Kansas City Youth Ballet Presents Amore and More!

KANSAS CITY, MO (March 3, 2010) – Kansas City Youth Ballet (KCYB) performs their Amore and More program on Saturday, April 17th at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. at Blue Valley North High School.

Con Amore, which kicks off the show, is a twentieth century ballet and one of the best known by choreographer Lew Christensen of San Francisco Ballet, presented in the light-hearted tradition of opera buffa popularized by Rossini. True to the form’s origins, which celebrated the antics of the common man, Con Amore’s humorous story is woven from two seemingly unrelated tales of love. The first is the tale of a bandit who chooses death over life among the Amazons, all of whom have fallen in love with him. The second tale is that of a faithless wife who flees when her husband discovers her with no less than three lovers at once. The ballet’s final scene brings all together in the forest where Cupid conveniently appears to pair them off. The spirited melodrama, making much use of pantomime, is merrily propelled by the music of three familiar opera overtures by Gioacchino Rossini.

“Having performed in this ballet both as a teenager and then as a professional with Kansas City Ballet, I wanted my dancers to thoroughly enjoy the experience and carefree spirit of this ballet,” KCYB director Alecia Good said. “As teachers and choreographers we often spend so much time on technique, lines and placement that we tend to overlook the fact that young aspiring dancers also need to be wonderful actors and performers. Con Amore is a perfect ballet to challenge these dancers to step out of their comfort zones and become someone else!”

The second piece on the program was first choreographed on the Kansas City Youth Ballet in 2005 by Keelan Whitmore. Après, is a neoclassical crowd pleaser with its beautiful lines, designs and flowing movements and is performed to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23 in A major. Mr. Whitmore received the “Choreographic Recognition Award” for his choreography in the MidStates Regional Dance America Festival in St. Louis and the company went on to perform the work at the Tanzsommer Festival in Austria and Germany.

Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux, choreographed by Marius Petipa and restaged by Alecia Good is next on the program. This pas de deux is the wedding dance of Princess Aurora and Prince Charming performed in Act III of Sleeping Beauty. The Sleeping Beauty was first presented at the Marinsky Theatre in 1890 in St. Petersburg, Russia and was the collaboration of Peter Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. The score is not only one of Tchaikovsky’s best works but is also considered a masterpiece, both musically and theatrically. The Sleeping Beauty ballet made its debut in America in 1937 at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and has proven time and again to be a classic favorite.

Following on the program is a new work from KCB company dancer Marcus Oatis. Mr. Oatis has choreographed an athletic, ballet slippered piece to music by Artist Will Sound. The minimalistic piece called Visual Spectrum, set to three musical phrases, is made up of 7 dancers, each with a chair. Oatis marries percussive kicks, turns and chair tricks with fluid lyrical movements.

Also on the program is a piece from Charles Martin, another KCB company member. Mr. Martin’s ballet-based contemporary movement piece is set on the entire Kansas City Youth Ballet and includes additional boys from Kansas City Ballet School. There are five movements set to the cabaret-style music of Bryce Kulak. The costumes were created by former KCB dancer Lisa Choules.

“I’ve had this piece in my mind for around 2 ½ years,” says Charles. “I met Bryce while I was performing in New York City with KCB, and he agreed to let me use his music. It was finally the right time to set this ballet on dancers.”

Reserved tickets purchased by April 9th are $15 (after April 9th they are $18) and can be purchased by phone or online. Groups of 10 or more that are purchased by April 9th are $10 (after April 9th they are $12) and are only available by calling the Kansas City Ballet Box Office at 816-931-2232.  For more information or to buy tickets online, visit http://www.kcballet.org/kcbschool.

KCYB’s engagement is presented with the generous support of the contributions of the Kansas City Youth Ballet Guild and the Kansas City Ballet. These performances are funded, in part, by the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, Kansas Arts Commission, and the Missouri Arts Council.

About Kansas City Youth Ballet
Kansas City Youth Ballet, formerly known as the MidWest Youth Ballet, was founded in the spring of 1997 as a non-profit ballet company comprised of dancers ranging in age from 13-18, who study under the tutelage of Alecia Good— a former KCB dancer for 13 years, and faculty member of Kansas City Ballet School. The Company’s focus is on excellence in training and developing a professional performance atmosphere for the dancers. In 2008, KCYB became the performing ensemble of Kansas City Ballet School—Peter Pawlyshyn, school director. In the summers of 2005 and 2008, the company traveled to Europe for two weeks to perform with the “Young Tanzsommer” festival in Austria.

Kansas City Youth Ballet
2010 Spring Performance at a Glance

Saturday, April 17, 2010; 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Blue Valley North High School
12200 Lamar Avenue, Overland Park, KS, 66209

Con Amore                                        
Choreographer: Lew Christiansen
Music: Gioacchino Rossini

Après                                                 
Choreographer: Keelan Whitmore
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux           
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Restaged by: Alecia Good
Music: Peter I. Tchaikovsky

Visual Spectrum                              
Choreographer: Marcus Oatis
Music: Artist Will Sound

Untitled                                             
Choreographer: Charles Martin
Music: Bryce Kulak

Tickets purchased before April 9 are $15 ($18 after April 9) and are available by calling the Kansas City Ballet Box Office at 816-931-2232.

For more information visit www.kcballet.org/kcbschool/kcyb.

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