Curtain call — Jonas Kage reflects on nine years with Ballet West

As Jonas Kage looks back at his nine years as Ballet West's artistic director, he smiles.

"There have been some beautiful moments," Kage told the Deseret Morning News during an interview at his home. "I don't mean 'beautiful' like everything was bright and cheery, but I mean 'beautiful' as in, everyone is sweating and working hard to put together a wonderful piece of dance."

In April, much to his surprise, Ballet West terminated Kage's contract, leading to a two-month dispute over the terms, which were ultimately resolved June 30.

Kage expressed relief when a settlement — with terms that were not disclosed — was finally agreed upon. "It took a long time," he said at the time, "but I'm glad it's done. Now we both can move on."

Kage moved to Salt Lake City with his wife, Deborah Dobson, and their daughter Isabelle, when Isabelle was 9 years old. She is now 18 and plans to attend the University of Utah.

"It will be an adjustment for her to move to a university environment," said Kage. "Deborah and I are planning to move back to Sweden. We have a house there. And we are planning to make that our base.

"Isabelle has told us that she plans to follow us back to Sweden in the future, but you never know."

During his time with Ballet West, Kage introduced 32 new ballets, nine of them full-length productions.

Of those, Kage himself choreographed "Romeo & Juliet," "Giselle," "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty."

"Working with the company on those was amazing," Kage said. "Especially with 'Romeo,' which was fully done from scratch. The dancers and I worked together in the studio. I kept in close contact with the costume shop, the set design and the props master. I worked with the lighting director, and I think it was a success."

Kage had the idea of using a live narrator before each act, to set up the scenes by delivering lines from Shakespeare's poetic script. "With my background, I thought it all made sense."

And he was right. The ballet was a success, and patrons gave the work a standing ovation night after night.