British producer and choreographer Michael Bourne's homoerotic "Swan Lake," where the male swans wind up consuming the hunky but naughty prince at ballet's end for not making it with the right swan, is that kind of "Swan Lake."

As readers might guess, Bourne's violence-prone show has been creating a sensation wherever it plays.

Nevada Festival Ballet's Maggie Banks is making her exit from the company (she's retiring) with a more-or-less full length version (a bit more than two-thirds of what was written) of Tchaikovsky's enthralling masterpiece.

NFB's "Swan Lake" opened Saturday night (4/24/99) at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts. Banks, who's anything but old hat, has nonetheless delivered a traditional "Swan Lake," where the prince falls in love with a virginal female white swan, Odette, then runs off with the presumably less virginal, spitting-image black swan, Odile, through the meanest of deceptions. Realizing his mistake, the prince reunites with Odette and they live happily ever after.

Banks's "Swan Lake," patterned after the choreography of Petipa and Ivanov, isn't as sexy as Bourne's, but it does pay considerably more attention to classical dance, beautifully intact with Maia Wilkins as both Odette and Odile and Nikolai Kabaniaev as Prince Siegfried, and Tchaikovsky's lush score, soulfully conducted by Jean-Louis Le Roux and passionately played (sometimes too passionately) by as many musicians from the Reno Philharmonic as can be crammed into the small Pioneer Center pit.

The merits of tradition versus a contemporaneously with-it "Swan Lake" can be debated. What can't be debated is the superiority of the Tchaikovsky score as it's being re-created here as compared to the watered down version for the Bourne again presentation (by David Cullen for mostly commercial reasons). Here, the score is the thing, and it is - with exceptions (dreadfully uncomfortable solo violin playing and much too much amplification) - a full-throated facsimile of what Tchaikovsky wrote. Le Roux's excellent balletic sense of timing is always firmly in control.

In her dual roles of Odette and Odile, Wilkins has the difficult job of seeming enough the same to convince the prince she's the swan he loves, yet enough different to convince an audience there's an interloper about who can destroy the enchantment of young love. Wilkins, with her pristine technique as sharp as ever, was up to all her dance assignments and came off as consistently regal, spectacular and thrilling. It matters little, but it does matter, that her acting does not differentiate enough between the warmth of the good swan and the iciness of the bad one.

Kabaniaev brings years of dance experience to his Prince Siegfried. That's both good and bad. Good because Kabaniaev's well-schooled Russian technique is still admirable. Bad because his still admirable technique is losing the spontaneity that makes Siegfried's adoration for Odette come off as a love-work of mystic enchantment.

Both stars, and the production itself, suffer from a sameness of choreographic ideas that have pervaded Banks's work for some time. I wish it weren't so, especially with this her last outing with the company she founded and loves. Time marches on and Banks has seen this as her time to relinquish control. Her mark has been made and dance is the better for it.

Now Lesley Bandy Beardsley, a fine dancer with extensive dancing experience (including starring in Donn Arden's landmark "Hello Hollywood, Hello"), takes over. NFB doesn't need the hype of a Michael Bourne; but the adventurism and risk of new ideas and a broader spectrum of lead dancers can refresh the company's artistic vibrancy and box office appeal.

With the exception of Kabaniaev, his two hunting buddies (who have little to do) and Steve Meyer, who plays - he really doesn't dance - Von Rothbart, the sorcerer, this is an all-female cast. Banks has always been exceptional with young dancers and the 15 very young ballerinas in the corps de ballet are no exception. They're lovely and dance together, and in their small ensemble moments, with freshness and beauty of line.

Once again, MIchael Fernbach's wizardry of lighting has been called upon to make an almost empty stage look magical. Fernbach comes close to succeeding.

"Swan Lake" closes with a performance Sunday afternoon (4/25/99) at 2 pm. For tickets call 775 686 6600. For information regarding future Nevada Festival Ballet events call 775 785 7915.