Dance Veteran Branching Out Into New Field

There are two distinct sides to Patrick Nollet’s dance persona, and both are alive and kicking after almost 17 years in the local limelight.

Nollet, a founding member of the group known as Three’s Company, served as co-artistic director for the troupe during most of its 16-year reign as the city’s leading modern dance group. The charismatic performer danced the lion’s share of major male roles in Three’s Company’s repertory during that prolific period and designed many of its most successful dance works.

But, even during his most fertile years in modern dance, Nollet managed to keep one foot firmly planted in the local ballet world. The versatile veteran performed regularly as principal danseur with the California Ballet--and he continues to maintain that balancing act to this day.

Now, at 40, Nollet not only remains active as a dancer on both fronts, he has begun to move in a new direction as a dance maker.

“I’ve never done a piece on pointe before,” Nollet said. “I’ve always avoided it. But this time, I wanted to do a ballet--something in a contemporary vein. Now, I think of (choreographing a balletic work) as a challenge, not a limitation.”

Ironically, Nollet’s debut as a pointe ballet choreographer will take place at a concert by Stage Seven Dance Theater, a San Diego-based ensemble with which he is only remotely associated. The concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at City College Theatre.

“I originally set ‘Valse Triste’ on the company last year,” he recalled, “and I was very happy with them. It was one of the best casts I’ve ever had for ‘Valse Triste’ (one of Nollet’s most popular and critically acclaimed modern dance works). They were pleased with me too, so they asked me to do a new piece for six of the company’s best dancers.”

“It’s definitely not classical. It’s a jazz piece--Alvin Ailey meets ABT (American Ballet Theatre),” Nollet said laughing as he described this commissioned work for two men and four women. “It mixes modern, jazz, and ballet.”

Nollet was still ambivalent about the piece, titled “Blackwood,” but he pointed out that the sextet is “light--and you might even have a little giggle during the dance.”

“It’s not very profound,” he acknowledged, “but you have to have some kind of idea when you start out. You just can’t keep moving people around the stage, playing with time, creating shapes, lines, and dynamics.”

This ballet begins “with a cluster,” Nollet noted, “and individuals break out and are pulled back into the cluster. That’s why I call it ‘Ambivalence,’ but I’m not sure what I’ll end up calling it.” (Stage Seven listed the jazz-based dance as “Blackwood” on its publicity material.)

“I chose the music--a jazz clarinet piece by Eddie Daniels,” Nollet added. “That’s where the idea came from, but the ending is a surprise.”

Stage Seven has a strong commitment to commissioning new works.

Former Cal Ballet dancer and ballet master Paul Koverman, now artistic director of the Phoenix School of Ballet, will share this weekend’s program with Nollet. The former San Diegan has been invited to contribute four pieces to the concert, including two new works, “Maybe It’s You, Probably It’s Not” and “The Separation.”

“Kathryn Irey (artistic director of Stage Seven Dance Theater) brings in people like Paul Koverman and gives them the opportunity to do professional work,” said Nollet, “and she gives the dancers performing opportunities. I can’t think of any other company that’s doing that locally.”

Ever since Three’s Company made the creative output of Jean Isaacs and Nancy McCaleb its central focus, Nollet’s artistic presence in the company has been minimal. However, “there are definite possibilities” that his choreographic voice will be heard again on his home turf, as Nollet acknowledged.

“I didn’t want to consistently produce new work,” he said, “so I stepped out of it. Now, that I’m in the swing again, I hope to do more.”

A new work for the California Ballet is part of Nollet’s plan. But the talented dancer/choreographer believes he has come to a crossroads, and his destination is still unknown.

“I’m 40 years old,” he observed, “and I have to consider retiring from dancing. At present, I’m a full-time graduate student at San Diego State University (working toward a Master of Fine Arts Degree). I’m trying to decide whether to continue (in dance) or to teach dance at the college level, if the opportunity came. Right now, I’m going to give graduate school a shot.”

Nollet has other options to explore. He has already performed and choreographed for musical theater (including stints with the San Diego Repertory and Starlight) but admits opportunities are few and far between in that competitive arena.

“I’d like to do more theater,” he conceded, “but you can do something for a while, and then a new director comes in and it’s tricky. Nobody consistently uses the same choreographer. I think the college degree will help there also.”

Nollet expanded his horizons to writing since returning to academia last fall.

“I wrote a one-man show, based on Nijinsky’s diary (the great Diaghilev dancer/choreographer),” said Nollet. “The professors are interested in expanding it into a new musical on the Diaghilev era, so that could be a great opportunity for me.”

Nollet has more questions than answers about his future, but he is sure of one thing.

“I want to get another ‘Dracula’ under my belt,” he said. “It took me 20 years to get a role like that (the blood-thirsty title character in the classic horror story). If the Cal Ballet does it again, I want to do it.”

In any case, it is unlikely that Nollet will completely close the book on his dancing days, even if he does announce his retirement soon.

“There’s always work at Christmas time as Drosselmeyer,” he noted. “You can do that and Coppelia for a long time.”