Noelani Pantastico
Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) principal dancer Noelani Pantastico has announced that after a 25-year dancing career, she is retiring to accept a position on the faculty of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB). Pantastico trained at CPYB before being hired at PNB in 1997.
“Leaving this magnificent career is one of the most difficult, heart-wrenching decisions of my life, but I am fortunate to be taking this leap with a clear sense of purpose and overwhelming excitement for what’s to come,” said Pantastico. “Were it not for the confidence instilled in me at my first PNB summer course in 1994, I would not have pursued a future in dance, nor become the artist I am today.”
Pantastico plans to continue as co-artistic director of Seattle Dance Collective, the company she founded in 2019 with fellow PNB principal dancer James Yoichi Moore.
PNB audiences have one more opportunity to watch Pantastico perform, in the lead role of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette. She is scheduled to dance on opening night, Feb. 4, and for the closing matinee on Feb. 13.