Northern Plains Ballet took a brief pause after the 2006-07 season because of financial issues within the company. Seven professional dancers left to take other jobs. With that, the company decided to hire a "pickup artistic director."

Robert McFarland, a California native, has come to North Dakota as the guest artistic director for Northern Plains Ballet. He will be with the company for six weeks.

"The biggest thing that caught my eye with McFarland is that he believes all arts should work together. He's been teaching for a while, and he believes in educating people through performance," said Hollis Mackintosh. She is the academy director and was involved in hiring McFarland.

McFarland has been in North Dakota only a short time, but he said he's looking forward to the experience. "They were in need of an artistic director, and I thought of it as an opportunity to do something I love," McFarland said.

McFarland, 44, has a vast resume from years of dancing experience.

His background consists of a theater major in college, yet he didn't start dancing until he was 22 years old. "I ended up loving dance. I really wanted a theater career, and I realized men are a commodity in dance; I could actually make a living doing this," McFarland said.

He has been professionally dancing for 18 years.

McFarland is grateful for the opportunity he's been given to dance. He said it has inspired him to make a difference in other people's lives. "Our culture would be better off if we all could express ourselves as individuals," McFarland said. He said he emphasizes expression through a dancer's inner experiences.

This is his first position as an artistic director, but he has done a great amount of choreography and ballet. He has done choreography for five companies in the United States and one in Sweden.

McFarland has high hopes this year for the company. He sees this program as a great opportunity for the community. "People don't realize what an incredible asset the theater industry is. Dancers are such valuable resources," McFarland said.

McFarland said that experience for his dancers is prime. "They have to learn discipline in order to do what they love," McFarland said. He also has learned - and hopes to pass on to his dancers - that a whole lot of effort should be applied to a passion.

"Joy," which is a Christmas program, is the first production at Northern Plains Ballet for McFarland. Music will be provided by the University of Mary Concert Choir and the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Brass Quintet. The music will be a variety of seasonal music, such as Bach and different Christmas pieces. Some selections will be taken from "The Nutcracker." This production will be performed Dec. 7-9.

(Megan Nitschke is a student at Mandan High School.)