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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Kansas City Ballet
Spring Performance:  Nine Sinatra Songs
Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 at 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 10 at 2 p.m.
Lyric Theatre
11^th and Central, Downtown Kansas City, MO

Now in its 51st season, the Kansas City Ballet will present two world premieres and an encore performance of Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs.  The Spring Performance opens with the world premiere of Salute, choreographed by the company's Artistic Director, William Whitener.  This piece will also honor the 21-year career of Company member, Christopher Barksdale, who will be retiring from the Company at the conclusion of this season.  The program continues with an award-winning work by local choreograher, Karole Armitage (a native of Lawrence, KS)  appropriately titled, World Premiere.  The program culminates with an encore presentation of Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs, an elegant yet cheeky piece that looks back nostalgically on the social dancing of the 1950s.  Tharp, an internationally renowned choreographer, gives the dance a social critique by emphasizing the female partner as she interacts with her male counterpart.  Performed on Broadway, at the White House, and abroad, this piece is a popular work among Modern Dance fans.  The Frank Sinatra songs featured in the work include Strangers in the Night, All the Way, That's Life, One for My Baby, Softly as I Leave You, Somethin' Stupid, Forget Domani, and My Way. 

For tickets call 816-931-2232 or online at www.kcballet.org

Kacico
A Concert of Solos
Thursday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Kacico Studios West
2540 West Pennway (Broadway), 2nd Floor, Kansas City, MO

This innovative local Modern Dance company always presents experimental and engaging works.  This particular concert will feature solo pieces choreographed by well-known local choreographers, including Shandi Miller, Lindsay Spilker Tate, Susan Warden, Julie Rothschild, Peter Kalivas, and Michelle Diane Brown. 

For tickets call 816-569-5206 or online at www.kacicodance.org/Events.html

Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company
Spring Dance Concert
Thursday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m.
White Recital Hall at UMKC
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO

If you enjoy two of Kansas City's most well-known traditions, KC Jazz and Gates BBQ, then you won't want to miss the high point of the Wylliams/Henry Spring Dance Concert, Gates B-B-Que Suite, featuring an original composition by KC Jazz icon, Bobby Watson, and played by Watson's Big Band Jazz Orchestra.  The piece is a playful look at the social life in a barbeque restaurant, as portrayed in dance.  The concert will also feature works both by local and internationally acclaimed choreographers.  Other works on the concert's program are Red (choreography by Paula Weber to the energetic music of Beethoven), Concrete Abstract (choreographed by Sean Curran to the music of Tigger Benford), We Dance (choreographed by Kevin Iaga Jeff to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach), and Give Your Hand to Struggle (a solo work choreographed by to the music of Sweet Honey In The Rock). 

Co-founded by Assistant Dean Mary Pat Henry and the late, great dancer and choreographer, Leni Wylliams almost 18 years ago, the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company are "Artists-in-Residence" at UMKC's Conservatory of Music and Dance.  Often hailed by fans and critics alike as one of the most interesting professional dance companies in the Midwest, the group recently received a matching grant of $50,000 from the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation to expand special programming for young people within the metro area.  The Spring Concert is intended to be a celebration of the group's success, as well as the history and art of local Kansas City. 

For tickets call 816-235-6222, or online at www.conservatory.umkc.edu
For more information on the Company, www.wylliams-henry.org

By Nicole English

Dance Contributor (Past writer)