Dance showcase this weekend

Dancers and choreographers from all over the Valley will perform at the 23rd Annual Choreographers Showcase Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St.

This year's event will included solos, duets and ensembles performing ballet, jazz, tap, Middle Eastern belly dancing, modern dance, and contemporary hip hop.

Local choreographers participating include: Barbi Evans, Victoria Dale, Andrew Branche, Nabila Mettualli, Fletcher Nickerson, Allison Kravenko, Sarah Najera, Marko Westwood, Jilles Reichert, Kelly Roth, Michelle Miguelita Gibbons and Howard Pheelgood.

Award-winning Chicago choreographer Kevin Iega Jeff, artistic director of Deeply Rooted Productions, will arrive in Las Vegas a week before the show to work with University of Nevada, Las Vegas dance students who will then perform one of Jeff's pieces.

Joanne Lentino, coordinator of the arts center, said the showcase gives local choreographers a chance to show that showgirls aren't the only ones who can dance in Southern Nevada.

"It's a great venue for lots of people who have lots of talent and no place to showcase it," Lentino said.

Choreographer Barbi Evans will be joined on stage by her students Annette Ross, Stephanie Webb and Sandi Curtis in the showcase's opening number, "A Dedication to Sept. 11."

"I always wanted to be a performer, from the time I came out of the womb," Evans said. "I remember by the time I was three I was dancing and singing in my grandmother's living room."

Evans grew up playing classical piano and singing.

"My mother (Lee Aaron) always said if you want to do something, you're going to go to the top. So she took me to the Metropolitan Opera to audition and I won a Metropolitan scholarship. I had a coloratura soprano voice with a three octave range. Now I don't have half an octave, but it's OK."

Singing wasn't enough, Evans wanted to dance.

Again Aaron went to the top, calling George Ballanchine at home on a Saturday morning. The the legendary choreographer was listed in the telephone book, and the young dancer's mother assumed it must be the studio number.

"This sleepy Russian voice answered the phone and she told him who she was and made an appointment with him. And I had an audition with the man himself. He heard me sing and he heard me play the piano."

Ballanchine recommended the girl go to Todd Bolender for ballet training. Since she was already 15, she'd never be a professional ballerina. "But she's a natural for musical comedy," he said.

Ballanchine called in Henry LeTang .

"And he took me under his wing and made me his protege. Within a year I was a professional, doing night clubs."

At only 16, Evans dropped out of school to pursue her stage career full time.

"I only recently went back to get my G.E.D. last year," she said.

Evans went on to perform all over the United States and Canada working the night club stages alongside notables like Ella Fitzgerald, Eydie Gorme and Buddy Greco. Her star shone brightest when she played a principal role in "42nd Street" when the musical was on its way to Broadway.

After that, Evans originated and choreographed her own new show "Basically Basie," based on the music of Count Basie. She got Basie's people behind her, rounded up a cast of 24 and was ready to go to Broadway.

"But it didn't happen. I was crushed. We did perform it though -- we were booked into a club for a weekend and we stayed almost four months."

In 1981, Evans moved to Florida and opened the first of many dance studios. A colleague convinced her to move to Las Vegas to choreograph dance that went "beyond T & A."

Now days Evans teaches at Robert Allen Studios part time while she holds down a day job. She loves to point out the professionals working today who she taught as children. "But I know I'm dating myself then," she said.

Dancing even led her to her new love, fiance Donald Baker. The couple met at work when Baker asked about the tap on Evan's key ring. When she told him about her dance background he was intrigued.

"I love music and dance," Baker said. "She invited me to one of her classes. She liked me and I liked her. I pursued her and she caught me."

Baker doesn't even mind joining Evan's household, a place that already includes her mother, 11 birds and three dogs.

"I used to work at PetsMart out here, hence all of the animals," Evans said. "When someone would bring a bird back they didn't want, everyone would always say, 'Oh, give it to Barbi, she'll take care of it.' "

Evans no longer hopes to find fame or fortune on the showroom floor.

"Now this has become a labor of love," she said. "It's become a part of me. But I know my place. I'm tired of taking bows. I'm content to watch and choreograph."

Tickets for the Choreographers Showcase are $12 at the door or $10 in advance. Advance tickets can be purchased at the arts center or with a credit card by phone at 229-6383.


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