When Peter Boal came to Pacific Northwest Ballet, he brought along a solo dance he’d commissioned from a young German choreographer named Marco Goecke.  When Boal put that solo on the bill here for the first time in 2005, he sat back in aisle seat at McCaw Hall and prayed the Seattle audience wouldn’t boo. 

The reaction was quite the opposite.  It’s true that some long-time PNB audience members were probably jolted out of their comfort zone when James Moore took the stage, his black hoody tied tight, partially obscuring his face, fingers flittering like a kid with too much energy to contain inside his body.  But Goecke’s Mopey was an instant sensation, and James Moore earned himself a cult following.

Four years later, Mopey is back, one of four dances on Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Director’s Choice program.  James Moore alternates in the role with three other dancers, and in a Saturday matinee performance Benjamin Griffiths ably executed Goecke’s choroegraphy.  But James Moore has staked his claim to PNB’s Mopey, and to watch him perform it is to watch an artist who holds nothing back.  Moore commits himself totally to each twitching back muscle, each flexed bicep and sweat-drenched spin.  Performed to music by C.P.E. Bach and The Cramps, Mopey has become a signature work for Moore and for PNB,  an emblem of the fresh artistic vision Peter Boal has brought to the company.

That vision was also on display in the program’s opening dance, Petite Mort, created in 1991 by choreographer Jiri Kylian for the Nederlands Dans Theater.  Petite Mort is an intricate work that seamlessly melds sexuality, humor and technical intricacy with Mozart piano concertos and exquisite lighting designed by Joop Caboort.  Those lights come up on six men, clad only in diaper-like briefs, balancing sword hilts on outstreatched arms.  With a slashing en garde to the audience, they perform, in unison, a delicate pas de deux with the swords.  A billowing whoosh of smoke gray fabric changes the scene, and six women appear out of the darkness, one for each man.  One by one the couples execute intricate onstage foreplay.  Saturday evening, Karel Cruz and Lindsi Dec, recently married, were standouts.  They wrapped their long limbs around one another, a sinuous duet punctuated by an occasional, subtle foot flex.    Petite Mort was mesmerizing, over far too soon.

That’s not the case with The Seasons,a world premier by choreographer Val Caniparoli, co commissioned by Pacific Northwest Ballet and Louisville Ballet.   In the program, Caniparoli calls The Seasons an allegorical ballet.  It is more a literal interpretation of the weather, complete with tutu-clad snowflakes, a zephyr wind in a long, flapping, black tunic, and horned satyrs in gleaming cargo shorts.  Two lovely pas de deux relieve all the aimless seasonal whirling:  a Spring partnering between Zephyr Lucien Postelwaite and Swallow Kaori Nakamura, and Ariana Lallone and Karel Cruz’s extended autumn bacchanale.  All four dancers make the most of what Caniparoli has given them.

The evening ends with a reprise of the crowd pleasing West Side Story Suite, by Jerome Robbins, first performed in Seattle in March, 2009.

Peter Boal has made it part of his PNB mission to foster new work, and to introduce Seattle audiences to choreographers who may be unfamiliar here.  He sees it as his responsibility to the artform, to help keep ballet vital in the 21st century.  If that new work isn’t always wholly successful, as with The Seasons, that’s a risk Boal is willing to take.  More often than not,  his gambles have paid off.   Last year,  audiences welcomed two  new dances created by Twyla Tharp during a six week Seattle residency.  Boal has also commissioned dances from Tony award winning choreographer Susan Stroman, along with new mainstage work  by company dancers Kiyon Gaines and Olivier Wevers, and ballet master Paul Gibson.  The past four years have also introduced Seattle to Victor Quijada’s blend of ballet and hip hop, Susan Marshall’s The Kiss, and David Parsons Caught.  They all had audiences screaming their approval.

Boal says the addition of new work  doesn’t signal that he’s abandoning PNB’s strong Balanchine repertoire.  He points out that this artistic season ends with a new-to-PNB production of Balanchine’s Coppelia.   But under Peter Boal’s leadership, PNB has evolved away from the heavy Balanchine rotation that former co-Artistic Directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell had emphasized, and which has earned PNB respect as one of this country’s top regional companies.  While programs of Kylian, Goecke and Quijada may not sell as many tickets as Balanchine’s Jewels, or annual production of The Nutcracker, PNB is creating a buzz beyond its established audience.  Whether it’s James Moore’s fan club, or this year’s “Genius” award from The Stranger, it’s hip to go to the ballet.  Well, that may be stretching it.  But PNB’s contemporary programs are now on the artistic calendars for folks more accustomed to the fare at On The Boards.  If you’re still not convinced, Mopey and Petite Mort at PNB’s Director’s Choice program this weekend may change your mind.