Cain, longtime manager of Nevada Dance Theatre, dies

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.

When it came to taking care of the needs of Nevada Dance Theatre and its ballet performers, no task was too small or lacking in importance for longtime company manager Norman Cain.

Whether it was writing news releases for shows, arranging buses and hotel accommodations for tours or getting the paperwork together to obtain visas for foreign dancers, Cain was on top of it.

"Norman had a wonderful sense of humor and a great love for the arts," said Vassili Sulich, co-founder of the company that now is called the Nevada Ballet Theatre, and Cain's life partner for 40 years.

"Like me, he believed Las Vegas would support the arts if the arts were of quality -- first class."

John Norman Cain, who in the 1990s received from Gov. Bob Miller the Governor's Award for promoting the arts and culture in Las Vegas, died Monday of complications from pneumonia and cancer in Pittsburgh. He was 68.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 31 years will be private.

"When the Nevada Dance Theatre was founded (in 1972), we were struggling, and Norman would do whatever needed to be done, no matter what the job was," said Sulich, former longtime artistic director of the local ballet who recently underwent knee surgery that ended his dancing career.

"I am an artist and I am emotional, but Norman provided a good balance in my life because he was calm and in control."

Hal Weller, founder and conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, called Cain the glue that held the former Nevada Dance Theatre together for many years.

"While Vassili was the creative force, Norman took care of so many of the behind-the-scenes details," Weller said. "He was uplifting and optimistic and brought that attitude to the ballet and it permeated through the company."

Cain is credited with using his influence as a former writer for Dance Magazine to convince the New York-based Columbia Artists Management to come to Las Vegas in the 1980s and watch Nevada Dance Theatre rehearsals. The result: Columbia Artists sponsored national tours of the local ballet for 10 years.

Sulich, who came to Las Vegas in 1964 as a lead performer for the Tropicana's Folies Bergere and long taught dance at UNLV, said Cain oversaw those trips and never missed a local or a road performance during his tenure.

Sulich and Cain produced Nevada Dance Theatre shows for 25 seasons, leaving after the 1997 season when Sulich decided to produce international dance events including the 1998 production of "Oedipus The King" for the National Theatre in Zagreb in his native Croatia.

That year, the local company's name was changed to the Nevada Ballet Theatre.

In recent years, Sulich has choreographed shows for the Theatre Municipal and Youth Company in Rio de Janeiro and helped Cain through a series of health problems, including congestive heart disease, which was diagnosed in the late 1990s.

Early in 2003, Cain decided to move from Las Vegas to Pittsburgh to be close to his family. He and Sulich sold their Las Vegas home and relocated their base of operations to the East Coast.

In addition to Sulich, Cain is survived by two sisters, Dorothy Partridge of Plum Burrow, Pa., and Barbara Hargnett of New Alexandria, Pa.; and several nieces and nephews.

Sulich said donations can be made in Norman Cain's memory to the Permanent Endowment Fund of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, 3271 South Highland Drive, Suite 702, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109.