My next guest is a big deal in
the Seattle arts community.
Peter Bull is celebrating his
18th season as artistic director
of the Pacific Northwest Ballet.
And if that doesn't keep him busy enough,
he's also out with a new memoir
called Illusions of Camelot.
A memoir Welcome to New Day,
Peter Bull. Thank you.
Happy to be here.
So you've had a strong career ad
so many things and very storied,
yet you chose to write largely
about your childhood.
Yeah, this book is really about
my growing up, the community.
I lived in it and not a
whole lot about ballet.
Little bit about how ballet bece
this sort of beacon for me and
pulled me in overtime.
But the place I grew up in,
the family I grew up in,
there are enough stories there
to sift through that I thought
there might be interest in.
In this book in particular,
I'm sure stories that we we reay
need to hear this nice picture
of you as as as young Peter.
What was it like growing up in e
affluent town of of Bedford, NY?
Edward was a strange little
enclave of families that were
privileged and very pastoral.
Everybody had horses,
and there's something idyllic about it,
but also something that wasn't
connected to the real world.
Yes, a lot of people would be
pulled over for various drunk
driving incidents or something,
and if you knew the police forc,
you were just waved on and it was ignored.
And for others it was a different ending and.
It it didn't feel like the real world,
and it was it was odd to grow
up in that little microcosm.
That wasn't quite reality.
But here's where I think what yu
have to say still has relevance.
There are still several communis
here in Seattle that are like t,
that are set apart and almost distanced.
Your father is is a major focus of the book.
How did your relationship with
him shape you as a person?
Yeah, my my dad was amazing.
Full of love for me but also
suffering so deeply from alcoho,
as as so many people are in
so many different lives.
But the love was real and I lost
him when I was 20 and I I still
feel his presence a lot in my l.
And there's resentment that somebody's
not around for your adult life o
meet your children and your wif.
But ultimately love trumped resentment
and and I still feel that bond.
And still feel lessons that
he gave me overtime.
I understand that ballet was
introduced to you in small dose.
It wasn't just all at once.
This was your love.
How did it suck you in? Eventua.
Eventually, yes, because I
was pulled into Swan Lake.
Quite a distraught and unhappy about it.
Just too young and kicking and
screaming. And why am I watching
this? But I had a ballet schoolt
was really on a high level in te
school of American Ballet in New York,
and they did not want me to qui.
They said you can't quit.
You have to keep doing it for another year.
And I was so glad they
did because one year in,
I realized that I did love it ad
there's nothing quite like it.
And it was a means of expression
that I was looking for in my li.
So it's become my life Since thI
I have to say, I have to stop you there.
I have friends who attended the
School of American Ballet. It's
not just like you can walk in.
I mean, it's a rigorous
process to get in.
Well, I'll correct that a little bit.
It's really rigorous unless you're a male.
And then it's a lot easier.
And then just say come on
and you'll be fine. Okay.
All right. Well,
I love that you cleared that up.
You've worked with some of the greats,
including George Balanchine,
who is a famed dancer, choreographer.
Thank you. You even visited himt
the hospital as he was dying. Y.
Was he a father figure to you?
A bit? I didn't work directly
with Balanchine like so many di.
I did as a child in The Nutcrac,
The Nutcracker Prince,
different roles growing up,
and he was a presence all throu.
He actually hired me as an
apprentice when I was 17,
but he was already in the
hospital at the time,
so I didn't work as an adult with him.
But he was such an iconic figur.
A friend of mine said we we have
to go see him in the hospital.
We we can't miss this moment.
And and you know he sat with usr
an hour and talked with us for n
hour and we had one of his great
days and it's really happy he dd
because he changed our professin
dramatically over time and his work is
still so relevant and seen so on
and seen you see his name today
all the time. The AIDS epidemic,
you were in New York at this ti.
It devastated parts of New York in the 1980s.
You experienced a personal loss at the time.
Would you mind talking about th?
I know it's in the book.
Yeah. Yeah. There's a chapter about I
entered into a relationship with a fellow
quarter ballet member named John Bass,
and it was a big deal for me to
enter this relationship and sorf
to grapple with my own sexualit.
And John became quite sick and
we didn't know what it was.
And actually AIDS,
people didn't even know what AIDS was.
There was this thing going aroud
called the gay cancer that.
That didn't really have a formal name
yet and then and then John passd
over a period of about six mont.
But it was just a kind of devastating
chapter in my life and and a time that
that could have been a very happy time.
But it became quite different.
And as you said,
AIDS really in New York and San
Francisco and many other cities
and particularly in the arts jut
wiped out dancers and and many
other professions as well.
And it was it was rough.
Very horrible. And it's important that
we do continue to talk about it today,
I think. So a lot of people live through
that and felt that pain, and I t
like a story that needed to be .
I'm glad you did.
The story ends with the Crosscoy
move to Seattle and a new begin.
Tell me about that.
And when we see a Part 2,
a Part 2 part,
it was a lot that went into Part
1. So I don't know. I'll have
to sort of push you then.
Yeah, I love this Seattle chapt.
I moved here with my wife.
We had three children under the
age of 10 at the time and we
didn't know much about Seattle.
It was a little bit of a
blind leap across country,
but found we had a lot of friens
here already and the Pacific
Northwest valley has been a dre.
I have loved that job.
It's thriving at this point.
So I'm really proud to do that .
And and I'm also a huge fan of e
Pacific Northwest and don't thik
I want to live anywhere else.
It's perfect, yeah.
Thank you for sharing this story with us,
for having the bravery to share your life.
It is an absolute pleasure to speak with you.
Thank you so much. Absolutely.
And of course, Peter will be ate
Elliott Bay Book Company Wednes,
May 31st to celebrate the launch of his book.
The fun starts at 7:00 PM.