Tlingit Art and Culture Take the Stage in The Sleeping Beauty
Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Angelica Generosa and Jonathan Batista, with company dancers in Peter Boal’s new staging of The Sleeping Beauty. Photo © Angela Sterling
Pacific Northwest Ballet’s latest production reminds us that ballet is for everyone.
Preston Singletary was not familiar with ballet – or set design – when he agreed to help shift “The Sleeping Beauty” from 14th century Europe to a mythical Pacific Northwest land.
But Peter Boal, artistic director at Pacific Northwest Ballet, knew the Seattle-based artist was perfect for the job.
“I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ not knowing what I was getting into,’” Singletary recalled in a panel discussion at McCaw Hall in Seattle.
Singletary explores his Tlingit heritage through glassblowing, a modern twist on Native American storytelling that has earned him international acclaim. He’s an expert in the tradition of formline, the flowing, curved design element prominent in Indigenous Northwest Coastal art.
“I would talk about the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and he would talk about parallels in Tlingit tradition and mythology,” Boal said in an interview with Ode before the premiere. “We thought, ‘Let's run with them and celebrate them in this production.’”
A hefty sum – $3.45 million from a small pool of donors – allowed Boal to revamp "Sleeping Beauty" and direct the most elaborate ground-up production in the company’s history. With seven designers, 101 costume builders, dozens of set and prop builders and more than 50 dancers, the ballet is a feat of storytelling across time, space and culture.
Principals Angelica Generosa and Jonathan Batista graced the stage as Aurora and Prince Désiré for the ballet’s world premiere on Jan. 31. Last year, Batista and Amanda Morgan broke ground in “The Prodigal Son” as the first Black dancers to perform two principal roles in a major production at the company.
Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell (“Hamilton”, “Wicked”) and his team created 85 designs and 268 costumes that married the structure of classical ballet garments with abstracted Indigenous formline and bold color.
Singletary saw the Eagle and Raven moieties, or two lineages that coexist to create balance in Tlingit society, in the contrast between the ballet’s royal family and the mischievous fairy Carabosse. That inspired the ballet’s centerpiece: a massive eagle staircase.
He made bentwood boxes, baskets and mobiles. He modeled Prince Désiré’s sword, used to defeat cursed vines, after a Tlingit dagger. Madonna trees, the Hoh rainforest and other local nature elements informed the set design. A formline orca whale graced the side of a canoe that Singletary and his friends painted in one day.
When Singletary took the job, he became the first Native American set designer at Pacific Northwest Ballet. It could be a first for top ballet companies nationwide.
“Every one of those pieces that was up on that stage is part of our story,” Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, a Coast Salish carver and member of the Squaxin Island Tribe, said at the panel discussion. “And the more we tell our story, the greater understanding all of you have. The greater understanding you all have, the more good we can do.”
Ballet is rooted in 15th-century Western European whiteness. It conjures images of thin, pale bodies, light tights and shoes, and the swans, wilis and sylphs of ballet blanc. Among an anti-racist movement in dance, it’s “the Goliath to be felled,” Theresa Ruth Howard, founder of archival site Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, wrote in 2023.
The giant won’t come down easy – that’s known to trailblazers like Maria Tallchief, an Osage woman and America’s first prima ballerina who refused to change her name. And Raven Wilkinson, one of the first prominent Black ballerinas who risked her life to share a stage with white dancers in the South. And Michaela De Prince, a Sierra Leonean-American dancer who put the spotlight on ‘nude’ ballet attire when her mother hand-dyed tutu straps to match her skin in the film “First Position”.
Boal agrees ballet is behind the rest of the art world in addressing standards of exclusivity and assimilation. In 2019, he wrote in Dance Magazine that Pacific Northwest Ballet was making moves to be more inclusive. They added free master classes, waived some audition fees and had a racially diverse group host auditions. They made it clear that hijabs, locs, afros and brown tights were welcome.
Back then, the company was 28% dancers of color, and one dancer out of 50 was Black. As of 2024, more than half of dancers were people of color, with 24% Asian and/or Pacific Islander, 20% Black and 9% Hispanic and/or Latino. Four of those dancers had reached the top rank of principal, and seven were soloists.
A commitment to diversity has transformed other top ballet companies. From 2013 to 2023, dancers of color more than doubled at New York City Ballet, with similar trends at Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, according to Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, an online hub for Black Ballet history.
