
I recently had the opportunity to take my daughter,who is currently taking ballet lessons, to the Sierra Nevada Ballet performance of Cinderella at Nightingale Concert Hall on UNR’s campus.
Sierra Nevada Ballet is currently celebrating their 15th anniversary, as well as finally having a home of their own, which is a dance studio at 3929 S. McCarran Blvd. The mission of Sierra Nevada Ballet is high quality performance, arts education and collaboration.
Rosine Bena, the artistic director, introduced the show, where she mentioned that the story of Cinderella dates back to Roman times, and there are over 700 versions of the story. She also said that she chose a version where the character of the Fairy God Mother is actually a Spirit Mother, in which the story showcases the love between mother and daughter as well as the romantic love with the prince.

I think this performance is such an excellent example of the benefits we have as residents of the Biggest Little City. This production felt so “big city” – it was extremely professional, finely tuned, and with amazing costumes. The talent of the dancers really blew me off my feet, as I’m so used to seeing beginning ballerinas that it’s very inspiring to see professional ballerinas take the stage.

I fell in love with the character of the Spirit Mother. This production was so “not Disney”, and truly set itself apart bringing the love of the mother into many acts of the performance. I also found it inspiring how they intermingled the novice ballerinas with the professional ballerinas into a seamless production.
I left with the impression that if your child wants to get serious about ballet, Sierra Nevada Ballet would be an excellent place to get them started, or to advance their skills.
Thank you to Sierra Nevada Ballet for this wonderful experience!