‘Peter Pan’ principal leading his fairy-tale life

Kimberley McGee

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 9:29 a.m.

Meeting deadlines, navigating traffic jams, paying bills and organizing budgets. The daily duties of being a grown-up can be awfully dull.

The alternative, of course, is to never grow up. How fun would that be?

The Nevada Ballet Theatre asks the audience to try it for an afternoon with its encore production of "Peter Pan" being staged at the Rio's 1,500-seat Samba Theatre this weekend.

The ballet, based on the classic children's novel by J.M. Barrie, opens with the Darling children, Wendy, John and Michael, in their London home. Peter Pan and Tinkerbell convince the bored children to fly to Neverland where no one ever grows old.

The play is a personal tribute to childhood dreams come true for Bruce Steivel, artistic director of NBT.

"This was always a dream of mine to bring this to the stage," Steivel said. "I was brought up on 'Peter Pan.' This is my chance to do it."

Steivel's production opened at the 550-seat Judy Bayley Theatre last year and sold out, he said.

"People stopped me on the streets and asked when we were going to bring it back," Steivel said.

The larger Samba Theatre allows for more whimsical props, bigger sets and a high-flying Peter Pan, played by NBT's Kyu Dong Kwak.

Kwak began dancing at age 12 in his native Seoul, Korea.

He watched his older siblings and friends grow up, attend college and get jobs -- something he thought would stifle him.

"I didn't want to live like ordinary people," Kwak said. "I decided ballet would be my life."

In 1988 he joined Korea's Universal Ballet where he was the principal dancer in "Romeo and Juliet."

The bustle of busy Seoul, as well as the competitive pace he kept at the Universal Ballet, wore thin for Kwak as he grew older.

"I wanted to live more relaxed and concentrate on dancing and life," he said.

In 1998 Kwak was asked by NBT to join its troupe as the lead in its production of "Romeo and Juliet" as well as its first production of "Peter Pan" in 2000.

The role suited him -- as did the desert.

"It's always been my dream to have a back yard and a house," Kwak said. "I have everything here."

Kwak continues to perform as the principal in most of NBT's ballets. He also returns to Seoul to perform each summer.

The boy who didn't want to grow up found his Neverland.