“The ballet world is changing,” Boal said. “It needed to change.”In an interview before the public dress rehearsal for “Sleeping Beauty”, Tazewell mourned the lack of leading roles for Black ballet dancers when he was auditioning as a young man. But he doesn’t regret pursuing costume design, he said, as designers, directors and board members can still create a deep and lasting impact.
“When I was in school, there was nobody else I saw that was doing costume design that looked like me,” he said. “It's been a major priority to be a public face.”
Changing ballet requires far more than a “quick hiring fix,” Boal said. It’s an unwavering commitment to diverse dancers and artists throughout the roles and ranks of their careers.
Howard argues that, as Boal did with “Sleeping Beauty”, reinventing traditional ballets like “Swan Lake”, “Giselle”, or “The Nutcracker” will keep them relevant. She noted the success of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s “Creole Giselle” set in 1840’s Louisiana with an entirely Black cast.
In “Sleeping Beauty,” Boal created a production that honors the original libretto and is reflective of cultural shifts toward inclusivity, especially in Seattle. Aurora has a choice of partners that are racially and gender diverse, and her parents encourage her to marry for love. In general, Boal’s interpretation gives Aurora more power and autonomy than in past productions.
“By not pigeonholing it to a specific European location and a certain family and a certain race,” Boal said, “More people can imagine themselves existing in this realm.”
“My work is not my own but those of many.”On opening weekend, “Sleeping Beauty” viewers intimate with Northwest Coastal art and the iconic shapes created with formlines – traditionally in red and black – saw their culture reflected in ballet for the first time.
“I was looking for every single ovoid, every single split u, all the details,” Owen Oliver told Singletary at the panel. “When I saw the bow of the canoe come in, I almost cried.”
Oliver, a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, is the arts and culture director for Headwater People, a Native-led consulting firm in Seattle. He’s working to build bridges between tribes and institutions like the Seattle Aquarium and the Pacific Science Center through art and other projects.
Representation in art is especially important for the 71% of Native Americans who have moved or were raised outside of a reservation or Native village, who sometimes call themselves “urban Natives”.
Seattle artist Tommy Segundo attended Renton High School, where the mascot was a stereotypical Indian with a headdress. To avoid jokes or bullying, he hid his Haida heritage from classmates. But when he would see Native art in public spaces, it brought him pride. “Art is a way for us to keep those stories alive,” Segundo said at the panel with Singletary. “If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Alaska, anywhere in America, you're on Indigenous land, and you should know about the history.”
Five years ago, Segundo started a formline streetwear brand. He also successfully lobbied to change his school’s mascot to the Redhawks, and designed the new logo.
Representation in art “doesn't have to be this grand spectacle of what people call ‘decolonization’ and tearing it all down,” Oliver said. “It can just be those moments that cherish Native stories.”
Four decades into his work, Singletary is considering his legacy.
“There's a Māori proverb that says, ‘My work is not my own but those of many,’” he said. “This is just an expansion of preserving the ancient codes and symbols to the land.”
“The Sleeping Beauty” runs until Feb. 9. Boal expects to bring the production back every three years or so for the next several decades.
Follow Pacific Northwest Ballet on Ode
Check out these Seattle artists and other resources:
• Seattle filmmaker Sandra Osawa’s lecture and documentary on Maria Tallchief, an Osage woman known as America’s first prima ballerina
• Misty Copeland’s book “Black Ballerinas: my journey to our legacy”
• Frances McElroy’s documentary “Black Ballerina”
• Nooksack artist Louie Gong, founder of Eighth Generation, a retail store with products designed exclusively by Native artists
• Swinomish and Tulalip photographer Makita Wilbur, who has documented modern stories of more than 300 tribal nations through Project 562
• Nick Alan Foote, a queer Tlingit artist and children’s book illustrator
• Tommy Segundo’s CreNative Designz, a blend of formline art and streetwear
• Quinault and Isleta-Pueblo artist Marvin Oliver (1946-2019) originals and prints
• Art historian Bill Holm’s book “Northwest Coast Indian Art, An Analysis of Form” (1965)
• The Seattle Rep and the Pacific Science Center offer free admission to Native Americans.
Preston Singletary was not familiar with ballet – or set design – when he agreed to help shift “The Sleeping Beauty” from 14th century Europe to a mythical Pacific Northwest land.
