Pacific Northwest Ballet opened its season with a juicy all-Balanchine program, but the big bang comes this week, when they perform Twyla Tharps hyper-intense In The Upper Room. So far the company has danced retro-Tharp (Nine Sinatra Songs) and post-modern collage Tharp (Waterbaby Bagatelles), but Room comes from the implacable Tharp, matching the driving intensity of Philip Glasss score with daring physical aggression, like aerobics on the edge of a cliff. And on this Contemporary Classics program with Balanchines coolly architectural Agon (in a performance to celebrate its 50th anniversary), your eyes will be vibrating as you leave the theater.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 3, 2 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 11, 1 p.m. Starts: Nov. 1. Continues through Nov. 10, 2007
