Only a select few ballet companies in this country can look back on 50 years of activity, and one of those can be found in the seemingly unlikely location of Kansas City. This plucky, vibrant troupe has had a series of dedicated, visionary directors and established a strong identity and local presence. Currently led by William Whitener, fondly recalled in this town from his days with the Joffrey Ballet and then as a sublime exponent of Twyla Tharp’s choreography during the heyday of her company, Kansas City Ballet makes its Joyce Theater debut this week with a major Tharp revival and a program of two brand-new works made for these dancers.
Previous appearances by KCB at the outdoor Evening Stars series in Battery Park have showcased the dancers’ versatility and proved they can handle Tharp’s juicy, demanding works. This week’s program offers choreography by legendary modern dance master Donald McKayle, whose work is well known from the Alvin Ailey repertory to Broadway and beyond; he’s also a participant in Whitener’s own latest work, alongside Tharp’s 1980 Brahms’ Paganini, which opens with a bravura, expansive 12-minute male solo that Whitener (alternating with Richard Colton) originally performed. The second half is for a solo woman and a quartet, now restaged by Shelley Freydont, who was also in Tharp’s troupe at the time.
“It’s a lot of choreography; nothing really repeats,” Whitener said understatedly by phone from Kansas City. “Twyla chose a magnificent piece of music and filled it with dense, richly textured movement that draws upon the dancer’s classical and modern dance background.” He recalls drawing on athletic experiences—his background as a skier and trained figure skater—while preparing to perform the solo. “I related to the Brahms solo as an obstacle course that an athlete might encounter.”
Three men will alternate in the role here, and he had access not only to his own memories of creating the role with Tharp but also to extensive archival rehearsal and performance footage. “In teaching other dancers this role, we have been focusing on the dancer’s relationship to the music, and the various possibilities of interpreting that music physically. There is some freedom in terms of the phrasing and the emphasis and the dynamics. So the dancer is in the process of making decisions all the way through. Everything has been set—there are many steps to learn—but there is the ability to interpret and phrase as an individual,” he said.
McKayle’s Hey-Hay, Going to Kansas City, celebrates the rich jazz tradition of Kansas City. “The dance draws from the popular dances that he knows and has learned through his vast experience. It’s a stylization of various eras in jazz.” The title refers to a Prohibition-era Kansas City jazz club in which patrons sat on bales of hay. Whitener’s First Position is set to selections by Alexander Glazunov, whose music has inspired many classical choreographers. In part, it pays homage to the work done by Whitener’s predecessors at KCB, but he describes it as “largely about my memories of starting out as a young dancer in Seattle. There is a central role for one of our young men, and he is the key figure; we see the world of ballet through his eyes.”
Through Mar. 16, Joyce Theater, 175 8th Ave. (at 19th St.), 212-242-0800; Wed. 7:30; Thur.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2 & 7:30, $44.
Previous appearances by KCB at the outdoor Evening Stars series in Battery Park have showcased the dancers’ versatility and proved they can handle Tharp’s juicy, demanding works. This week’s program offers choreography by legendary modern dance master Donald McKayle, whose work is well known from the Alvin Ailey repertory to Broadway and beyond; he’s also a participant in Whitener’s own latest work, alongside Tharp’s 1980 Brahms’ Paganini, which opens with a bravura, expansive 12-minute male solo that Whitener (alternating with Richard Colton) originally performed. The second half is for a solo woman and a quartet, now restaged by Shelley Freydont, who was also in Tharp’s troupe at the time.
“It’s a lot of choreography; nothing really repeats,” Whitener said understatedly by phone from Kansas City. “Twyla chose a magnificent piece of music and filled it with dense, richly textured movement that draws upon the dancer’s classical and modern dance background.” He recalls drawing on athletic experiences—his background as a skier and trained figure skater—while preparing to perform the solo. “I related to the Brahms solo as an obstacle course that an athlete might encounter.”
Three men will alternate in the role here, and he had access not only to his own memories of creating the role with Tharp but also to extensive archival rehearsal and performance footage. “In teaching other dancers this role, we have been focusing on the dancer’s relationship to the music, and the various possibilities of interpreting that music physically. There is some freedom in terms of the phrasing and the emphasis and the dynamics. So the dancer is in the process of making decisions all the way through. Everything has been set—there are many steps to learn—but there is the ability to interpret and phrase as an individual,” he said.
McKayle’s Hey-Hay, Going to Kansas City, celebrates the rich jazz tradition of Kansas City. “The dance draws from the popular dances that he knows and has learned through his vast experience. It’s a stylization of various eras in jazz.” The title refers to a Prohibition-era Kansas City jazz club in which patrons sat on bales of hay. Whitener’s First Position is set to selections by Alexander Glazunov, whose music has inspired many classical choreographers. In part, it pays homage to the work done by Whitener’s predecessors at KCB, but he describes it as “largely about my memories of starting out as a young dancer in Seattle. There is a central role for one of our young men, and he is the key figure; we see the world of ballet through his eyes.”
Through Mar. 16, Joyce Theater, 175 8th Ave. (at 19th St.), 212-242-0800; Wed. 7:30; Thur.-Sat. 8; Sun. 2 & 7:30, $44.
