Columnist Susan Snyder: Sulich ready to close show

Saturday, June 7, 2003 | 3:56 a.m.

Vassili Sulich is taking his final bow in Las Vegas.

Next weekend he will sell his beloved collection of Croatian paintings for charity and two weeks later move to Pennsylvania with Norman Caine, his companion of 33 years.

Caine suffers from severe heart disease and needs to live near his sister and other relatives, Sulich said.

"Friendship and people are the most important, and I will be with my friend until the end," he said.

In the 40 years he lived in Southern Nevada, the 73-year-old Sulich founded the Nevada Dance Theatre, now the Nevada Ballet Theatre, and introduced Hal Weller to Susan Tompkins, who founded the Las Vegas Philharmonic with Weller as conductor. Proceeds from next weekend's art sale will go to the symphony.

"He's leaving an incredible artistic legacy," said Weller, the philharmonic's music director and conductor. "He is really the reason the philharmonic is here."

Weller was conductor of the Flagstaff, Ariz., orchestra in 1992 when he invited Sulich and the Nevada Dance Theatre to perform "The Nutcracker" with the Flagstaff orchestra.

"Vassili said, 'I'll have to create an orchestra for you in Las Vegas.' And in 1997, Vassili retired and I resigned with the idea we would make an orchestra here in Las Vegas," Weller recalled.

Sulich was born in 1929 on Brac, a Yugoslavian island. He learned about folk dance while living in a refugee camp during World War II and started taking ballet lessons in Croatia when he was 17.

He moved to Las Vegas in 1963 to dance in "Les Folies Bergere" at Tropicana. His offer to teach classical dance at the budding University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 1972 grew into the Nevada Dance Theatre, which grew under his guidance as artistic director.

Sulich resigned the post in 1997 during a disagreement over priorities, which included moving the ballet offices and its school to Summerlin. The name was changed to the Nevada Ballet Theatre, and Sulich's name as founding artistic director no longer is prominent.

He concedes he still is bitter, but said the move and Caine's welfare are at the forefront of this thoughts these days.

The 140 paintings to be sold next weekend represent 30 years of collecting during summer trips to Croatia and across Europe. Sulich, who also paints, said they helped him create a home environment that illustrates his passion for the arts.

"My ideal life is to surround my life with beauty," he said.

The invitation-only sale will be conducted Saturday and June 15 at Sulich's large home on the valley's extreme east side. Invitations have been sent to 1,500 art patrons, donors and collectors, Weller said.

"They're gorgeous pieces," the conductor said.

Sulich said he has invested about $400,000 in the works, most of which he bought directly from the artists. He is sad to leave Las Vegas, but said Caine's welfare is more important and made the decision to leave easy.

"It is the best for him, and I am going to be there with him," Sulich said. "After all is over what is left but friendship? That is my strength and my richness."

So long, Vassili. It was a good run.