It’s a rare person today who sticks to the same career path — let alone the same position — for more than a handful of years. How about four-plus decades? Enter Maestro Carmon DeLeone, Cincinnati Ballet’s music director for 43 seasons running.

Fairy tales, however fantastical, are more than mere fluff. Try mining them for more meaning and mixing them with modern dance. This seems like the most natural thing in the world for internationally recognized choreographer/artistic director Robert Moses.

At heart, Carmen is a sensual story of passion. Putting a daring new spin on one of the best-known and beloved stories of opera repertoire sounds like a tall order. But internationally renowned choreographer Amedeo Amodio is perfectly suited to create a contemporary-infused dance version.

Cincinnati Ballet’s The New Nutcracker is, in a word, spectacular. And I mean that in the literal sense: It’s truly a spectacle. Thursday evening’s well-attended opening night at the Aronoff Center offered an impressive smorgasbord of visual and dance delights.

Imagine what goes into creating a brand-new production of a beloved full-length ballet, top to bottom. The time is finally here: Cincinnati Ballet’s long-awaited, eagerly anticipated The New Nutcracker premieres Thursday at the Aronoff Center.

At heart, dance is all about expression, and Ronen “Roni” Koresh gets it. Over two decades, his jazz-infused yet modern Koresh Dance Company has earned a reputation for delivering powerhouse performances to sold-out venues nationally and abroad. For the first time in three years, the Philadelphia-based ensemble returns to the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater this weekend, kicking off Contemporary Dance Theater’s 2011-2012 Guest Artist Series.

For many Cincinnati area audiences, dance means classical ballet — annual Nutcracker performances or perhaps Swan Lake. But Mario de la Nuez and Meridith Benson, co-artistic directors of de la Dance Company, are trying to change all that with performance evenings like DanceCincinnati2011.

No guts, no glory. No risk, no reward. These clichés generally hold true for Cincinnati Ballet’s annual season opener — its modern-leaning, mixed-bag New Works showcase — but they seem more apt than usual. This year’s Kaplan New Works Series, which opened on Thursday night at the Ballet’s own intimate Mickey Jarson Kaplan Studio, delivers on its titular promise — four of the five new works were world premier.