Noelani Pantastico Retires from the PNB Stage

“Noe has always been an absolutely transcendent artist,” said PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal. “Her technique, timing, and instincts are impeccable. She has a singular ability to connect with audiences allowing us to savor every facet of humanity. Offstage, Noe brings care and compassion to her peers on a daily basis. She is a true role model. How lucky her students will be to have her wealth of experience and humility enter their classroom. I didn’t know Noe before I came to PNB, but I will never forget listening to Kent and Francia describe, in the most glowing terms, her first performance of Aurora. It wasn’t long before I understood their zeal. And though I recognized Noe’s need to leave the nest and try her wings with Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, I carried a weight of sadness about her departure until she returned seven years later. I suspect I’ll feel that sadness again as this great artist and remarkable individual takes her final bow on our stage. The list of ballets Noe has inhabited with such grace and authority is long, but amongst many cherished roles, Juliet stands out as perhaps the most defining in an extraordinary career.”

Ms. Pantastico has danced leading roles in

• George Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Chaconne, Concerto Barocco, Coppélia, Diamonds, Divertimento No. 15, Duo Concertant, Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, The Nutcracker®, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Rubies, Serenade, La Sonnambula, La Source, Square Dance, Stars and Stripes, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Theme and Variations, La Valse, and Who Cares?;
• Val Caniparoli’s The Bridge, Lambarena, and Torque;
• Alejandro Cerrudo’s Little mortal jump, One Thousand Pieces, and Silent Ghost;
• David Dawson’s Empire Noir;
• Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement;
• William Forsythe’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated and New Suite;
• Paul Gibson’s Rush;
• Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow and The Sleeping Beauty;
• Jessica Lang’s Her Door to the Sky and Ghost Variations;
• Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Cendrillon and Roméo et Juliette;
• Peter Martins’ Fearful Symmetries;
• Mark Morris’s Pacific;
• Kevin O’Day’s [soundaroun(d)ance];
• David Parsons’s Caught;
• Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit;
• Kirk Peterson’s Amazed in Burning Dreams;
• Marius Petipa’s Esmeralda Pas de Deux and Paquita;
• Crystal Pite’s Emergence and Plot Point;
• Yuri Possokhov’s RAkU;
• Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition;
• Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Fancy Free, In the Night, Opus 19/The Dreamer, Other Dances, and West Side Story Suite;
• Kent Stowell’s Carmen, Carmina Burana, Cinderella, Coppélia, Duo Fantasy, Firebird, Hail to the Conquering Hero, Nutcracker, Palacios Dances, Pas de Deux Campagnolo, Quaternary, Silver Lining, Swan Lake, and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet;
• Susan Stroman’s TAKE FIVE…More or Less;
• Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s The Ballad of You and Me, Mercury, and The Quilt;
• Glen Tetley’s Voluntaries;
• Twyla Tharp’s Brief Fling, In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, Waiting at the Station, and Waterbaby Bagatelles;
• Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia.