Dansuer85

I'd have to agree that Sqaure Dance as a whole is very very hard for everyone. Very taxing and he saves the hardest for the end!!

Creating a canon for dance

There's a great need to preserve and access definitive works

By PAUL HORSLEY The Kansas City Star

  Most composers can pound out a few bars of Wagner's “Tristan” on the piano. Artists study Michelangelo and Matisse, often by painting in their style. A writer who wants to make a mark has read Ulysses and The Sound and the Fury.

But ask a young choreographer to dance a passage from early Tharp, and he or she is likely to stare at you blankly.

The subject of a dance canon — a body of historical work that others can learn and draw upon — is a great concern in the dance world today. And it's a relatively new one.

Many find themselves frustrated by the difficulty of knowing even the landmark works of dance. This frustration is part of what motivates Kansas City Ballet artistic director William Whitener to present so many dance classics in creative reconstructions.

Kansas City Star

On your toes, everybody

By ANN SPIVAK

The Kansas City Star

When Alison Nordholm moved to the Kansas City area nine years ago from Washington, D.C., she wondered if the arts scene would measure up to the performances she attended at the Kennedy Center.

One trip to the Kansas City Ballet was all it took for her to recognize the jewel our city possesses. “It was simply fabulous,” said Nordholm, who is chairing this year's Ballet Ball on March 5 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center hotel.

Kansas City Star

Julie Kent

From what i've seen, Michelle Wiles and also David Hallberg

Stravinsky to Balanchine to Bolender to Whitener—

an Artistic Legacy is Passed Down to Present

KANSAS CITY, MO (January 31, 2005) - Versatility and entertainment once again are center stage as Kansas City Ballet announces its 2005-2006 season of ballets. The universally recognized masters George Balanchine, Igor Stravinsky, Twyla Tharp, Mary Wigman and Isadora Duncan, and talented local choreographer Paula Weber, company director William Whitener, director emeritus Todd Bolender and a host of nationally recognized dance artists all share the stage in the coming season.

The Fall Season (October 6-9, 2004) will feature the company premiere of the Stravinsky Violin Concerto choreographed by George Balanchine. The program continues with Kansas City choreographer Paula Weber’s Canzone I and II, commissioned by the Kansas City Ballet to the music of Bohuslav Martinu. ZUZU Lounge, an audience favorite when it was premiered in 2002, was choreographed by Margo Sappington to the fun and retro lounge music of Juan Esquivel.

While he is not my favorite dancer, Vladamir Malakhov has an amazing jump! It's so high and like a cat. He has the quietest landings ever, and they melt like butter.

I too, think it's premature to assume this. Wiles is a very beautiful odette/odile and I do hope you enjoy her. I had the pleasure of seeing her and David Hallberg's debut at the met in Swan Lake and while it was not perfect in all aspects, it was most enjoyable and very memorable! She is my new favorite dancer at ABT!(after Julie Kent)

One word- Bravo!!!

Maybe meaning that they travel all over the nation. I'm sure having "American" in the title of the company doesn't hurt it's cause for wanting to say they are the National ballet company. Which, I see no problem in them doing!

Arabian is a dance for a single female in Balanchines Nutcracker.....or so I thought....

Well it may not be press, but you could call the school and find out that she is teaching there. Sorry if that was *rumors* !

She is back home in Pittsburgh, teaching at Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, her old school and I'm pretty sure going back to College.

Scroll down to Nutcracker Time Again Click on that and there will be pictures of rehearsal at KCB Studios!

Link to KCStar Community Faces

Two Claras & two Princes

‘Nutcracker' performers spend most of their time rehearsing for the Christmas show

By TONI CARDARELLA

Special to the Star

At this time every year, dozens of young ballet students get a chance to perform on stage with professional dancers in the Kansas City Ballet's production of “The Nutcracker.”

“The Nutcracker,” which opens Friday at the Midland Theatre for 19 performances, features the music of Tchaikovsky, performed by the Kansas City Ballet Symphony Orchestra, and with the choreography of Todd Bolender.

Three casts of professional artists from the Kansas City Ballet, along with about 200 children from the Kansas City Ballet School, tell E.T.A. Hoffman's story of Clara and her magical adventure through the Kingdom of Sweets.

KCStar Full Article and Pictures

Royal Ballet's Nutcracker has an adult Clara and Prince and also kept Drosslmyer through out the second act, Clara also danced with the diffrent diverts.

Nutcracker 101

Six things you should know about the Christmas classic before seeing it

By PAUL HORSLEY

The Kansas City Star

Ask Kansas City Ballet artistic director William Whitener what you need to know about ballet before attending the company's “The Nutcracker,” and his answer is likely to be succinct.

“All you have to know is how to get to the theater,” said Whitener, whose company opens its production of the classic holiday ballet Friday at the Midland Theatre.

Full Story and Pictures

I actually must dissagree with you, though I have not seen her perform a whole lot, when I saw her Swan Lake, yes her turns amazed me, but the thing I noticed most, was her softness, regealness and they way she presented her her feet and legs so well. Quite a few ballerina's, wont name any names, do not have that quality, they forget about the small things. *Example of what im talking about is when Michelle would go up to do a pique arabesque, her foot was so precise and elegant and then such a strong gorgeous, but soft, arabesque*

I will add, that I do thing she has alot of growing to do as an artisit and her being tall could be a problem, but if Hallberg stays around, all will be well.

This is still exciting news. I personally, at this point, would rather see her as Myrtha, I think she would make a fabulous Mrytha and Im sure one day, she will make a fabulous Giselle. Myrtha to me, is a character that most people do not fully develop, they do the steps wonderfully, but the evilness, the coldness is not always there, so hopefully she will be able to produce that feeling into the house, to make it a great performance!!!

Murphy is a good turner, but I can't say I enjoy her beyond that. I saw Wiles/Hallberg debut at the Met. Both of them were very amazing. In my opinion, her turns were more mesmorizing than Murphy's, but I guess I should just be happy there will be more Ballet, especially ABT, on PBS. I will just have to find a PBS that will be airing it and have a friend tape it!

Oh how sad . Im very happy it's going to be televised, as it's nice to get Ballet out there to "normal" people! hehe, But Murphy? *sigh* Not that it'll probably show ever on the PBS here, as The Dream never did, I had to buy it.

I hope you enjoy it!! I perosnally enjoyed it very much!! It may not be a master piece to be in the rep. forver, but for now I think it's good!

What about Alicia Alonso?

I really hope that people who enjoy KCB and go to the shows will Post their thoughts about the company!

Stepping up to the barre

Kansas City Ballet stretches its limits with program

By PAUL HORSLEY The Kansas City Star

You barely know what's happening, but in the first moments of Jerome Robbins' ballet “The Concert,” something odd takes place.

The choreographer tears down the “fourth wall” of the stage, the one separating the audience from the players. We all become part of the piece.

Robbins' 1956 ballet, the centerpiece of the Kansas City Ballet's fall program that opened Thursday, works on your mind like a piece of absurdist theater, yet it seems familiar somehow. Everything is timed to the split-second. The audience laughs quite a bit, partly because of the restrained, almost minimalist succession of movements.

Full Review KCStar

*I must say I dissagree with him about stepping stones looking ragged. I also don't think he gave enough review to Paquita and focused too much on 'The Concert', not to say it didn't deserve it, but I felt it was more of a description than a review...just MHOP*

Kansas City Ballet Opening Night Performance Photos