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Two Too Terrific: The Cleveland San Jose Ballet
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12743 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1994 |
1,879 Words |
| Author
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Leland Windreich
Leland Windreich is a dance writer and historian living in
Vancouver, Canada. |
In an era when most major ballet companies are cutting operating budgets and freezing employment rosters, when many regional establishments are suspending operations, and when artistic directors--now mere pawns in the hands of powerful boards--are sacked for displays of temperament, Dennis Nahat is rolling merrily along with his extraordinarily successful two-city ballet venture and contemplating a bright and glorious future.
The Cleveland San Jose Ballet, now in its seventh year of operation, opened its 1994--95 season at the State Theatre in Cleveland on September 28 with Nahat's ebullient version of the romantic ballet Coppélia. A seasonal Nutcracker will be shown in both cities, and Nahat's popular version of the Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet will close the run in April. Revivals of George Balanchine's Who Cares?, the company premier of Donald McKayle's Games, and the director's early Slavonic and Hungarian Dances will be viewed. A new creation by Nahat will also have its premiere.
Boundless Energy
Nahat's energies seem boundless, and his gimlet eyes brim with mischief. During the director's dancing years with American Ballet Theatre, New Yorker critic Arlene Croce described him as "tall, thin, and slinky, with a beaky nose, huge hungry eyes, and a ruff of curly black hair." Approaching fifty, Nahat no longer sports the ruff, but the other attributes remain intact. His ease and high spirits make it clear that much of his success is due to his natural gifts and abundance of raw talent.
He was born in Detroit in 1946 to a Syrian family (his mother emigrated from Damascus), the second of four children. Music study was obligatory, and he mastered the piano, violin, and oboe. His father had blessed the family with an insurance policy, issued by Maccabees Life, that offered an unusual bounty to children of the insured--dancing lessons. Nahat partook, grudgingly at first, but by the age of twelve he was helping with the teaching. Entrepreneur and producer of his high school's theatrical offerings, Nahat joined the small Detroit Civic Ballet after graduation. Juilliard dance director Martha Hill was impressed by his potential and recommended him for study at the prestigious New York school. There he worked with distinguished dance pioneers Antony Tudor, José Lim—n, and Anna Sokolow. It was Tudor who influenced his decision to join the newly formed City Center Joffrey Ballet, where he created roles in ballets by Sokolow and Gerald Arpino.
In 1968 Nahat
...
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