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| Photo: John Gerbetz |
Dennis Nahat is never one to sit still. The former artistic director of Ballet San Jose - his successor, Jose Manuel Carreño, was just announced by the company last month - Nahat says mediation with the company he guided for 40 years has yet to come to a conclusion since his unceremonious removal a year and a half ago. But for Nahat, looking forward is more important.
Nahat, himself a former star with American Ballet Theatre in the 1970s, is busy directing his new school and production company in San Jose, Theatre Ventures International.
And much of the last year he spent collaborating with the Dalian Acrobatic Troupe and the United Star Performing Arts Corp. in China to develop a spectacular production titled "Yulan" - don't think "ballet," but rather Cirque du Soleil - which debuted on the Hong Ji Grand Stage in Dalian in November. This fall, thanks to San Jose's sister city program, "Yulan" comes to San Jose, followed in December by his second venture, "The Terracotta Prince."
Q: What do you think about the changes in leadership at Ballet San Jose?
A: I was rather intrigued that they announced an artistic director, when I was told at the time they removed me that there was not going to be an artistic director. Look, I understand how things go and how they change. If they're going to bring someone in like that and everyone likes him, then that's the way it happens.
Q: Tell me about Theatre Ventures International.
A: When I left the ballet, the City Council said to me, if you're going to open up a school, please don't go anywhere else, stay in San Jose. ... I didn't want to create more trouble, so when we had the opportunity, we opened our new facility in San Jose but in District 1, not downtown. We are now a nonprofit school and production company.
Q: How did "Yulan" come about?
A: The Dalian Acrobatic Troupe talked to me about creating a new show for them. When we started discussing what to do, I said, well, let's not do a war story - everyone running around with a sword or a fist in the air, because that's what everyone expects from China. Let's use the artists for what they can do and we will find a topic that any audience can respond to, not just Chinese audiences who know the myths already. So I talked to the teachers about what they liked most about working with the students. One of them said, "I see them when they are very young and I love to see how they grow up, like flowers." So I asked them what the most famous and beautiful flower in China was, and they said the yulan.
Q: With "Yulan," you choreographed and directed?
A: Yes, both, and came up with the concepts. I worked with two other choreographers and with designers for the lighting, the visuals, there are five projectors running video continuously throughout the show. All of this we created in Shanghai with a team, but based on my concepts. I worked through interpreters, of course, because I didn't speak the language, but I gave the lighting and scenic designers photos of examples of what I wanted. And the music, which I commissioned from Hollywood composer Paul Chihara, who worked on Michael Smuin's "Tempest," is being mastered for a commercial CD release as we speak.
Q: What's the story of "Yulan"?
A: The yulan is the magnolia, the most famous flower in China. How long does it take to create something that beautiful and that desirable? It takes millions and millions of years to get to that point of beauty, so don't destroy it.
Q: What other plans do you have beyond "Yulan" and "The Terracotta Prince"?
A: When other people came to see the premiere in Dalian, they said, "You have to come do something for us - come to Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin." So, I'll be returning to China to talk about that with them. A new theater in Hangzhou contacted me and would like to have "Yulan" there permanently as an attraction to launch in the fall. Of course, that would be at the same time "Yulan" would be here in the fall, so we would have to build a second production right away, hire new artists and train them, but anything is possible in China - whatever you can think of can be done.
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