The Romantics: Nevada Ballet Theatre performs celebrated ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 8:14 a.m.

When Sergei Prokofiev presented his music for the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" to the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet, it was deemed undanceable.

By then it had already been dropped by Leningrad's Kirov Ballet, the company that originally commissioned the music.

But difficulties surrounding "Romeo and Juliet" would be the least of the composer's problems.

Wooed back to the Soviet Union in 1933 in hopes of being supported by the government, Prokofiev would eventually be stifled under Soviet control of the arts. In 1953 news of his death was overshadowed by Stalin's, who died the same day.

"Romeo and Juliet," however, lived on and is one of the most celebrated ballets, a 20th-century masterpiece with roles coveted by dancers who soften at the very thought of its nature.

"Romeo is very innocent, very loving and romantic," said Dereck Townsend, principle dancer for the Nevada Ballet Theatre. "We all want to play that role once in our life."

This weekend Nevada Ballet Theatre will present "Romeo and Juliet" at UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre. It will be the first local production since 1998 when Bruce Steivel, at the time the NBT's new artistic director, choreographed it as his introduction to Las Vegas audiences.

Natalia Chapourskaya, who performed as Juliet, opposite Kyu Dong Kwak as Romeo, will again team with Kwak for the Friday and early Sunday matinee performances. Tess Hooley and Zeb Nole will team for the Saturday evening and late Sunday matinee performances and Elena Shokhina with team with Townsend for the Saturday matinee.

Pulling double duty between Nevada Ballet Theatre and his former company, the University Ballet of Korea, Steivel said he chose the familiar tragedy of ill-fated love as his first choreographed production because of its wide appeal.

"It was sort of important that I do something special for the company and I had always wanted to do 'Romeo and Juliet,' " Steivel said. "I just loved the music. "It's very lush and it's very romantic."

But it's the music that has proved challenging for some dancers.

At the time of its composition, Steivel said, "(Dancers) were so used to Tchaikovsky and his music is so danceable. Prokofiev is not as fluid, not quite as straightforward."

Shokhina, who has long wanted to perform as Juliet, says of Prokofiev, "It's hard music to dance to. I prefer Tchaikovsky."

But of "Romeo and Juliet," she said, "It's more about emotion, acting. It's about love."

Combining contemporary and classical techniques with drama, the production offers as much action as it does romance in telling the tale of the star-crossed lovers lost in the Montague-Capulet rivalry. But the universal story of love is the draw for audiences, said Nole, a Las Vegas native performing his first role as Romeo.

"(Audiences) can watch this performance and see themselves," Nole said. "Love is in everyone's life."

The ballet falls in with NBT's 2004-05 season, which has included "Dracula" and will bring to the stage "Joplin!" in April and Agnes de Mille's "Rodeo" in May.

Last season the company presented Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," also regarded for its rich language.

In reference to Shakespeare, Nole said, "When you have to live up to such great literature, it's a challenge. It's hard to compare verse to pantomime."

Prokofiev's ballet was eventually performed in 1940 by the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad.

Several composers have written scores to "Romeo and Juliet." Prokofiev's was the first modern ballet. In recent years some choreographers have shortened the score and even altered the sequence of dances.

Steivel said he's removed length in some scenes of the ballet, including the fight scene, but has taken nothing away from the famous balcony pas de deux between the young lovers.

"That music is so important to the ballet," Steivel said.

The balcony scene is also a favorite of Chapourskaya's, a former prima ballerina in the St. Petersburg Company and graduate of the Perm Academy of Choreographic Studies, who joined NBT in 1995.

"I love the balcony pas de deux," Chapourskaya said in a soft voice and detectable Russian accent. "It's romantic. I can show the audience my feeling. It's love. I feel it from my inside."

Unlike Shokhina and the dancers performing Romeo, Chapourskaya, who has performed lead roles in "Swan Lake," "Giselle" and "The Nutcracker," hadn't longed since childhood to play Juliet.

"Juliet came later as an adult," Chapourskaya said. "It's a very long ballet. You have to be ready for that."