{"id":6351,"date":"2024-01-27T19:18:14","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T03:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/?p=6351"},"modified":"2026-08-30T20:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T03:50:53","slug":"balanchine-robbins-take-the-stage-at-nevada-ballet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/balanchine-robbins-take-the-stage-at-nevada-ballet\/","title":{"rendered":"Balanchine & Robbins Take the Stage at Nevada Ballet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic<\/span><\/div><\/div>
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\"Nevada<\/span><\/div>

Concerto Barocco choreography by George Balanchine, featuring Camille Kellems and Jaime DeRocker,\u00a0Nevada Ballet Theatre\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Balanchine & Robbins Take the Stage at Nevada Ballet<\/h1>\n

By Stacey Gualandi<\/p>\n<\/div>

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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.<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s three-in-one ballet is a special curated experience by Artistic Director Roy Kaiser.<\/p>\n

The performance begins with the return of Concerto Barocco<\/em>, set to Bach\u2019s Concerto\u00a0in D Minor for Two Violins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was first introduced in 1941 and is still performed by major companies around the world today,\u201d said Kaiser.<\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s performance includes several firsts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • This is the first time the Nevada Ballet Theater\u2019s repertoire will perform a work by Jerome Robbins.<\/li>\n
  • This is the World Premiere for choreographers Alexis Ochin\u2019s and Arnaud Boursain\u2019s production of Ghost Lights (Ripples in the Fabric of Existence)<\/em>.<\/li>\n
  • And this is the first time Kaiser has worked with his brother, Rehearsal Director Russell Kaiser, since he took over NBT in 2017.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    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.<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"Nevada<\/span><\/div><\/div>

    Photo by Virginia Trudeau featuring Mirella Costa Neto and Robert Fulton from Nevada Ballet Theatre,\u00a0<\/em>Jerome Robbins The Concert<\/p>\n<\/div>

    CHIC COMPASS: You once worked together with the Philadelphia Ballet, so can we call this collaboration \u201cbrotherly love?\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

    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\u2019s a mutual respect for the strengths that we have and what we bring to the table. It all seems very organic to me.<\/p>\n

    ROY:\u00a0 Ditto. Ha!!<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: This is also the first time Nevada Ballet has performed The Concert<\/em> by Jerome Robbins. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: Russell, you worked with Jerome Robbins your entire career. What is he best known for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    RUSSELL KAISER:\u00a0 He was brilliant at creating communities on stage\u2026and 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 \u201cdancing ballets,\u201d you feel like you are seeing real people, and that\u2019s what he worked so hard on\u2014especially in this ballet.<\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER: It\u2019s not as dance-y as a lot of his work, but I think it really focuses on the individual artists\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: You are opening with a Balanchine classic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER: Concerto Barocco<\/em>, the balancing piece, is a classic by an iconic master choreographer, and it\u2019s just pure technique and a pure reflection of the music\u2026what the dancers are doing on stage is remarkable, and what\u2019s equally so are the two violinists in the pit.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: Between the two masters, Balanchine & Robbins, are two new directors\/choreographers to the craft\u2014Arnaud Boursain and Alexis Ochin, who will premiere Ghost Light<\/em>. <\/b><\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER:\u00a0 Yes, they haven\u2019t spent their whole careers focused on dance. They write, direct, and have done filming, but they bring all this eclectic knowledge together. Ghost Light<\/em> is a piece of theater. But it\u2019s the theatricality of the piece\u2014the lighting, certainly. It takes you on a real theatrical journey into a different world for 30 minutes, and that\u2019s the future of the art form.<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"Russell<\/span><\/div><\/div>

    (L-R) Roy & Russell Kaiser<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

    CHIC COMPASS: Why was this \u201clineup\u201d so important to you as artistic director?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER: We have a lot of new dancers in the company where this is their first job \u2026 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.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: Why so many firsts with this new production?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER: We\u2019re building an audience. I don\u2019t know whether Balanchine & Robbins comes back as this exact program. That may be unlikely, but I\u2019m confident the elements of this program will return. Wizard of Oz<\/em> 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<\/em>. I love those people, but my ongoing goal is to get many people to come see something that doesn\u2019t have that name recognition.<\/p>\n<\/div>

    \"Nevada<\/span><\/div><\/div>

    Featuring artists of Nevada Ballet Theatre. Photo of five, Virginia Trudeau.\u00a0<\/em>Ghost Light (Ripples in the Fabric of Existence) by A & A<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

    CHIC COMPASS: As former dancers, do you miss being on the stage yourselves?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY: No, I think, \u201cThank God I\u2019m not out there.\u201d Ha!<\/p>\n

    RUSSELL: For any performer, there are always elements that you look back and think, \u201cGosh, that was a lot of fun to do, and it would be fun to do again.\u201d But I think that\u2019s why we\u2019re fortunately in the positions we\u2019re in and very grateful to be doing what we\u2019re doing. It was ultimately probably our real calling.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS:\u00a0 Are you nervous right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY KAISER: You don't really have time to be. You just do it. You focus on the work.<\/p>\n

    RUSSELL KAISER: You just trust the work.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: What would your folks say about seeing their boys together like this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    RUSSELL: Clean your room. HA! Mom and Dad were always very proud of their sons.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: And what would the iconic choreographers say of your collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    RUSSELL KAISER:\u00a0 I think Mr. Balanchine and Mr. Robbins are both smiling down happy that their works continue to thrive and continue to entertain people.<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS: If this all goes well, do you think you\u2019ll do something together again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY: Oh, sure. Let\u2019s hope.<\/p>\n

    RUSSELL: Other than golf. Ha!!<\/p>\n

    CHIC COMPASS:\u00a0 Who has the better handicap?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ROY:\u00a0 My nephew.\u00a0 Ha!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    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\u2019s three-in-one ballet is a special curated experience by Artistic Director Roy Kaiser.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4522,2360],"tags":[3200,3745,4113,267,2816,3739,3197,2788],"class_list":["post-6351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-blog","tag-ballet","tag-george-balanchine","tag-jerome-robbins","tag-las-vegas","tag-nevada","tag-nevada-ballet-theater","tag-nevada-ballet-theatre","tag-the-smith-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6351"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6361,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6351\/revisions\/6361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chiccompass.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}