Columnist Susan Snyder: Vegas sheds light on Sulich’s life

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.

Vassili Sulich hasn't danced his last in Las Vegas.

The 76-year-old founder of Nevada Dance Theatre, now called Nevada Ballet Theatre, has returned to his favorite desert city almost two years to the day after he left.

But you'll have to be quick to catch him at home.

"Things are looking bright," Sulich said Monday of his plans to continue directing ballets in Europe and South America.

Sulich moved to Pennsylvania in June 2003 with his life partner, Norman Cain, who had taken ill and wanted to be closer to his family. Cain, the longtime Nevada Dance Theatre manager and Sulich's companion for almost 40 years, died in December of complications from pneumonia and cancer.

While based with Cain in Pittsburgh, Sulich produced ballets in Brazil and his beloved Croatia, the country where he took his first ballet lesson at age 17.

"I tried to follow what Norman always said to do," Sulich said. "You have to go on with your life and do the best and be the happiest possible."

Most recently he has been working in Split, a Croatian city built on the Adriatic Sea at the end of the third century. (Sort of puts Las Vegas' centennial birthday into perspective, doesn't it?)

Split also is where Sulich ended up at the end of World War II, when he left a children's refugee camp.

Nearly 60 years later, a ballet showcase titled "The Best of Vassili Sulich" is to open at the Croatian National Theater during an outdoor festival July 19 and 22. The performance features five selections, including "Le Barre," the first number Sulich did for Nevada Dance Theatre in 1972, and "In Paradise Garden," performed the year he left the Las Vegas ballet company.

"It's really a retrospective of my life," Sulich said of the show. "And it was exciting, after what I went through this winter, to realize I can still do a lot of things."

Although he recently underwent knee surgery, Sulich discovered he still could show young dancers a few steps. And he recalled one rehearsal where he stood in for an injured dancer.

It would have helped, he said, if he hadn't had to climb the stairs to his second-floor apartment afterward.

"I went home limping," Sulich said, laughing at the memory. "But the next day I was good."

His greatest-hits ballet is to be performed in Croatia again this fall -- indoors this time -- to unveil the Croatian translation of Sulich's autobiography, "Vision in the Desert," and a documentary about his life.

The film, he said, is being created by Jakov Sedlar. The Croatian filmmaker has directed and or produced more than 30 films, many of which chronicle the cultures of, or the effects of war on, eastern European nations.

Although he will be living here, Sulich plans to continue taking his passion for dance overseas. He may still spend parts of his summers in Croatia and his winters in Brazil.

But he is looking forward to finding a new home in Las Vegas. His belongings already are here, in storage. He just has to find a place with the right amenities.

"A lot of sunshine and light," he said. "I am a millionaire in spirit and a millionaire in creativeness. Maybe it's not in money, but that's not important."