Something’s Coming: Robert La Fosse on Staging West Side Story Suite with Ballet West
There's a moment in West Side Story Suite that Robert La Fosse returns to again and again when he describes the work, a single scene that sets the stage for the powerful work. Two young people, drawn across a crowded gym floor through the chaos of competing dancers until they meet, and then the world narrows to just them.
"It's one of the greatest moments in theater," La Fosse says.
He would know. La Fosse has been inside the world of Jerome Robbins' pieces for decades, first as a dancer, now as its stager. He's in Salt Lake City for five weeks, bringing the suite to Ballet West for the company's production of West Side Story Suite: Broadway & Beyond, running April 10–18 at the Capitol Theatre.
A Lifetime in Robbins' World
La Fosse's relationship with Jerome Robbins didn't begin with West Side Story Suite. It began during his teen years in his hometown of Beaumont, Texas, when he performed in Robbins’ Gypsy long before he understood who had choreographed it. Years later, after a long career as a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, Robbins himself called La Fosse to dinner and invited him to join New York City Ballet.
That invitation led to one of the great creative partnerships of his career. When La Fosse was cast in Jerome Robbins' Broadway, a six-month Broadway rehearsal process drawing from the full sweep of Robbins' catalog, it was a master class unlike any other. The experience earned La Fosse a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. More importantly, it planted the seeds of his deep understanding of Robbins' approach to West Side Story Suite.
When Ballet Meets the Street
When Peter Martins eventually persuaded Robbins to bring the suite to New York City Ballet, Robbins was resistant at first. His hesitation was practical: ballet dancers are trained to move beautifully, to turn out, to carry themselves with elegant precision. In West Side Story Suite, it’s the exact opposite.
"Real people don't turn out," La Fosse says, laughing. "I have to remind the dancers of that at least three times a day, not to mention the pretty ballet fingers that also have to go.”
Show dancers, La Fosse explains, are trained to become individuals, to inhabit a character's specific physical life. Ballet dancers are often trained in the opposite direction — to match, unify, and mirror. West Side Story Suite asks each dancer to find something entirely personal: the way a character holds his head, whether he leads with his chest or his hips, the swagger that makes Riff different from Tony.
He also asks dancers to read the script, even the scenes that won't appear on stage, so they understand why each song exists, what emotional logic drives each number forward. "You're not just doing a number," he says. "You're approaching it like an actor."
Ballet West: A Surprising Fit
What La Fosse discovered when he arrived at Ballet West was unexpected.
"What was really surprising was how diverse the company is," he says. "Adam has the people to represent Jets and Sharks, and that's fantastic, because all we really have is visual. We don't have words."
Casting West Side Story Suite authentically is one of its most delicate requirements. Without dialogue to define who belongs to which gang, every visual cue matters, including movement, temperament, and costuming. (The Sharks' costumes lean into deep reds and blacks; the Jets into yellows and light blues.) A company with genuine diversity makes that storytelling possible in a way that simply isn't available everywhere.
He was also struck by a discovery that tends to happen when dancers are asked to step outside their comfort zone. One dancer, Corps Artist Mikayla Gyfteas, had never sung before. Within the first week of rehearsals, she found her voice. By the end, it had grown stronger every time she walked into the room.
"She built confidence and realized, oh, I've got a natural instrument," La Fosse says.
Why Now?
It's a question La Fosse always keeps in mind and carries into every rehearsal.
"Why are we telling this story now? It's a beautiful message of hope and love."
West Side Story is, at its core, a story about the fear of the other — what happens when communities close themselves off from one another, and the human cost of that hatred. The immigrant experience at its center has shifted over the decades and who "the other" is changes with each generation, but the underlying conflict has not.
Audiences who come expecting a conventional ballet program will be moved in ways they may not expect.
"They're going to be blown away," La Fosse says. "And they're going to cry at the end."
West Side Story Suite: Broadway & Beyond runs April 10–18, 2026 at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. Tickets are available at balletwest.org.