Moscow Ballet returns to the scene of the thwarted crime when it gives two performances on Sunday afternoon of its “Great Russian Nutcracker” at the Tower Theatre in Bend.

As The Bulletin’s Kyle Spurr reported almost one year ago, a man opened the tour bus’ unlocked cargo hatch “and pulled out nine bags full of audio and visual equipment, jewelry and passports.” A production manager, Dan Gibbs, came upon the would-be theft when he “stepped outside to get cases of water for the dancers,” Spurr wrote.

Moscow Ballet Producer Akiva Talmi would rather focus on the company’s in-progress Dove of Peace Tour.

“We are an advocacy tour, so we are advocating for peace,” Talmi said.

The Russian production features a unique role in the opening of Act II featuring two dancers, who perform together as a new character, the Dove of Peace. Each wears a 10-foot span of the costume, creating together the appearance of a 20-foot wingspan and flying bird as the two dance an acrobatic ballet.

The Dove of Peace is exclusive to the Moscow Ballet, Talmi said, and can trace its plumage back to the Bolshoi Ballet dancer Stanislov Vlasov, who served as choreographer and ballet master of Moscow Ballet’s inaugural “Great Russian Nutcracker” in the early 1990s.

“This man did the premiere of Bolshoi in America in 1958 in Carnegie Hall,” Talmi explained. “That night he performed his version of a bird ballet. … When he formed Moscow Ballet, we made his choreography the theme of the company, and we transformed ‘The Nutcracker,’ from candy to Dove of Peace.

The Dove of Peace appears in the Land of Peace and Harmony during the overture of Act II — replacing, dentistry aficionados will be heartened to learn, the Land of Sweets.

“Instead of all the candy business, we made a Land of Peace and Harmony … (where) all mankind, creatures live in peace and harmony. We have many, many animals that I hope will sit on stage.”

Dovetailing with Moscow Ballet’s intended peace mission is its outreach effort called Dance With Us. The program affords local ballerinas the opportunity to perform onstage alongside the nearly 40 members of the company.

“We put a lot of effort into it,” Talmi said. Seven dancers travel to audition dancers, conduct master classes on the style of Russian ballet and teach choreography for the locals’ walk-on parts.

“They dance in the party, a very nice section. They can do intermediate level, and look OK. They dance the mice, which always can look OK. Then they dance the tiny snowflakes, which hopefully looks OK,” he said, chuckling. “The 14 Russian ladies do the snow, and then the little ones, we take the tiniest one we can find. … It looks very sweet, and if they do it right, it looks good.”

Ballerina Elena Pedan is one of Moscow Ballet’s seven audition directors, who travel across the U.S. and Canada in search of local dancers ages 6 to 18.

Among the 17 schools she visited for the Dove of Peace tour was Terpsichorean Dance Studio in Bend, where local dancers have been practicing. They’ll have a dress rehearsal with the pros Sunday morning.

When she works with local kids, Pedan said, she looks for good technique and how they show emotions on stage, “and based on this, I make (my) decision.”

“Dreams come true when you dance with the real ballerinas,” she said. “It’s a good opportunity for them to see beautiful costumes and big stage, a big audience — not only parents. … A real audience.”