Concerto Barocco choreography by George Balanchine, featuring Camille Kellems and Jaime DeRocker, Nevada Ballet Theatre 

Balanchine & Robbins Take the Stage at Nevada Ballet

By Stacey Gualandi

George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins get top billing this weekend with the debut of Balanchine & Robbins by the Nevada Ballet Theater at The Smith Center in downtown Las Vegas.

This weekend’s three-in-one ballet is a special curated experience by Artistic Director Roy Kaiser.

The performance begins with the return of Concerto Barocco, set to Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins.

“It was first introduced in 1941 and is still performed by major companies around the world today,” said Kaiser.

But the company’s performance includes several firsts:

• This is the first time the Nevada Ballet Theater’s repertoire will perform a work by Jerome Robbins.
• This is the World Premiere for choreographers Alexis Ochin’s and Arnaud Boursain’s production of Ghost Lights (Ripples in the Fabric of Existence).
• And this is the first time Kaiser has worked with his brother, Rehearsal Director Russell Kaiser, since he took over NBT in 2017.

With just hours to go before opening night of this exclusive two-show run, these former dancers-turned-directors took five to talk Balanchine, Robbins, and being brothers-in-arms.

CHIC COMPASS: You once worked together with the Philadelphia Ballet, so can we call this collaboration “brotherly love?”

RUSSELL KAISER: Roy and I are actually very good friends, and we talk often, both professionally and personally. To me, it feels very natural, and there’s a mutual respect for the strengths that we have and what we bring to the table. It all seems very organic to me.

ROY:  Ditto. Ha!!

CHIC COMPASS: This is also the first time Nevada Ballet has performed The Concert by Jerome Robbins.

ROY KAISER: It is a big, big deal. Mr. Robbins was an iconic choreographer. People know his work on the Broadway stage and film, but he had a very broad, extensive body of work for the ballet stage. I want to explore that for NBT. I think it makes the company better. What I want to accomplish here as Artistic Director is to really expose our audience to everything that the dance world has to offer of a certain quality.

CHIC COMPASS: Russell, you worked with Jerome Robbins your entire career. What is he best known for?

RUSSELL KAISER:  He was brilliant at creating communities on stage…and this is a perfect example of that because Jerry brought to the stage what he saw on the streets of New York City. Even in his more “dancing ballets,” you feel like you are seeing real people, and that’s what he worked so hard on—especially in this ballet.

ROY KAISER: It’s not as dance-y as a lot of his work, but I think it really focuses on the individual artists’ characters and their characterizations: you need the shy boy; you need the wife, and you need the husband, so, you need the artists who are going to bring them to life, and it felt like we had that. People will leave feeling like they know something more about every dancer and artist in the piece.

CHIC COMPASS: You are opening with a Balanchine classic.

ROY KAISER: Concerto Barocco, the balancing piece, is a classic by an iconic master choreographer, and it’s just pure technique and a pure reflection of the music…what the dancers are doing on stage is remarkable, and what’s equally so are the two violinists in the pit.

CHIC COMPASS: Between the two masters, Balanchine & Robbins, are two new directors/choreographers to the craft—Arnaud Boursain and Alexis Ochin, who will premiere Ghost Light.

ROY KAISER:  Yes, they haven’t spent their whole careers focused on dance. They write, direct, and have done filming, but they bring all this eclectic knowledge together. Ghost Light is a piece of theater. But it’s the theatricality of the piece—the lighting, certainly. It takes you on a real theatrical journey into a different world for 30 minutes, and that’s the future of the art form.

CHIC COMPASS: Why was this “lineup” so important to you as artistic director?

ROY KAISER: We have a lot of new dancers in the company where this is their first job … and this program makes them all better. They have three different experiences in the same evening. Many of them have to change gears three different times. Most of them are doing at least two of the ballets on the program. That requires commitment and engagement, which they have all risen to.

CHIC COMPASS: Why so many firsts with this new production?

ROY KAISER: We’re building an audience. I don’t know whether Balanchine & Robbins comes back as this exact program. That may be unlikely, but I’m confident the elements of this program will return. Wizard of Oz was a wonderful piece, and it really broadened our profile. A lot of people came to see this company who probably would not normally come to see Nevada Ballet Theater because it was Wizard of Oz. I love those people, but my ongoing goal is to get many people to come see something that doesn’t have that name recognition.

CHIC COMPASS: As former dancers, do you miss being on the stage yourselves?

ROY: No, I think, “Thank God I’m not out there.” Ha!

RUSSELL: For any performer, there are always elements that you look back and think, “Gosh, that was a lot of fun to do, and it would be fun to do again.” But I think that’s why we’re fortunately in the positions we’re in and very grateful to be doing what we’re doing. It was ultimately probably our real calling.

CHIC COMPASS:  Are you nervous right now?

ROY KAISER: You don’t really have time to be. You just do it. You focus on the work.

RUSSELL KAISER: You just trust the work.

CHIC COMPASS: What would your folks say about seeing their boys together like this?

RUSSELL: Clean your room. HA! Mom and Dad were always very proud of their sons.

CHIC COMPASS: And what would the iconic choreographers say of your collaboration?

RUSSELL KAISER:  I think Mr. Balanchine and Mr. Robbins are both smiling down happy that their works continue to thrive and continue to entertain people.

CHIC COMPASS: If this all goes well, do you think you’ll do something together again?

ROY: Oh, sure. Let’s hope.

RUSSELL: Other than golf. Ha!!

CHIC COMPASS:  Who has the better handicap?

ROY:  My nephew.  Ha!