Shoreline student in PNB's Don Quixote

Rehearsals for the American premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote are in full swing at Pacific Northwest Ballet.  (Click here for a 30 second promo on YouTube.)

"Brimming with wit and romance, Don Q follows Spain’s legendary hero Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, to the famed city of Barcelona on a quest for his dream lover, Dulcinea. Instead, he meets the high-spirited Kitri whose father would rather she marry a rich fool than the penniless but dashing Basilio. The couple takes flight and their adventures, reflected by the Don’s visions, fill the stage with teaming street life, the cadence of castanets and tambourines, flashing fans, and whirling matadors.

"Emmy Award-winning actor Tom Skerritt (“Picket Fences”) – who, in addition to roles in such films as Top Gun, Alien and Steel Magnolias, played a former ballet dancer in the hit film The Turning Point -- makes his ballet debut in the lead role of Don Quixote. His devoted squire, Sancho Panza, will be played by Allen Galli, familiar to Seattle audiences from 30 years of appearances with every major local theatre company, including a previous stint as Sancho Panza in Village Theatre’s Man of La Mancha."

A Shoreline student will be part of all this excitement.

Sue Ellen Zhang, a 6th grader at Ridgecrest Elementary, is one of only 24 children selected to perform in this production. She will appear in Act 2, playing one of the cupid children.

Don Quixote runs February 3-12 at Seattle Center’s McCaw Hall.  Tickets online at PNB.