that has me digging deeply into topics other than turnouts or jumps. I do know that watching the very last scene of this ballet, with the dancer in white at the center of a circle of dancers lying on their sides, it didn’t matter whether it was Leah Terada and her delicate beauty, or Chris D’Ariano twisting like a sapling in a heavy wind; each was moving in their own way and each brought an individual sense of beauty and emotion."
- Marcie Sillman, And Another Thing, October 3, 2024
link to article 'What is Gender'
"The ballet is a quiet, dreamlike mood piece, danced on a shadowy stage adorned with a single lacy black branch...it definitely casts a spell."
- Moira MacDonald, The Seattle Times, March 20, 2023
"Having witnessed several of Lang’s ballets since the early 2000s, “Black Wave” felt like a stylistic departure for her. Its dark, psychological theme required a different level of audience engagement than her other, more accessible ballets. For her part, Terada was the perfect vessel for Lang’s thoughtful and dramatic choreography. Her performance was nuanced and impactful on many levels."
- Steve Sucato, Arts Air, October 17, 2024