Matthew Donnell Says Goodbye to Kansas City Ballet

	Matthew Donnell

Hello everyone!  As this season is coming to a close, I asked if I could share a few thoughts with the community. 

In August, 2000, my journey with the Kansas City Ballet began.  This was my first experience as a salaried member of a ballet company, and at the ripe old age of nineteen, I “left the farm” and moved across the country to join this organization.  Little did I know then what this place would come to mean to me.  At that age, I decided that I would take things a year at a time.  After my first season was over, I knew for sure that I wanted to continue dancing, so I set out to see if I could make it five seasons.  Five seasons came and went in the blink of an eye, so I thought “What the heck?  Let’s go for ten!” 

Well, here I am at the end of my tenth season.  Knowing that I have always planned to move to New York and pursue my first love of theatre, it is time that I bid you all “Farewell.”  However, I couldn’t do this without taking the time to express my extreme gratitude to everyone who has supported me and the Kansas City Ballet over these years.  I want to thank my employers who first gave me the chance to have a career, the board who makes it possible to exist as an organization, the production team who makes the magic happen on stage from backstage, my beautiful colleagues who have been my family, the staff who works diligently behind the scenes in the office, and last and most certainly not least, the audience. 

I want to address “the audience” now.  As a performer, I have lived for the stage.  The process, the sweat and the injuries are all for you.  If it were not for you, there would be no point, in my mind, to dance.  I have been so blessed to have had the chance to go onstage and feel your energy flooding towards me and my fellow artists.  I cannot imagine anything more joyous in my life than the thought that I have gotten to be a part of your entertainment regardless of the size of the role.  It has been the most incredible challenge to try to bring excitement and joy to you if only for an evening.  You have thanked me many times with your applause, and now I want to thank you for your support. 

A dancer’s career is often likened to a “flash in the pan.”  Some have longer careers than others, but it has been said that on average, ten years is a lucky length of time in this field.  For me, there is much more to it than the time I have spent on stage.  I moved here and built the first home of my own.  I found a community of wonderful people in this city, and I fell in love with it.  I have been proud to live Downtown and watch the city grow over the past several years.  When I walk to work and see the sweeping walls of the Kauffman Center, I get goosebumps.  The arts in Kansas City are very much alive, and every where I turn I am reminded of that. 

As I make my way off of this stage and onto a new one, I know I will carry Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet with me wherever I go.  I also know that I am leaving part of my heart here.  Thank you for giving me the chance to grow up here both personally and artistically.  I encourage everyone to continue to support this wonderful company, and I hope that there will be many more young dancers to come who will find this as wonderful a place to spend their balletic career as I have. 

Sincerely,
Matthew C. Donnell

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Matthew C. Donnell
Actor/Dancer/Clown/Instructor/Choreographer
816.914.4235
www.matthewdonnell.com

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