Dance: 20/20 foresight

It was less than two weeks before the big gala this Friday celebrating his 20th anniversary as artistic director of the Sacramento Ballet, and Ron Cunningham was right where he wanted to be: in the studio watching a visiting choreographer create a new work for his dancers.

"A new ballet is in the works," Cunningham said, delighted. "He (dancer-choreographer Ron de Jesus) started to work 10 minutes ago. He's in there scratching his head and beginning to work up some vocabulary. He's a delightful guy and a beautiful dancer. It's wonderful to see him move."

Cunningham takes pride in giving new choreographers a chance. It's been a hallmark of his tenure here (with wife and co-artistic coordinator Carinne Binda) – first with the informal Beer & Ballet programs that he started in 1994 to feature dances created by members of the ballet company, and then with the Modern Masters program, which will present its 10th installment this week.

Cunningham was choreographer with the Boston Ballet in the 1980s when he was recruited to lead the Sacramento Ballet. He and Binda headed West "in a beat-up old Subaru" that he wasn't sure would cross the Sierra into California. Cunningham was hired – first as an interim artistic director, then as permanent co-director with Binda.

Cunningham, 68, likened this week's two big events – the anniversary gala and the Modern Masters – to "putting together two completely different shows in the time that we normally do one."

"It's a little crazy around here at the moment."

Friday's gala "is a big party celebrating the fact that I've been here 20 years," he said. "We wanted it to be fun."

The program will include two Cunningham-choreographed dances, "Incident at Blackbriar" and "Songs of the Auvergne," as well as several other ballets that have special meaning to him.

" 'Incident at Blackbriar' was my first successful ballet, really," he said. "It's a small ballet – a man and two women – and it's got a lot of drama to it. Dancers like that."

The ballet is set to music composed for him and is loosely based on the D.H. Lawrence story "The Fox," although Cunningham said, "I think people would be pretty hard-pressed to make the connection."

"Songs of the Auvergne," a series of romantic duets, has been performed only once before, in 1997. The dance is haunted by a dark, powerful figure.

"I'm always influenced by the dark and the drama of life," the choreographer said. "I put a character in it that is kind of a death figure that apparently is stalking one of the women in the group, like an impending cloud. That's sort of like how life is. It's a very happy, dancy ballet with a touch of real life."

Challenged that he didn't appear to be a man influenced by the dark, Cunningham said, "but I'm somewhat at ease doing ballets about it."

Former members of the troupe will return to perform on the program. Amy Seiwert, now with San Francisco's Smuin Ballet, and Michael Separovich, who has danced with the San Francisco companies of Rark Foehringer Dance Project and Roberts Moses' Kin, among others, will perform a Smuin duet. Seiwert also will stage her dance "Lessness." Members of the original cast of "Jump Jive" – dancer-choreographer Jared Nelson, plus Sunny Staton, Charles Hodges, Kirsten Bloom, Tricia Sundbeck and Separovich – will re-create the swingtime dance. Only original cast member Whitney Simler was not available to return, and Amanda Peet will dance the role Simler first danced. Nelson and Sundbeck also will dance a duet.

Another highlight of the program will be George Balanchine's "Apollo," featuring retiring dancer Jack Hansen.

"It's one of Jack's favorite roles, and I wanted to give that to him as a kind of tribute," Cunningham said. The Balanchine trust granted Cunningham one-time free performance rights to the dance – "kind of a honor to me," he said. Sara Hinman also is returning to dance in "Apollo."

"And then we'll have a big, nice party afterwards," Cunningham said. There will be food, champagne, desserts and music by the John Skinner Band in the STC courtyard after the performance.

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