“Making a ballet company more diverse doesn’t happen overnight — and it needs to happen at the level of its youngest students, to create generations of dancers who look like all of us. PNB’s been reaching out to the community in this way for 25 years now, with the DanceChance program, created by founding artistic director Francia Russell in 1994. Its goals are ‘to enrich the lives of every child in the program; to build a school and company that reflects the beautiful diversity of the Seattle community; and to train and nurture the next generation of dancers.'” – The Seattle Times