‘We’re going to miss him’

By Kristen Peterson

Monday, Jan. 14, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Nevada Ballet Theatre ended its season run of “The Nutcracker” on Dec. 27. Four days later Bruce Steivel left the company. No public fanfare. No long goodbyes. The 10-year artistic director, who brought in prominent guest artists and choreographers, raised the company’s profile and added 30 works to its repertoire, was out the door.

Officials with Nevada Ballet say the departure was amicable, that Steivel just wanted to work on other projects. Steivel was unavailable for comment.

“We’re going to miss him,” says Nevada Ballet co-founder Nancy Houssels. “He did a lot of great things here.

“There is always change going on. We just have to be ready for it. Everything is in place. Everything is in order.”

The company has its hands full as it prepares for its Jan. 26 fundraising gala (honoring Twyla Tharp) and works to increase its budget from $3 million to $5 million before it moves to the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which is to open in 2011. A large portion of that $2 million increase will go toward incorporating live music with the performances, says Beth Barbre, who has just been promoted from executive director to chief executive officer.

A committee to conduct an international search for a new artistic director is being formed. No decisions about the future and artistic direction of Nevada Ballet have been made.

“It’s a big change,” Barbre says. “We do have a lot on our plate.”

The season was already set, so the company wasn’t left high and dry. Former George Balanchine repetiteur Elise Borne is working with the company on “Rubies” and ballet mistress Clarice Geissel Rathers is prepping the dancers for other performances.

The company replaced a Steivel piece that was to be used in its “From Stravinski to Sinatra” program Feb. 8-9 at UNLV’s Artemus Ham Hall.

Steivel was Nevada Ballet’s second artist director, replacing founding Artistic Director Vassili Sulich in 1972.

The Smith Center, the ballet’s strong foundation and its Summerlin facilities and education program will help draw strong candidates, Barbre says. The new performing arts center was part of Las Vegas’ attraction for Barbre, who arrived from the Oregon Ballet Theatre at the end of the 2005-06 season.

The move and its accompanying adjustments will likely raise Nevada Ballet’s profile.

Houssels, who also serves on the board of the Smith Center’s Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, says, “We have been serious. But we realized we had to go up a couple more levels to fit into that gorgeous theater.”