Kansas City Ballet Celebrates 50 Years
Myself a Midwestern transplant, I watched the Kansas City Ballet’s 50th Anniversary program at the Joyce Theater in New York City with pleasure and solidarity. The diverse bill began sweetly with artistic director William Whitener’s “First Position (A Reminiscence),” created for the company’s founder Tatiana Dokoudovska and former artistic director Todd Bolender. Full of classroom vocabulary, the simple but lovely choreography was performed with joy and earnestness by the adept company.
Second on the program was Twyla Tharp’s seldom performed “Brahms Paganini,” a treat to catch on stage. Split into two “books,” the work included the highlight of the evening: Logan Pachciarz’s luxuriant performance of “Book 1.” Watching “Book 1,” originally danced by Whitener who danced with Tharp for a decade, one couldn't help but imagine the artistic director looking on with proud reminiscence as Pachciarz eased between the lilt and snap of Tharp's signature movement style. Lightning-quick flashes of action slunk into languid, contemplative passes; Pachciarz gently shook his head back and forth as if the act might extend the moment forever.
Dancers Matthew Pawlicki-Sinclair, Nadio lozzo and Christopher Barksdale
Photo by Steve Wilson
“Book 2,” a dance for two couples (performed by Lisa Choules, Geofrey Kropp, Rachel Coats, and Luke Luzicka) and a female soloist (Stefani Schrimpf), was an imaginative interpretation of Brahms’ music. The work proved to be a flattering vehicle for Schrimpf, Kropp, and Luzicka, but less so for Choules and Coats who appeared slightly stiff, seldom moving their hips and timid to drop their weight into the floor.
The evening’s final work, Donald McKayle’s “Hey-Hay, Going to Kansas City” (which premiered at the Lyric Theatre in Kansas City in February of 2008), burst with infectious exuberance. If one wondered where the dancers’ hips were in the Tharp piece, they were all over “Kansas City.” The music, a suite of jazz tunes by masters Charlie Parker, Buster Smith and Count Basie (all original recordings from the University of Missouri at Kansas City Marr Sound Archives), informed the choreography and provided a slinky, playful groove that the company seemed more than happy to slip into.
McKayle’s choreography was full of sexy bawdiness (in the second segment, a man slapped his hand onto the hip of his love interest, and she sassily threw it off), and delicious, social-dance-inspired phases. Kirk Bookman’s lighting design was bold and inventive; in the third section, the dancers gathered around a “fire” created with a golden down spot. Melanie Watnick’s costumes glowed with a lush sense of time and place throughout.
The last section was a tightly choreographed romp performed by the entire company. Although the piece could have benefited from a few tempo or level changes, as a whole, “Kansas City” was an utter delight to watch, and it seems, a delightful place to dance.