CHOREOGRAPHER

KEEPING BEAUTY TIMELESS: CHRISTOPHER STOWELL ON BALANCING TRADITION AND INNOVATION

Christopher Stowell in rehearsal with Xuan Cheng and Brian Simcoe for The Sleeping Beauty. Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.

At its core, Beauty needs to have a sense of splendor and occasion with Tchaikovsky’s masterful score as its driving force. The first thing I did was put the ballet into two acts with one intermission, so that it had dramatic flow and urgency and didn’t feel like a Wagnerian event. The narrative is simplistic, but Tchaikovsky turns what could be insipid into something wondrous and actually moving. There are obvious highlights such as the dance for all the fairies in the Prologue, Aurora’s entrance and the Rose Adagio, the vision scene and the Wedding Pas de Deux, but the mimed encounter between Carabosse and the Lilac Fairy, the court being put to sleep for 100 years, and the Prince’s kiss are all spine-tingling moments. I’m also very proud of the Jewels pas de quatre I created for Act 3 and the Act 2 pas de deux for Aurora and the Prince. Choreographically, the classical vocabulary is very challenging and revealing, but the risk is dancers taking an academic approach rather than pursuing inspired and spontaneous dancing. I want this production to fulfill both our childhood expectations of a fairy tale and our adult hunger for a rich arts experience. (Revisiting the ballet now with OBT), it was immediately clear to me what small changes I wanted to make concerning narrative flow and theatricality. I will never tire of the possibilities for great classical dancing that are at the core of this ballet.”

CHRISTOPHER STOWELL Christopher Stowell, the son of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, was born in New York City and received his training at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. In 1985, he joined San Francisco Ballet where he danced for 16 years, appearing in theaters throughout the world including the Paris Opéra Ballet, New York’s Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. As a Principal Dancer, Stowell performed leading roles in the full-length classics Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, La Fille mal Gardee, and Othello, and had roles created for him by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, as well as contemporary choreographers including Mark Morris, William Forsythe, and James Kudelka. An established interpreter of the George Balanchine repertoire, Stowell appeared in almost every Balanchine ballet performed by San Francisco Ballet. In 2003, Stowell was named the Artistic Director of Oregon Ballet Theatre, a position he held until 2012. During his tenure, Stowell made significant additions to OBT’s repertoire, bringing to Portland works from some of the world’s most celebrated choreographers, including Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, James Kudelka, Christopher Wheeldon, and Lar Lubovitch. Stowell has taught and coached in San Francisco, New York, Japan, China, and across Europe. He has created works for San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Diablo Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet as well as the New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute. He has also staged the works of George Balanchine, Mark Morris, and Christopher Wheeldon. In addition to serving as Ballet Master and Assistant to the Artistic Director at San Francisco Ballet for the 2014/15 season, he recently worked in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Beijing, and Copenhagen, and created his first work for Los Angeles Ballet and his first film for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. In 2017, Stowell joined The National Ballet of Canada as Associate Artistic Director. In this role, he oversees the artistic staff, teaches, coaches, and stages works for the company and works closely with Karen Kain in realizing her vision for the National Ballet. Stowell is a member of the creative team for Kain’s new production of Swan Lake, which will premiere in June 2020.