Pnb Dancers Colleen Neary, Thordal Christensen Resign

The decision of Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen to resign from Pacific Northwest Ballet, where they have danced since 1986, and go to work for the Royal Danish Ballet, came as no surprise. It's just that they finally did it.

Neary has mentioned wanting to start a family. Christensen has needed a larger audience for his major talent than the Pacific Northwest gave him.

Kent Stowell, PNB co-artistic director, yesterday said he could understand their decision, pointing out that the state-supported Danish troupe has "great" opportunities to perform different ballets: Denmark has socialized medicine, and RDB offers year-round salaries (U.S. dancers are salaried only 36 to 44 weeks).

Neary, who turned 40 on May 23, will become ballet mistress for RDB and also will dance.

Schooled at New York's School of American Ballet, and hired by New York City Ballet under the late George Balanchine, Neary danced lead roles there.

Christensen, 26, will become a soloist with RDB. A native of Copenhagen, where he studied and later apprenticed with RDB, he danced two years with New York City Ballet before joining PNB.

"We are glad Colleen had the opportunity to revitalize her career after an early retirement," Stowell said of a hiatus Neary took after dancing for the New York City Ballet and before dancing with Maurice Bejart's Ballet of the 20th Century.

"She not only contributed a great deal to our company, but got to do roles she had wanted to - `Swan Lake,' `Titania' (in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"), and many others.

"She gave our younger dancers a lot to look up to in terms of experience, hard work and consistent work habits.

Married since 1986, the couple rented out the home they own on Seattle's Capitol Hill and sold their car. They leave Tuesday for Denmark.

The couple's last performance here was June 5 in PNB's "Swan Lake." They turned in a resignation letter June 3 to Stowell and Francia Russell, PNB co-artistic directors, but didn't announce it until details were firm.

"I felt I reached a huge performance climax here this year," Neary said. "In the middle of `Swan Lake' I thought, `OK, this is it! I don't want to reach that point where I would start to go down. And I want to share with younger dancers what I've learned, to value what they have, earlier."

"Owe (Thordal Christensen's nickname) wants to move on in his career - be seen, be known, and grow in other roles," she said. "This will give him that chance."

Stowell is "not worried" about replacing the couple. Many dancers are coming in and coming up through the ranks and would get the chance at roles they haven't done before.

Said PNB soloist Sterling Kekoa, who has partnered Neary: "The moments I had with Colleen are irreplaceable. You felt really alive with her on stage. I learned from her, `Take it to the absolute limit.' "

John Wilkins, co-artistic director of Edmonds' Olympic Ballet Theatre, said, "They were a strong artistic presence in the company. Her `Swan Lake' was incredible. And his work in `Alice' was truly elegant."