All images by Virginia Trudeau for Nevada Ballet Theatre

On a recent Saturday night, I picked up my pals Heather Harmon and Chelsea Culprit (who’d arrived in town that evening, fresh on the heels of her tour-de-force gallery show in Paris) and headed Downtown to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, where we were attending the opening night of Nevada Ballet Theatre’s presentation of Swan Lake; and we had such a great time, that we began making swan-puns at the beginning of the intermission, and haven’t yet seen fit to stop.  It was, in a word, swanderful.

The first sign that it was gonna be a heckuva night was the number of cars in line for valet.  The Smith Center was packed!  Once we’d presented our phones to have our e-tickets scanned, we climbed the stairs to the Founders Room, where we joined NBT’s President & CEO, Beth Barbre, as her guests.  Then, after enjoying a drink (and, in my case, a couple of bite-sized sandwiches and a cupcake), we made our way to our box and waited for the show—the run of which was, following CARMINA BURANA and SERENADE (November 03-05, 2023), THE NUTCRACKER (December 08-24, 2023), BALANCHINE & ROBBINS (January 27-28, 2024), and NBT DANCE LAB (March 07-10, 2024), the conclusion of NBT’s 52nd season—to begin.

The company was in top form.  Swan Lake’s choreography is among the most demanding for any corps de ballet—imagine trying to move in tandem with 15 other people, evoking an undulating flock of swans.  Now imagine doing so with your arms linked, and en pointe!— and NBT’s did not disappoint.  The costumes (on loan from the Milwaukee Ballet Company and BALLET WEST) were lovely.  The tragic love story of Odette and Prince Siegfried remained as poignant as ever, performed to the music composed nearly 150 years ago by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Considered one of the Russian composer’s most important works—alongside Romeo and Juliet (1870), 1812 Overture (1880), The Sleeping Beauty (1889), and The Nutcracker (1892)—especially due to his use of leitmotifs, giving different characters recurring musical themes to assist the narrative. [The best example of a leitmotif from contemporary popular culture might be “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” by John Williams from his score to 1980’s Star Wars: Episode 5 – The Empire Strikes Back; though, seeing as that was nearly 45 years ago, perhaps not all that contemporary.]

Anyhoo, while you’d be hard-pressed to overstate Swan Lake’s importance today in the pantheon of classical and romantic ballets, when it was debuted by the Bolshoi Ballet in March 1877, it was a widely-panned critical flop, with even Tchaikovsky’s brother, Modest, citing, “The poverty of the production, meaning the décor and costumes, the absence of outstanding performers, the Balletmaster's weakness of imagination, and, finally, the orchestra…”

After the intermission (more drinks in the Founders Room, and yes, another cupcake), we returned to the box (thanks, Bev!) just as the second act had begun.  Now, I could carry on about the artistry of the first scene in Act II, but at the risk of betraying my not-so-inner snob, I’m gonna describe it as the ballet version of the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland, and between the dances—which are listed as “Spanish,” “Czardas,” “Neopolitan,” and “Mazurka” in the program, but would be better understood today as folk dances from what are now Spain, Hungary, Italy, and Poland—it’s utterly charming and smile-inducing.  Bonus: Castanets!!

And, while Odette’s suicide is always a bummer, this production (featuring choreography by Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.) didn’t end there but kept going for an additional minute or so, concluding with the lovers’ spirits sailing into the sunset.

Heather and Chelsea decided it’d be an absolute swantastrophe if we didn’t go back to Heather’s and watch Black Swan.  So, after a final visit to the Founders Room—where the team from Mikimoto presented me with a copy of The Pearl Necklace (the coffee-table book that Assouline had published in partnership with the renowned pearl purveyor), as well as a Mikimoto candle (happy birthday to me!)—we did; over pizza and salad.  Regrettably, the late-night nosh was far more satisfying than the movie, during which I got quite vocal about wanting to throttle Natalie Portman’s character for being so annoying (Heather’s dog Amelia backed me up by barking her agreement), and noted that if it were “real life,” I’d totally have been friends with Mila Kunis’s character).  But that’s another story for another time. 

Cheers to Nevada Ballet Theatre for a swantastic evening we won’t soon forget, and here’s to season 53!  Now, if y’all will excuse me, I’ve got to head to the airport to catch my flight to Swandusky. *

Swan Lake
Nevada Ballet Theatre
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#NVBallet

[Editor’s Note:  * Sandusky, Ohio does not have an airport, and most Sanduskites fly in and out of Cleveland, but I couldn’t make Cleveland work with a swan-pun.  Thus, Swandusky!]