KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

September
Right now the biggest thing on everyone’s radar in size and anticipation is the new gleaming structure that resides at 16^th and Broadway. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, which has become a beacon downtown, will open its doors for grand ceremonies and performances on September 16^th and 17^th. Artists include Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, and Diana Krall, as well as the new center’s resident companies, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Kansas City Symphony, and Kansas City Ballet. 

Celebrating elsewhere is the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, who has been the artist-in-residence at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory for 20 years now. WHCDC is well known for presenting multi-cultural feasts, combining dance and music with worldly issues in soulfully creative ways. The September 30^th and October 1^st program will feature works by current Artistic Director Mary Pat Henry, the late Co-Founder Leni Wylliams, and an assortment of others.

October
The Kansas City Ballet will have a premiere on October 14^th. Debuting on the Muriel Kauffman Theatre stage at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Artistic Director William Whitener will unveil his full-length ballet, Tom Sawyer: A Ballet in Three Acts. Whitener’s version of Mark Twain’s classic, all-American novel is set to an original score by Tony award-winning composer Maury Weston. With the ballet’s change of venue, audiences now have two weekends to attend each program.

Wylliams/Henry has a busy fall calendar as it reprises an audience-favorite from September 2010 and January 2011. Back on Cyprus Avenue is co-created and hosted by KCUR’s Bill Shapiro who has selected a variety of his favorite and most impacting songs from all genres over the past several centuries. To experience this unique comprehensive history of music, tune into Shapiro and the WHCDC dancers. The company’s three-quel will be at the Folly Theatre one night only on October 22^nd.

Finishing up the month with its first show of the season is the Owen/Cox Dance Group. Staying true to its collaborative mission, OCDG is pairing up with Park University’s International Center for Music for an integrated concert. The two local organizations will perform to selections of Bach, Bartók, Stravinsky and more at the University’s Graham Taylor Memorial Chapel on October 29^th and 30^th.

November
Kacico Dance will exhibit 6 Impressions, their annual concert, on November 4^th at Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall. The small-member, big-hearted ensemble has no boundaries to contemporary dance and often thinks outside of the box when choreographing and performing. The local troupe, which is beginning its seventh season, also spends time traveling and performing outreach.

Making its way to the Midwest on November 12^th is the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, based out of Washington D.C. Farrell was one of the legendary George Balanchine’s prized prima ballerinas. Today, she perpetuates Mr. B’s repertoire while showcasing promising and pristine artists. Their appearance should be worth the drive to University of Kansas’s Lied Center.

Top Photo: Suzanne Farrell Ballet (Photo by Carol Pratt)

By Laura Vernaci

Dance Contributor

Laura Vernaci is a Kansas City native who has always been passionate about the arts, particularly dance. She began dance lessons at the young age of five and hasn't stopped since. She trained at the Kansas City Ballet where she became a serious dancer and learned about a professional company. 

She attended Butler University in Indianapolis, IN where she majored in dance. She transferred to Truman State University in Kirksville, MO in 2006 and received a degree in Journalism in May 2008.  Laura spent the 2008-2009 in Duluth, MN dancing professionally for the Minnesota Ballet. She performed in productions such as, "The Nutcracker," "Cinderella" and "Coppelia" as well as world premier ballets created on the company.

She recently moved back to Kansas City and is excited to combine her experience in writing with her passion for dance. In addition to performing and writing, Laura also enjoys teaching dance and choreographing.