But Peter Boal, artistic director at Pacific Northwest Ballet, knew the Seattle-based artist was perfect for the job.
“I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ not knowing what I was getting into,’” Singletary recalled in a panel discussion at McCaw Hall in Seattle.
Singletary explores his Tlingit heritage through glassblowing, a modern twist on Native American storytelling that has earned him international acclaim. He’s an expert in the tradition of formline, the flowing, curved design element prominent in Indigenous Northwest Coastal art.
“I would talk about the story of ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and he would talk about parallels in Tlingit tradition and mythology,” Boal said in an interview with Ode before the premiere. “We thought, ‘Let's run with them and celebrate them in this production.’”
A hefty sum – $3.45 million from a small pool of donors – allowed Boal to revamp "Sleeping Beauty" and direct the most elaborate ground-up production in the company’s history. With seven designers, 101 costume builders, dozens of set and prop builders and more than 50 dancers, the ballet is a feat of storytelling across time, space and culture.
Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Elle Macy as the Lilac Fairy, with company dancers and PNB School students in Peter Boal’s new staging of The Sleeping Beauty. Photo © Angela Sterling
Principals Angelica Generosa and Jonathan Batista graced the stage as Aurora and Prince Désiré for the ballet’s world premiere on Jan. 31. Last year, Batista and Amanda Morgan broke ground in “The Prodigal Son” as the first Black dancers to perform two principal roles in a major production at the company.
Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell (“Hamilton”, “Wicked”) and his team created 85 designs and 268 costumes that married the structure of classical ballet garments with abstracted Indigenous formline and bold color.
Singletary saw the Eagle and Raven moieties, or two lineages that coexist to create balance in Tlingit society, in the contrast between the ballet’s royal family and the mischievous fairy Carabosse. That inspired the ballet’s centerpiece: a massive eagle staircase.
He made bentwood boxes, baskets and mobiles. He modeled Prince Désiré’s sword, used to defeat cursed vines, after a Tlingit dagger. Madonna trees, the Hoh rainforest and other local nature elements informed the set design. A formline orca whale graced the side of a canoe that Singletary and his friends painted in one day.
When Singletary took the job, he became the first Native American set designer at Pacific Northwest Ballet. It could be a first for top ballet companies nationwide.
Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Dylan Wald as the wicked fairy Carabosse in Peter Boal’s new staging of The Sleeping Beauty.
Photo © Angela Sterling
Photo © Angela Sterling
“Every one of those pieces that was up on that stage is part of our story,” Andrea Wilbur-Sigo, a Coast Salish carver and member of the Squaxin Island Tribe, said at the panel discussion. “And the more we tell our story, the greater understanding all of you have. The greater understanding you all have, the more good we can do.”
Ballet is rooted in 15th-century Western European whiteness. It conjures images of thin, pale bodies, light tights and shoes, and the swans, wilis and sylphs of ballet blanc. Among an anti-racist movement in dance, it’s “the Goliath to be felled,” Theresa Ruth Howard, founder of archival site Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, wrote in 2023.
The giant won’t come down easy – that’s known to trailblazers like Maria Tallchief, an Osage woman and America’s first prima ballerina who refused to change her name. And Raven Wilkinson, one of the first prominent Black ballerinas who risked her life to share a stage with white dancers in the South. And Michaela De Prince, a Sierra Leonean-American dancer who put the spotlight on ‘nude’ ballet attire when her mother hand-dyed tutu straps to match her skin in the film “First Position”.
Boal agrees ballet is behind the rest of the art world in addressing standards of exclusivity and assimilation. In 2019, he wrote in Dance Magazine that Pacific Northwest Ballet was making moves to be more inclusive. They added free master classes, waived some audition fees and had a racially diverse group host auditions. They made it clear that hijabs, locs, afros and brown tights were welcome.
Back then, the company was 28% dancers of color, and one dancer out of 50 was Black. As of 2024, more than half of dancers were people of color, with 24% Asian and/or Pacific Islander, 20% Black and 9% Hispanic and/or Latino. Four of those dancers had reached the top rank of principal, and seven were soloists.
A commitment to diversity has transformed other top ballet companies. From 2013 to 2023, dancers of color more than doubled at New York City Ballet, with similar trends at Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, according to Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet, an online hub for Black Ballet history.
