The Bartok piece will always hold a special place in my heart as a profound gift from my father and as a symbol of the bond between us. –Tobias Roth
We often hear about families, such as the Mannings and Hamms, that produce star athletes, and we sometimes hear about military and political families held together by a tradition of service. In Las Vegas, we are more aware than most communities of entertainment industry families such as the Scintas. At Community College of Southern Nevada, the Roth family revolves around dance.
This year, the CCSN Spring Dance Concert is keeping the entire family busy: Dad Kelly is choreographing and dancing; violist son Tobias is rehearsing the difficult Bartok Viola Concerto to accompany the concert’s centerpiece; daughter Kelsey, now a singer, came home from college to perform in the ensemble; and mom Leslie is taking time off from dancing and choreography to conduct rehearsals and handle all the backstage details that keep a show on track. Although the children have embraced other artistic disciplines, this group involvement is typical. According to Kelsey, “Growing up as a Roth means that art is an essential part of life.”
Tobias is studying for a career as a concert violist. For this concert, he will be playing the challenging and rarely performed Bartok Viola Concerto for the world premiere of Bartok At Last! For a long time, Kelly Roth has wanted to use this work as the basis for a dance piece, and Tobias, a promising young musician and the youngest member ever to win a professional position with the Las Vegas Philharmonic (at age 17), has been eager to perform this piece since he first picked up the instrument. “It will be great to experience this moment on stage with him as he plays Bartok, at last!” said Kelly. Although this isn’t the first time the two have performed together as dancer and musician, it might be the last for a while, as Tobias is graduating from high school this year and will be leaving to study at the Manhattan School of Music.
In addition to choreographing the Bartok work, in which he also is dancing, Kelly is one of three choreographers for Variance, presented by A Ludwig Dance Theater. Set to commissioned music by Robert Kaplan, the innovative piece weaves into one cohesive work the ideas and movement languages of three choreographers—Kelly, Babs Case and Ann Ludwig.
While Kelly, Tobias and Kelsey have concentrated on performing, Leslie has assumed the production coordinator role—handling accounting details, assisting with the Ludwig Dance visit, coordinating all media relations, coaching the dancers who will be performing her former roles and making sure that things run as smoothly as possible. Leslie also has been working with members of the Concert Dance Company and the CCSN Dance Ensemble on the reconstruction of the final work on the program—Lehi’s Dream, a multimedia production that looks at the place of dreams, visions, faith and psychiatric skepticism in modern life.
Just another typical Roth family weekend.
CCSN Spring Dance ConcertCommunity College of Southern Nevada Performing Arts Center3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., North Las VegasMay 4 at 7:30 p.m., May 5 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.$8; students and seniors $5651-5483