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Kansas City Ballet Presents 2009-2010 Season of Dynamic Dance KANSAS CITY, MO (July 28, 2009) – Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director William Whitener today announced the 52nd season of performances, presenting classical ballets as well as works by internationally recognized contemporary artists. The Fall Performance, Winter Performance and Spring Performance each features a headline ballet plus other works – December brings the return of the holiday classic The Nutcracker. “We are pleased to welcome esteemed guest choreographers Toni Pimble and Jessica Lang to Kansas City Ballet. Both women are forces in the dance world who are making new ballets at a steady pace and we are eager to engage in their creative process,” says Whitener. “We are also honored to work with Elena Kunikova, former ballerina of the Maly Ballet. The dancers and artistic staff are looking forward to experiencing the benefit of Ms. Kunikova’s knowledge and expertise as she sets classical ballet variations in the Russian tradition. She will be working intensively with our female dancers on the excerpt, Frescoes, from the full length ballet, The Little Humpbacked Horse. It is also a pleasure to add George Balanchine’s charming ballet, Who Cares? to our extensive roster of his works.” The Nutcracker and the Fall and Spring Performances will feature the Kansas City Symphony, led by Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau. Fall Performance - Sponsored by Bank of America As a Russian companion piece to the opening ballet, Kansas City Ballet presents the KC premiere of another ballet, Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. Originally based on Lord Byron’s 1814 poem, this excerpt from the full length ballet was choreographed by Lev Ivanov after Marius Petipa to the music of Riccardo Drigo. Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau calls this, “A spectacular piece of Russian technical bravura and fireworks — a favorite of ballet audiences the world over.” The Fall Performance continues with the romantic duet Splendid Isolation III, a Kansas City premiere by acclaimed choreographer Jessica Lang, one of the country’s most successful young dance artists. Known internationally for her inventive vision, deep artistry and emotionally spellbinding work, this is the first of two opportunities for KC audiences to experience the award-winning Lang’s work — she also is creating a World Premiere commissioned ballet on the company for the Spring Performance. Splendid Isolation III is performed to the Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. Closing the Fall Performance and back by popular demand, Carmen, choreographed by Kansas City Ballet’s Artistic Director William Whitener, features the musical themes of Georges Bizet in an arrangement by Rodion Shchedrin. The ballet tells the tale of a fickle yet fiercely independent gypsy woman, Carmen, in the thick with murderers and thieves. Carmen seduces a highborn soldier, Don José, and becomes the catalyst for his ignoble act of murder. This impressionistic piece, featuring the entire company, traces the tragic storyline and yet probes the stirring emotional subtext. The artistic team of critically acclaimed set, lighting and costume designers includes fiber artist Jason Pollen, lighting designer Kirk Bookman and Judanna Lynn, noted costume designer and accomplished painter. Composer, arranger and guitarist Beau Bledsoe has contributed musical passages in the Flamenco style and will perform on stage as part of the ballet. Guest artist Danica Sena makes her Kansas City Ballet debut performing the Flamenco choreography that was originally created by Sara de Luis. The Nutcracker THE NUTCRACKER Wednesday, December 16 7:30 p.m. *The Sugar Plum Fairy Luncheon will be held at the Marriott Hotel from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Winter Performance José Limón’s masterpiece, The Moor’s Pavane, is a sublime human drama that captures the passion of Shakespeare’s Othello in a timeless portrayal of love, jealousy and betrayal. Limón distills the legend into one-act featuring the noble Othello, the innocent Desdemona, the treacherous Iago and his sensuous spouse Emilia. Set to the music of Henry Purcell, their various passions smolder, erupt, and move them towards the inevitable conclusion, ironically contrasting propriety and violence up to the disastrous final moment. Upon The Moor’s Pavane debut in 1949, audiences sat in stunned silence, overcome by its power. Closing the Winter Performance is Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena, a joyous celebration of dance and an exhilarating integration of cultures. Lambarena is set to selections from an unusual score of the same name that combines traditional African rhythms with the melodies of Johann Sebastian Bach. The score, an homage to Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, unites the two integral elements that formed Schweitzer’s “sound world” — the music of Bach and the native melodies and rhythms of his adopted homeland, Gabon. “It would have been obvious to do classical steps with the Bach and ethnic movement with the African,” said Caniparoli. “But the score is a marriage of these two kinds of music, and I wanted the choreography to be the same thing. I wanted to show that you can do either kind of movement to both kinds of music. It’s very much a ballet, and it’s my own vocabulary, but it’s influenced by African movement.” Striving to keep the style as accurate as possible, Caniparoli consulted with African dance specialists Zakariya Sao Diouf and Naomi Gedo Johnson-Washington to help him blend African dance with ballet. Spring Performance Nationally recognized choreographer Toni Pimble makes her KCB debut with a World Premiere set to Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No.1 for strings and piano. Pimble, Artistic Director of Eugene Ballet since 1978, has created ballets for New York City Ballet and Atlanta Ballet, and her works have been performed by many companies in the United States including Pacific Northwest Ballet and Washington Ballet. In Dance Magazine Martha Ullman West described Pimble’s work as, “Increasingly eclectic, and a vision that is more richly textured with each new piece.” The Spring Performance continues with the gypsy gaiety of Donizetti Pas de Deux — created by Todd Bolender and featuring the music of Gaetano Donizetti. Bolender’s full ballet was first staged in 1967 on guest artists appearing with the State Opera and Ballet Company in Frankfurt, Germany. The pas de deux has since been performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and in 1991, by the Kansas City Ballet. The music for the full work is a compilation of operatic themes on Donizetti’s La Favorita. Award-winning choreographer Jessica Lang returns to Kansas City to create a World Premiere for the Spring Performance following her KC premiere in the Fall of Splendid Isolation III. A graduate of The Juilliard School and a former member of Twyla Tharp’s company “THARP!”, Lang is renowned for creating works of stunning visual beauty and intense emotion. Her expanding international reputation has resulted in her works being performed in Japan, France, Mexico, South Africa, and by numerous American companies, including Richmond Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Closing the season is the Kansas City premiere of the delightful crowd pleaser Who Cares? set to the music of George Gershwin. One of New York City Ballet’s favorite, most requested ballets, it was created by George Balanchine in 1970 to 15 songs Gershwin composed between 1924 and 1931, including “Strike Up the Band,” “Sweet and Low Down,” “Somebody Loves Me,” “Bidin’ My Time,” “’S Wonderful,” “That Certain Feeling,” “Do Do Do,” “Lady Be Good,” “The Man I Love,” “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” “Embraceable You,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “Who Cares?,” “My One and Only,” “Liza,” and “I Got Rhythm.” Hershy Kay’s orchestrations draw extensively on Gershwin’s own piano arrangements of his songs. Balanchine used the songs not to evoke any particular era but as a way to portray an exuberance that is both broadly American and charged with the distinctive energy of Manhattan. Sponsors
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEASON SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION STUDENT DISCOUNTS BARRE: Kansas City Ballet’s Young Friends Group Kansas City Ballet Fall Program Frescoes (from The Little Humpbacked Horse) Splendid Isolation III Le Corsaire Pas de Deux Carmen
Piano Concerto #2 The Moor’s Pavane Lambarena
World Premiere Donizetti Pas de Deux World Premiere Who Cares? ### Please direct all media inquiries to: Ellen McDonald at 816.444.0052.
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