In news that will have Seattle’s dance fans pirouetting in glee, Pacific Northwest Ballet announced today that Lucien Postlewaite, who danced with the company from 2003 to 2012 before leaving to join Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, is returning to the fold. Postlewaite, beloved by PNB audiences for the passionate drama and effortless technique of his performances (most notably his Romeo in “Romeo et Juliette,” “The Prodigal Son,” Prince Siegfried in “Swan Lake,” and his recent turn as Cinderella’s prince in “Cendrillon” as a guest artist), will rejoin the company for the 2017-2018 season. In an interview earlier this year, prior to his “Cendrillon” appearance, Postlewaite told me that he still considered Seattle his home. “Somehow, with this journey that I’ve made,” he said, “it all makes sense in my mind to come back to my roots. I don’t think I was ever moving away from something when I came [to Monaco] — I was moving to self-discovery and artistic discovery, and that’s something I would like to bring back with me.”
In addition to his work at PNB, Postlewaite is also a founding member of the Seattle-based contemporary dance company Whim W’Him.