Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Dancer Lucien Postlewaite Announces End-of-Season Retirement. 23-year career will be celebrated at Season Encore Performance, June 7, 2026.
Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Dancer Lucien Postlewaite Announces End-of-Season Retirement.
23-year career will be celebrated at Season Encore Performance, June 7, 2026.
Seattle, WA — Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Lucien Postlewaite has announced that he will be retiring at the end of PNB’s 2025-26 season, in anticipation of launching his new career as a certified life coach. Postlewaite joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2003, was promoted to corps de ballet in 2004, soloist in 2007, and principal in 2008. He joined Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in 2012, and re-joined PNB in 2017.
Postlewaite will make his debut in the pas de deux of Diamonds on opening night of George Balanchine’s Jewels on September 26, and is scheduled to perform in all six programs of PNB’s 2025-26 subscription season, as well as George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®. His dance career will be celebrated at PNB’s Season Encore Performance on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at McCaw Hall. Tickets to PNB’s 2025-26 season programs as well as the Season Encore and The Nutcracker are now available through the PNB Box Office, 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at 301 Mercer Street.
“For as long as I can remember, ballet has been with me, guiding me to extraordinary heights,” said Postlewaite in his announcement. “Through ballet, I’ve come to know the world’s most incredible theaters, and connected with life-changing choreography, artists, and audiences. My career has offered me community, culture, connection and the space to fully express my art. My devotion to this craft has offered me a taste of transcendence.
“Reaching these heights is only possible through incredible discipline and support. ‘Grateful’ is too small a word for the fullness of my appreciation for all of you who have helped shape me along this path.
“My unique approach to this existence has offered me a profoundly rich experience of life and prepared me for what’s to come. I am eager to leap into my next great becoming as a Transformational Life Coach. I am excited for this new future. I am excited to grow in my life’s mission through a new language. Crafting a more beautiful, connected, and vibrant world has been work I’ve been called to through my artistry and dance. Now, helping others step into their fullness and alignment is the next great offering of service I am called to.” [For more information about his life-coaching business, visit www.lucienx.com.]
“As I round out my final season on this stage, I offer a wellspring of love for my teachers, my guides, my care team, friends, family, and community. My love radiates to all of you who have touched my life with your love or applause. With each performance, I bring all of you onto the stage with me – our hearts briefly suspended and connected in the space we create together.
“What a privilege to choose my exit rather than it choosing me. And, what an honor to have a whole season to celebrate with you. As I prepare to exit this life, I humbly bow to all those who came before us, and boldly look to the horizon.”
“It's difficult to imagine PNB without Lucien Postlewaite,” said PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal. “He has been a central part of almost every ballet in our repertoire for decades, offering quicksilver technique, a winsome presence, and truly inspired acting. Partnerships for Lucien extend far beyond the execution of steps, delving into a range of emotions that transcend the stage. As I watch this accomplished artist at the peak of his career, I'm reminded of when I first met Lucien. It was on the first day of a summer course at the School of American Ballet in New York - he was just thirteen. One of us knew what tremendous potential this young dancer possessed. Watching his talent grow and blossom from those fledgling years to a much-admired principal dancer he is today has been immensely rewarding. His portrayals of Oberon, Prodigal Son, Romeo, and Prince Siegfried will live on in our memory. Lucien has taken impressive star turns in works by Alejandro Cerrudo, David Dawson, Ulysses Dove, William Forsythe, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Christopher Wheeldon. He has given us so much. How nice to know he will continue to elevate lives through his work as a life coach after he steps away from the stage. How lucky to have the opportunity to see him dance throughout this season and to celebrate his extraordinary career at our Encore performance in June.”
Postlewaite’s curiosity for life extends beyond the stage. In 2024, Postlewaite had the honor of participating in Harvard Business School’s Crossover into Business Program alongside world-famous athletes, and he holds a certificate from Cornell University’s Entrepreneurship Program. He has served as a mentor in PNB School’s mentorship program and in 2024 Postlewaite chose to continue his journey by becoming certified in coaching by the International Gold Standard certifying bodies. He is a certified Recovery Coach (CCAR) and is finishing up his Life Coaching certification (International Coaching Federation). Lucien is an entrepreneur, founding THE BATCH Kombucha in 2020 and in alignment with his passion for helping others, he is currently building a life coaching business.
