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Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director William Whitener recently announced the Company's 53rd season.  Whitener stated, "This season features the works of American choreographers and covers a plethora of styles, techniques, and genres.  Two of the ballets are new to the repertory and will be danced alongside audience favorites and the enduring classic, Giselle."

The Fall and Winter Performances and The Nutcracker will feature the Kansas City Symphony conducted by Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau.   

The 2010-11 season will be the last for the Kansas City Ballet in the Lyric Theatre and the Music Hall; the next season will open at the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Fall Performances
October 14-17, 2010 | Lyric Theatre | Featuring the Kansas City Symphony
Three masterworks of Balanchine - Mozartiana, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Slaughter on 10th Avenue - plus the return of audience favorite Lark Ascending by Bruce Marks. 

The Fall Performances open with three masterpieces of George Balanchine. Mozartiana, which premiered in 1981 at New York City Ballet's Tchaikovsky Festival, is one of the last ballets the choreographer created before his death in April 1983. In addition to the principal dancers and small ensemble, the cast includes four young female dancers from the Kansas City Ballet School. 

Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux was choreographed by Balanchine in 1960 as a showpiece for New York City Ballet dancers Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow, and was subsequently performed by such luminaries as Patricia McBride, Edward Villella, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Suzanne Farrell.

The third piece on the program is the return of Lark Ascending choreographed by Bruce Marks featuring the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. "Lark is about the journey of life, that eternal fight against gravity," said Marks. "Each time I see the lark ascend I know why we dance.  In these sad and troubling times it is so important to reaffirm the nobility of the human spirit."

Closing the Fall Performances is George Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue featuring the music of Richard Rodgers, orchestrated by Hershy Kay. Balanchine originally choreographed this splashy, comedic caper in 1936 for Broadway's production of On Your Toes.  A parody of Broadway theatrics, Russian ballet, and the mob, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, set in a tacky strip joint, tells the story of a jealous Russian premier danseur who hires a mobster to kill a rival during the premiere of a new ballet.

The Nutcracker
December 11-24, 2010 | Music Hall | Featuring the Kansas City Symphony
Kansas City's favorite holiday tradition continues with the presentation of Todd Bolender's delightful family classic The Nutcracker in the beautifully restored Music Hall.

From Dec. 11 through Dec. 24, 2010, Kansas City Ballet will present Kansas City's favorite holiday tradition, The Nutcracker, at the Music Hall.  The Nutcracker, featuring the music of Peter I. Tchaikovsky and choreography of Todd Bolender, returns for 15 public performances and three matinees for schools. This full-length ballet continues to delight audiences with its magnificent sets, costumes and special effects. Three casts of Kansas City Ballet dancers, plus more than 200 local youngsters ages 7 to 17 selected from Kansas City Ballet School, tell E. T. A. Hoffman's story.  Nutcracker tickets will go on sale to the public Monday, October 25, 2010.

Winter Performances 
March 10-13, 2011 | Lyric Theatre | Featuring the Kansas City Symphony
Giselle is considered the supreme achievement of the Romantic Age of Ballet.  Performed in two acts, the ballet tells a story of innocence, betrayal, madness and redemption. 

This story of enduring love even after death features two of the most celebrated roles for a ballerina and premier danseur.  Through the music of Adolphe Adam and the choreography of Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, this haunting and tragic love story tells the heart-breaking story of a young village girl who innocently falls in love with callous Albrecht, a prince disguised as a peasant lad. Discovering his real identity and that he is betrothed to the Duke's daughter, Act I closes with Giselle, driven mad with grief, dying of a broken heart - a scene widely considered to be the most dramatically challenging role in the ballet canon.  Act II unfolds as Albrecht comes to her grave and is surrounded by the Wilis, the spirits of young girls who died before their wedding day.  Finally, he watches Giselle dance into the ghostly dawn as he is left grieving at her grave.

Spring Performances 
May 5-8, 2011 | Lyric Theatre
American dance is highlighted with the Kansas City Premiere of Jerome Robbins' Moves, the World Premiere Mercy of the Elements by William Whitener, and the return of The Catherine Wheel Suite by Twyla Tharp.

The performance opens with the Kansas City Premiere of Jerome Robbins' Moves (A Ballet in Silence). The ballet premiered in 1959 at the Spoleto Festival, was a staple of the Joffrey Ballet's repertory in the 1970's and premiered at New York City Ballet in 1984.  Danced without musical accompaniment, Moves features the stark clarity of the body as an expressive instrument, placing the focus on precise and changing choreographic patterns.  The ballet is also an exploration of emotional connections and disconnections, beginnings and endings, shown through an intense gesture, a subtle movement, a glimpse of passion contained.  Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times called Moves, "An extraordinarily powerful experience as theater and dance. Mr. Robbins achieves so much in the simplest terms."

The Spring Performances continue with a World Premiere by Kansas City Ballet's Artistic Director William Whitener.  In his 12th creation for Kansas City Ballet, Mr. Whitener will premiere Mercy of the Elements, performed with live chamber music.

Closing the Spring Performances will be The Catherine Wheel Suite by Twyla Tharp with music by pop/rock icon David Byrne (Talking Heads).  The Catherine Wheel Suite features a selection of dances assembled specifically for Kansas City Ballet by Tharp and William Whitener - an original cast member of the ballet - from 1981's original, full-length work The Catherine Wheel.  The Suite finishes with the renowned and rousing finale, "The Golden Section."  Arlene Croce of The New Yorker calls The Catherine Wheel, "A multi-level poetic fantasy with a twist of scalawag comedy... a suite of social dances through the ages."

For ticket information call 816.931.2232 or online at www.kcballet.org

By KCM Staff