Peter Boal was raised in Bedford, New York, and entered Balanchine’s School of American Ballet at the age of nine. He danced with the New York City Ballet for more than twenty years, the last sixteen as a principal dancer. He created Peter Boal and Company in 2004, then retired from the stage and took over the directorship of Pacific Northwest Ballet the following year. Since moving to Seattle, he has brought Washington natives Trisha Brown and Mark Morris to work with the company. Wendy Whelan started training at the age of three in her native Louisville, Kentucky, studying with former Jacob’s Pillow student Virginia Wooton. She began performing with the New York City Ballet in 1986 and was a principal dancer from 1991 through 2014, returning to the Pillow with her Restless Creature in 2013 and Some of a Thousand Words in 2016. American choreographer William Forsythe performed at the Pillow in 1973 with Ballet Brio, but he is principally known for the contemporary works he created for Germany’s Frankfurt Ballet in the 1980s and 1990s.
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