Funding for education and certification to support Postlewaite’s post-ballet career goals was provided, in part, by Second Stage, PNB’s career transition program for its company dancers. Conceived in 1999, Second Stage supports PNB dancers and PNB School Professional Division students in achieving their goals following a career in dance. Its resources allow dancers to take classes, get subsidized tuition at Seattle University, access mentors and vocation counseling, and receive grant monies. At its inception, only a handful of dancers actively planned for their career after ballet. Since that time, Second Stage has provided over $1.5 million in grants to over 200 dancers. For more information, visit PNB.org.
Lucien Postlewaite is from Santa Cruz, California. He trained on scholarship at the School of American Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. While a Professional Division student at PNB School, he received a Level II Award for ballet in the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts’ 2003 Arts Recognition and Talent Search. Postlewaite joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as an apprentice in 2003, was promoted to corps de ballet in 2004, soloist in 2007, and principal in 2008. He was a 2008 recipient of a Princess Grace Award honoring his contribution and excellence in ballet. In 2012, Postlewaite joined Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, where he had the honor of originating and interpreting roles by Jean Christophe Maillot and other luminary choreographers. In his time at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, he toured the world and garnered international acclaim as a Principal Dancer of the company. After 5 years living and dancing abroad he rejoined PNB in 2017.
Postlewaite has performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Agon, Apollo, The Four Temperaments, Emeralds, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Prodigal Son, Rubies, Serenade, La Sonnambula, Square Dance, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Theme and Variations, and La Valse; Peter Boal’s Giselle; Val Caniparoli’s The Bridge and Torque; Alejandro Cerrudo’s Little mortal jump, One Thousand Pieces, PACOPEPEPLUTO, and Silent Ghost; Kyle Davis’s A Dark and Lonely Space; David Dawson’s A Million Kisses to my Skin; Ulysses Dove’s Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, Red Angels, and Serious Pleasures; Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat; William Forsythe’s In the middle somewhat elevated and One Flat Thing, reproduced; Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow and The Sleeping Beauty; Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort; Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Cylindrical Shadows; Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette; Mark Morris’ A Garden and Pacific; Justin Peck’s In the Countenance of Kings, The Times Are Racing, and Year of the Rabbit; Miles Pertl’s Wash of Gray; Crystal Pite’s Emergence and Plot Point; Yuri Possokhov’s RAkU; Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH and Don Quixote; Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, Glass Pieces, In the Night, and West Side Story Suite; Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet; Susan Stroman’s TAKE FIVE…More or Less; Richard Tanner’s Ancient Airs and Dances; Glen Tetley’s The Rite of Spring; Twyla Tharp’s Afternoon Ball, In the Upper Room, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux and Polyphonia. He originated leading roles in Caniparoli’s The Seasons, Donald Byrd’s Love and Loss, Kiyon Gaines’ Interrupted Pri’si’zhen, Paul Gibson’s The Piano Dance and Sense of Doubt, Jessica Lang’s Ghost Variations, Edwaard Liang’s The Veil Between Worlds, Benjamin Millepied’s 3 Movements, Matthew Neenan’s Bacchus, Victor Quijada’s Mating Theory and Suspension of Disbelief, Penny Saunders’ Wonderland, Eva Stone’s F O I L, Tharp’s Opus 111, Olivier Wevers’ Shindig, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Curious Kingdom.
While at Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Postlewaite performed leading roles in Forsythe’s New Sleep; Kylian’s Bella Figura and Gods and Dogs; and Maillot’s Altro Canto, La Belle, Cendrillon, Faust, LAC, Scheherazade, and Vers un Pays Sage. He originated leading roles in Pontus Lidberg’s Summer’s Winter Shadow and Maillot’s Casse-Noisette Compagnie, Choré, and Entrelacs.
Postlewaite has performed as a guest artist with New York City Ballet for the 75th anniversary gala for the School of American Ballet. He is featured in the film Casse-Noisette Compagnie by Jean-Christophe Maillot. In 2019, he was invited by the Fire Island Dance Festival to organize a commission for its annual gala (Garrett Smith’s Continuum). In addition to performing on galas worldwide, Postlewaite has performed Petipa’s Paquita and Wevers’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Reiko Yamamoto Ballet Company in Japan, Balanchine’s Tarantella with Los Angeles Ballet, and Septime Webre’s The Nutcracker with Ballet Hawaii. He was an original member of Olivier Wevers’ Whim W’Him. In 2021, he choreographed this is US, now for PNB’s NEXT STEP.
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