“The ballet world is changing,” Boal said. “It needed to change.”In an interview before the public dress rehearsal for “Sleeping Beauty”, Tazewell mourned the lack of leading roles for Black ballet dancers when he was auditioning as a young man. But he doesn’t regret pursuing costume design, he said, as designers, directors and board members can still create a deep and lasting impact.
“When I was in school, there was nobody else I saw that was doing costume design that looked like me,” he said. “It's been a major priority to be a public face.”
Changing ballet requires far more than a “quick hiring fix,” Boal said. It’s an unwavering commitment to diverse dancers and artists throughout the roles and ranks of their careers.
Howard argues that, as Boal did with “Sleeping Beauty”, reinventing traditional ballets like “Swan Lake”, “Giselle”, or “The Nutcracker” will keep them relevant. She noted the success of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s “Creole Giselle” set in 1840’s Louisiana with an entirely Black cast.
In “Sleeping Beauty,” Boal created a production that honors the original libretto and is reflective of cultural shifts toward inclusivity, especially in Seattle. Aurora has a choice of partners that are racially and gender diverse, and her parents encourage her to marry for love. In general, Boal’s interpretation gives Aurora more power and autonomy than in past productions.
Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Angelica Generosa and Jonathan Batista in Peter Boal’s new staging of The Sleeping Beauty.
Photo © Angela Sterling
Photo © Angela Sterling
“By not pigeonholing it to a specific European location and a certain family and a certain race,” Boal said, “More people can imagine themselves existing in this realm.”
“My work is not my own but those of many.”On opening weekend, “Sleeping Beauty” viewers intimate with Northwest Coastal art and the iconic shapes created with formlines – traditionally in red and black – saw their culture reflected in ballet for the first time.
“I was looking for every single ovoid, every single split u, all the details,” Owen Oliver told Singletary at the panel. “When I saw the bow of the canoe come in, I almost cried.”
Oliver, a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, is the arts and culture director for Headwater People, a Native-led consulting firm in Seattle. He’s working to build bridges between tribes and institutions like the Seattle Aquarium and the Pacific Science Center through art and other projects.
Representation in art is especially important for the 71% of Native Americans who have moved or were raised outside of a reservation or Native village, who sometimes call themselves “urban Natives”.
Seattle artist Tommy Segundo attended Renton High School, where the mascot was a stereotypical Indian with a headdress. To avoid jokes or bullying, he hid his Haida heritage from classmates. But when he would see Native art in public spaces, it brought him pride. “Art is a way for us to keep those stories alive,” Segundo said at the panel with Singletary. “If you live here in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Alaska, anywhere in America, you're on Indigenous land, and you should know about the history.”
Five years ago, Segundo started a formline streetwear brand. He also successfully lobbied to change his school’s mascot to the Redhawks, and designed the new logo.
Representation in art “doesn't have to be this grand spectacle of what people call ‘decolonization’ and tearing it all down,” Oliver said. “It can just be those moments that cherish Native stories.”
Four decades into his work, Singletary is considering his legacy.
“There's a Māori proverb that says, ‘My work is not my own but those of many,’” he said. “This is just an expansion of preserving the ancient codes and symbols to the land.”
“The Sleeping Beauty” runs until Feb. 9. Boal expects to bring the production back every three years or so for the next several decades.
Follow Pacific Northwest Ballet on Ode
Check out these Seattle artists and other resources:
• Seattle filmmaker Sandra Osawa’s lecture and documentary on Maria Tallchief, an Osage woman known as America’s first prima ballerina
• Misty Copeland’s book “Black Ballerinas: my journey to our legacy”
• Frances McElroy’s documentary “Black Ballerina”
• Nooksack artist Louie Gong, founder of Eighth Generation, a retail store with products designed exclusively by Native artists
• Swinomish and Tulalip photographer Makita Wilbur, who has documented modern stories of more than 300 tribal nations through Project 562
• Nick Alan Foote, a queer Tlingit artist and children’s book illustrator
• Tommy Segundo’s CreNative Designz, a blend of formline art and streetwear
• Quinault and Isleta-Pueblo artist Marvin Oliver (1946-2019) originals and prints
• Art historian Bill Holm’s book “Northwest Coast Indian Art, An Analysis of Form” (1965)
• The Seattle Rep and the Pacific Science Center offer free admission to Native Americans.
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