Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre takes to the streets

1975: Pittsburgh Ballet Theater in Grandview Park. (Andy Starnes/The Pittsburgh Press)

July 31, 1985: PBT performing Raymonda Variations in PPG Place. (Dave Breen/The Pittsburgh Press)

Aug. 23, 1990: PBT members were invited to Three Rivers Stadium for batting practice. While there, they worked on an unorthodox pitching leg kick delivery. (Melissa Farlow/The Pittsburgh Press)

Aug. 23, 1977: Jo Ann McCarthy and Dennis Poole as Romeo and Juliet on a balcony in Downtown Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Sept. 12, 1976: Alexander Filipov and Kaleria Fedicheva preparing for Maria Sabinaon on a Downtown street. (Kent Badger/The Pittsburgh Press)

Feb. 1, 1971: Susan OLeary and Charlie the swan went dancing at the Pittsburgh Zoo when it was four below zero. Why? Your guess is as good as ours. (Edwin Morgan/The Pittsburgh Press)

Not much to say about these photos, except that we’re glad they exist.

The first — Andy Starnes’ 1975 Pittsburgh Press capture of a Grandview Park performance against the skyline — is simply magnificent.

In digitizing the Post-Gazette’s photo library, we came across the massive (nearly a foot thick) file of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre images. A majority are all too bland and similar: indoor theater performances or rehearsals in studios lined with railings.

Not all that exciting when you realize there are upwards of 500 of these.

But these six stood out because of the settings.

Unfortunately, the outdoor ventures seemed to tail off after the 1970s.

(Editor’s note: The goose in the second image was enhanced during a time when photojournalists did not have as strong a code of ethics as today. Charlie’s feathers were painted on a little too thick.)