Ballet sheds a dozen more dancers

By Joe Brown

Published Tuesday, April 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Updated Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | 1:08 p.m.

Many of Nevada Ballet Theatre’s dancers — including last remaining principal dancers Zeb Nole and Racheal Hummel-Nole — danced passionately during their Friday and Saturday season-ending performances, knowing that these would be their last steps with the company.

Before the two “American Masters” programs at UNLV’s Artemus Ham Hall, more than a dozen dancers were informed by newly appointed Artistic Director James Canfield and Executive Director Beth Barbre that they would not be reengaged for the 2009-2010 season.

Several of the departing dancers — including the married Noles, David Van Ligon, Jared Hunt and Joshua Lenihan — sucked it up and carried on dancing, rehearsing for weeks before the two performances of the “American Masters” program at Ham Hall.

The audience was unaware of the backstage drama, but the energy was visible Friday night, as the dancers channeled their grief and fury into supercharged performances, particularly in the Bach-goes-to-Africa ballet “Lambarena,” during which many of the soloists appeared to be dancing for their lives.

After last month’s “All Balanchine” performance, ballet brass, citing budget exigencies, laid off nine dancers, snipped the final event from the planned six-show season (“New Works” will be part of the coming season) and summoned each dancer for individual evaluation and, in some cases, dismissal.

Departing dancers include soloists Hunt, Von Ligon and Kara Hamburg, corps de ballet members Lenihan and Jackie McConnell, and five apprentice and trainee dancers.

Returning for next season will be Grigori Arakelyan, Jeremy Bannon-Neches, Krista Charnea Baker, Rebecca Brimhall, Vincent Chavez, Alexandra Christian, Cathy Colbert, Alissa Verbena Dale, Jennifer Fesler, Cameron Findley, Sarah Fuhrman, Aimee Schleimer, Emily Tedesco, Amy J. Van Handorf and Griffin Whiting.

What’s different is that these 15 returning dancers will now be part of an ensemble. Canfield is doing away with the previous regime’s hierarchically tiered model, deleting titles of principal, soloist and corps de ballet.

In other words, there are no more stars. Every dancer is on equal footing.

The parting may be painful for colleagues and for audience members who have grown fond of familiar forms and faces.

But it is not entirely surprising. Canfield is the new coach, and he gets to pick his team. He will announce details of the forthcoming season later in the week, and said Monday that he plans to audition and hire more dancers, for an ensemble of 22.

Dancing is a short season of work, Canfield said Monday at the company’s offices in Summerlin. “The basis of a dancer’s agreement is contractual, and that goes from season to season.” Barbre added that dancers are eligible for unemployment benefits during the company’s off months.

And it’s a short career, favoring the young and lovely.

Expect to see many of Nevada Ballet’s talented soloists snapped up by other companies. The Noles have accepted jobs with Ballet Idaho, dancing for artistic director Peter Anastos, who staged “Cinderella” at Nevada Ballet this season. Jared Hunt declined a contract for the 2009-10 season and will join the Noles at Ballet Idaho.

Canfield, 48, was brought in as an interim director in March 2008 while Nevada Ballet searched for a replacement for departing Artistic Director Bruce Steivel, and his role was made permanent in January.

“I acquired all these dancers, and the remainder of the season’s programming,” he said. “I come from a background of ensemble-type company, which means there’s no ranking,” Canfield said of his vision for the next phase of the company. “It’s all-star/no-star, all for one, one for all. I want to encourage and inspire and bring out new personalities, as opposed to saying ‘this is who you’re supposed to like’ because of a status or a ranking.

“That being said, a dancer has to be in the corps, they have to be a soloist and they have to be a principal. Their integrity and work ethic has to work toward a synergy and a strength that exists within the entirety of a company, as opposed to putting everything on the shoulders of one or two people.”

Canfield said he saw his inherited dancers through new eyes during this season’s collaboration with the artists of Cirque du Soleil.

“I thought, ‘Wow, there’s real depth in this company, not only in artistry and technique but personality and ability to take on different disciplines of movement.’ ” When the time came, Canfield said, “I looked at the entire pool of dancers here and had to make decisions as to who would and would not be offered contracts for the future.”

Now that the curtain has fallen on the last dance of the season, the departing dancers are not without regrets and vague imprecations.

“Unfortunately we’re not going to be a part of the company in the future,” Zeb Nole said Monday, making a point that he was speaking only for himself and his wife, Racheal. “But we want to let the public know, and to let the (Nevada Ballet) board know, that our intent is to stay and be a part of the community, and that we want to see Nevada Ballet Theatre succeed.

“We care about the future of this company and this community, and we’re very concerned about what type of product is going to be presented in the future, and whether or not the company will be able to maintain itself to enter the Smith Center in 2011. I hope that that happens.”

Canfield confirms that he’s a tough taskmaster, and acknowledges the difficulty and pain involved with letting dancers go.

“But I have to say I’m excited,” he said. “I like a challenge — what it does for me is it makes me focus harder, ask more of myself and ask more of the dancers. And the testament to that is the company really looks different right now, they’re stronger and they’ve risen to the challenge and the occasion as well.

“The most important statement that can be made right now is that the people that are in that room want to be here and understand what it’s going to take to continue to be at that level. They’re inspired, and I am as well.”