Creative risks pay off for Nevada Ballet Theatre

The dancing ranged from sassy and sexy to charming and chic as Nevada Ballet Theatre entertained with three Las Vegas premieres: George Balanchine's "Rubies," James Canfield's "Equinoxe" and Twyla Tharp's "Nine Sinatra Songs."

"Rubies," set to Stravinsky's "Capriccio," was a burst of jazzy sophistication. Staged by Elyse Borne, it opens in a vision of red, with dancers in attractive red tunics eloquently adorned with jewels.

Throughout this contemporary ballet, time and space seemed accelerated by the angles of arms, wrists and kicking legs. Alexandra Christian and David Ligon boldly added terrific zing to their stretches and bouncing movements.

James Canfield's "Equinoxe" was a most pleasant surprise. A one-act ballet set to the music of French composer Michel Jarre, "Equinoxe" seemed to be the most polished and satisfying of the three pieces. It was the only one where the emotional appeal was up to the level of the craft of the dancers.

The dancers shimmered with fluid movements and sensual rhythmic tenderness. The almost-jungle-gym stance of the bodies and the fast-paced movements were playful and mysterious one moment and sensually tender the next.

The program's finale was Twyla Tharp's "Nine Sinatra Songs," a ballet composed of ballroom choreography with a dash of ballet.

There was grace and style and a bit of humor in this production, staged by Keith Roberts. It should have been a sure-fire audience pleaser. Perhaps the themes of romantic love, mutual seduction, reconciliation and abandonment, all set to Sinatra's music, created expectations much too high. The individual songs were all performed well, but the reprise did not give real closure.

The highlights were "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)," danced with impish cunning by Racheal Hummel-Nole and Baris Erhan, and "That's Life," danced by Yoomi Lee and Grigori Arakelyan, the couple engrossed in a energetic battle of wits, each determined to get his way.

Nevada Ballet has to be commended for three such diverse premieres. The company is now at the professional level where it can take creative risks and still achieve the highest level of professionalism. It is clearly a beautiful time to be a ballet lover and living in Las Vegas.