DANCE: The Next Step

For its 35th birthday, Nevada Ballet Theatre announced the appointment of Beth Barbre as its new executive director. This looks good for NBT, as Barbre is well-known in the dance community for her strong sense of fiscal responsibility coupled with a drive for artistic excellence. Before joining NBT, she was administrator of the George Balanchine Trust in New York City and for seven years was the managing director of Oregon Ballet Theatre, where she put the company on a sound financial footing while locating, purchasing and designing the ballet's first permanent home.

You helped Oregon Ballet Theater through a major growth spurt. What are your long-term goals for NBT?

What attracted me to NBT is its potential. I think there is a unique growth opportunity here not present with most other companies. The NBT board and the local community are committed to investing their resources in the performing arts. Las Vegas is one of the fastest-growing cities in America and certainly its entertainment capital. Now it is ready to become a cultural capital, as well.

With the rapid growth here, do you foresee the ballet school expanding? If so, what direction will the expansion take?

Enrollment at the Academy is healthy at almost 600 students, and it can accommodate 1,000. Our long-term goal is to expand in other areas of the Valley, as well, possibly with a satellite school in Henderson and that the school will provide a stream of talent for our professional company. However, the Academy's primary goal is to inspire youth of all abilities to develop their movement skills and to embrace the art form.

With your connections in the dance world, what new choreographers to you anticipate bringing to Las Vegas?

NBT's Artistic Director Bruce Steivel and I hope to bring in well-known works by choreographers new to Las Vegas, like Twyla Tharp and Jerome Robbins, as well as material by new and emerging dance makers. This should challenge and inspire our dancers and enlarge our potential audience.

NBT expects to be the resident dance company at the new Smith Center for the Performing Arts (scheduled for completion in 2009). What are your plans for the move?

I'm glad we have time to prepare for it. We need to increase our audience and our budget to accommodate the new theater size and cost. We also will be able to produce large-scale productions such as Swan Lake—and it is not premature to plan for this now, since it can take several years to mount a full-length ballet on this scale.

Do your long-term plans include a permanent ballet orchestra?

Yes! Live music is critical to the full expression of this art form. The dancers and audience deserve this. However, a live orchestra requires financial resources and a proper facility, so we are looking forward to the move to the new Smith Center, where a partnership with the Las Vegas Philharmonic can bring to our audience the fullest possible experience of ballet.