KNow-it-all
High School graduate fairly defines “prodigy,” equally adept at wearing the masks of comedy and tragedy, as comfortable in Shakespeare as in avant-garde fare. Whether in leading roles like Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” or giving wordless walk-ons their full due, Jenay is a true ensemble player who demonstrates that there are neither small parts nor small actors. — David McKee
Public art No need to drive to Los Angeles to experience a crown jewel of the Museum of Contemporary Art. Michael Heizer’s “Double Negative” (1969), though belonging to MoCA’s collection, is located just an hour’s drive northeast of Las Vegas, outside Overton. The earthwork is the first monumental piece of “land art” created as part of a movement that includes Robert Smithson’s storied “Spiral Jetty” (1970) in the Great Salt Lake. These artists sought an alternative to the New York gallery system and salable, object-based artworks. Heizer hired locals to “carve” two facing 30-foot wide notches into the Mormon Mesa using dynamite, displacing 250,000 tons of rhyolite and sandstone. For Heizer, physical immersion within the manmade trenches, against the backdrop of the dramatic Virgin River valley, was key: “If you want to see the Pieta, you go to Italy. To see the Great Wall, you go to China. My work isn’t conceptual art, it’s sculpture. You just have to go see it.” A quick Google search yields detailed directions. A four-wheel drive vehicle is necessary. And timing your trip to coincide with the early spring desert bloom — as I did in 2010 — is recommended. — Kirsten Swenson
The Las Vegas Ballet Company breathes vigorous new life into ballet classics.
Culture-booster It can be easy to take First Friday for granted. Happens every month, so if you miss one, or two, or five in a row, there’s another in a few weeks. And its structure doesn’t really change — street-fair action along Casino Center; gallery crawls at the Arts Factory, Holsum building and Commerce Street Studios — so you figure you know what you’re missing. But eventually you go again, one of the thousands who attend now, up from a few hundred when it began in 2002. For the moment, you set aside the arguments that occasionally skitter around the event. (Does the street fair cheapen the fine-art aspect or give it an appealing grassroots vibe? How much of the art is any
Bonus
Where’s the best place to take your relatives to show them we’ve got more than gambling? A native and newcomer share their picks at www.desertcompanion.com
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good?) You see some good pieces. You see people you haven’t seen since your last First Friday, and you talk about art. How cool is that? When else does it happen? Almost never. You have First Friday organizer Whirlygig, Inc. to thank. — S.D.
Hike to thrill you (but not kill you) Almost any hike at Red Rock will stupefy first-time visitors to Las Vegas’ great outdoors. The La Madre-White Rock Loop Trail hike, however, lays the amazement on thick with the added bonuses of winding piñon- and juniper-lined trails dwarfed by skyscrapers of red and white sandstone. At just under seven miles, it’s long enough to work off jet lag and conference butt, yet short enough to handle with a hangover. Prepare yourself for “I never knew… !” — H.K.
2010 saw the birth of a fresh, young ballet company, so rich in talent and promise that it qualifies as Las Vegas’ best new dance troupe of the year. The Las Vegas Ballet Company is dedicated to presenting only classical ballets, whether originals or legendary masterworks such as “Swan Lake,” “Nutcracker” and “Paquita,” all of which are already in its repertoire. Kyudong Kwak and his wife Yoomi Lee, who were principal dancers with Nevada Ballet Theatre for 10 years, founded the company and serve as the company’s artistic director and ballet mistress, respectively, as well as its lead dancers. They also head the Kwak Academy. The Las Vegas Ballet Company’s dedication to pure classics in a city rich in (excellent) contemporary ballets is refreshing. And when performing classics such as “Swan Lake” and “Nutcracker,” the Las Vegas Ballet Company always tries to present the original choreography by Petipa, Ivanov and other masters. The technical virtuosity of Lee and Kwak, combined with the talents of the corps, make this possible. But beyond just its technique, I’m especially impressed by the troupe’s youthful enthusiasm and unified dedication to its art. — Hal de Becker www.lasvegasballet.org He should know: Hal de Becker is a former dancer, dance instructor and longtime local dance critic for publications in Las Vegas, New York and London.
C O U R T E S Y T H E L A S V E G A S B A L L E T C O M PA N Y
New dance company