Kent Stowell and Francia Russell papers, 1950-2015

Husband and wife duo, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, served as Artistic Directors of the Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) from 1977-2005. Russell was also named Director of the PNB School while Stowell acted as the ballet’s Principal Choreographer.

Kent Stowell was born into a Mormon family, the second of five children, in Rexburg, ID in 1939. Stowell was inspired by Fred Astaire’s films and began tap and ballet lessons in St. George, UT at an early age. When his family moved again to Salt Lake City, he studied with Willam Christensen in the University of Utah Dance Department. At seventeen, Stowell was discovered by Lew Christensen, Director of the San Francisco Ballet (SFB), and offered a contract to begin as soon as he graduated from high school.

Stowell quickly rose from apprentice to principal dancer. During his time with SFB, he worked with some of the most celebrated directors, conductors, and singers of the day and performed on foreign tours in Central and South America as well as the Middle East and Africa. Stowell and fellow dancer Michael Smuin also created Ballet ’60 and Ballet ’61 in an effort to keep their colleagues working during a period of frequent SFB layoffs. This was Stowell first experience acting as a choreographer.

In 1962, Stowell left SFB to join the New York City Ballet (NYCB), where he first began his work with noted choreographer, George Balanchine. During his time with NYCB, Stowell performed in Seattle, Western Europe, and Russia, including at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Returning from his NYCB tour, Kent met Francia Russell and a lifelong partnership began.

Francia Russell was born in Los Angeles in 1938. When her family moved to San Francisco, she began ballet classes at San Francisco Ballet School. In 1948 the Russells moved to war-torn Europe, settling briefly in Paris where she took private lessons with the celebrated Russian ballerina, Mathilde Kschessinskaya. Two and a half years in Nice followed and a year in London where Francia’s most admired teacher, Vera Volkova, took her under her wing.

Russell and her family returned to San Francisco and then New York. In 1956 George Balanchine offered Francia a contract with the New York City Ballet where she danced a wide repertoire and was promoted to soloist in 1959. She retired from dance in 1961 and, despite a knee injury, danced for a year with Jerome Robbins’s Ballets USA, taught at the School of American Ballet, and attended NYU. In 1964, Balanchine persuaded Russell to return to NYCB as Ballet Master, where she was responsible for rehearsing and teaching the company as well as staging Balanchine ballets around the world.

Russell and Stowell met while at NYCB and were married in 1965. Their first son, Christopher, was born the following year. As a new father Stowell decided to pursue more consistent employment and in 1969 accepted a position as Associate Professor of Dance in the Indiana University School of Music. One year later, he accepted an offer to become Principal Dancer at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Stowells moved to Germany. In Munich, Stowell performed contemporary European choreography and choreographed new works for the company in Munich and Bonn. In 1973 Stowell became Ballet Master of the Frankfurt Ballet and in 1975 he and Russell were appointed Co-Artistic Directors. During their seven years in Germany, their sons Darren and Ethan were born. In 1977, Stowell and Russell accepted the positions of Artistic Directors of Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB). Kent was also designated Principal Choreographer and Francia became Director of the School (PNBS). During the next twenty-eight years, PNB would grow from a small off-shoot of the Seattle Opera to become one of the major American ballet companies.

While at PNB, Stowell and Russell, along with the support of the Board and Administrative team, established The Phelps Center, The Francia Russell Center, and McCaw Hall, which enabled the spectacular growth of the PNB Company and School. Over 28 years, Stowell & Russell brought 168 ballets to the PNB repertoire, including 10 full-length works, and 90 world premieres by 68 choreographers, plus on-going choreography workshops. For many of these works, celebrated designers and composers, in addition to choreographers, were commissioned, resulting in exciting and innovative collaborations unique to PNB. The duo also helped to transform the culture of PNB and dance in the Pacific Northwest, employing costume and set designers, artists, musicians, and dancers. As Director of the School, Russell created a curriculum that included many dance forms and a written syllabus focused on the crucial early years of classical ballet training. PNBS was the first major ballet school in the US to adopt a holistic approach to the training of ballet students, adding experts in many important disciplines to the staff. Extensive Outreach programs, in cooperation with local community organizations and schools, became an important part of the School’s mission. PNBS became one of the top three professional ballet schools in the country, producing over half of the dancers for PNB and many others who joined companies across the US and Europe. By the late 1980’s, PNB was earning 72% of its budget and had the highest per capita dance audience in America.

From 1964 to 2014, Russell staged and directed over 240 productions throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, including the first authorized productions in China and Russia. Over their extensive careers, Stowell and Russell received numerous awards including: the Governor’s Arts Award, Mayor’s Arts Award, The American Society of Designers Award, Dance Magazine Award, St. Mark’s Spirit of the City, University of Utah Honors, NW Entrepreneur of the Year, University Women’s Club Brava Award, Seattle Center Legion of Honor, Arts Fund Lifetime Achievement Award, Seattle University Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, and University of Washington Honorary Doctor of Arts.

With the completion of McCaw Hall and a new production of Swan Lake, Kent and Francia felt it was time to begin planning for their succession. They recommended Peter Boal and in 2005, after a brilliant and celebratory farewell performance, they said goodbye to the work of a lifetime. As of 2018, the Company remains one of the largest and most celebrated ballets in the United States presenting more than 100 performances each year at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle, on tour, and abroad.