Kansas City Ballet
The Kansas City Ballet is a professional ballet company based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was founded in 1957 by Russian expatriate Tatiana Dokoudovska. The KCB presents five major performances each season to include an annual production of The Nutcracker. The KCB, its school, and its staff are all housed in, operate from, and rehearse at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, a renovated, seven-studio, office, and rehearsal facility in Kansas City, Missouri, that opened in August 2011. The company performs at and is the resident ballet company at the nearby Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, a performance venue in downtown Kansas City that opened in September 2011.
History
1957–1981 – Dokoudovska era
In 1957, Tatiana Dokoudovska founded the Kansas City Ballet at the Carriage House in what is now Overland Park, Kansas. On April 30, 1957, the company gave its premiere performance at the Victoria Theater with Dokoudovska serving as its first artistic director. The program included two ballets: Michel Fokine's original Les Sylphides, and Ruse d’Amour, an adaptation by Dokoudovska of Fokine's The Toys. In December 1957, the Kansas City Ballet Company became a 501 not-for-profit organization with a board of directors, business manager, and musical director.In the 1958–1959 season, the company name changed to the Kansas City Civic Ballet.
In 1963, the company moved from the Carriage Club to a location in Kansas City proper on 45th street near the Nelson Atkins Museum.
In 1966, guest artist Nathalie Krassovska came to Kansas City to set Anton Dolin's restaging of Pas de Quatre on the company.
In 1967, Dokoudovska brought Shirley Weaver, a Kansas City native and former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, to the KCB. Weaver danced major roles with KCB, choreographed, served as ballet mistress, and taught alongside Dokoudovska at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music for many years. To commemorate its 10th anniversary, the company performed a program at the Kansas City Music Hall featuring three guest choreographers.
In 1968, the company moved to Treadway Hall on the University of Missouri–Kansas City Campus.
In April 1968, choreographer Zachary Solov began a multi-year collaboration with the KCB, coming to Kansas City to choreograph and stage two world premiere ballets with the KCB: an abstract piece set to Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and a theater ballet based on Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns. The program also included performances by New York City Ballet guest artists Edward Villella and Patricia McBride.
For the opening of the 1969–70 season, Solov returned to Kansas City to create and present three world premiere ballets with the KCB: The World I Knew, Zygosis, and Divertissement. Lead roles in the first piece were danced by New York City Ballet guest artists Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden.
In 1970, the mayor of Kansas City, Ilus Winfield Davis, proclaimed a special "Civic Ballet Week" to recognize the company. During the 1970–1971 season, the company name changed back to Kansas City Ballet.
In spring 1971, Solov returned yet again to Kansas City to present a program titled "Ages of Innocence" with the KCB. Solov choreographed/set two additional works for the KCB: Rhapsody and Celebration. The program also included two pieces danced by New York City Ballet guest artists Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden.
During the 1973–74 season, the KCB moved to a former appliance store building on the corner of 61st and Troost. In December 1973, KCB performed its first full-length The Nutcracker.
In 1975, the Lyric Theatre was designated as the season performance home for the company. That same year, the company added a third fall production to its existing The Nutcracker and spring productions. The company also implemented its first sale of subscription series season tickets.
In 1976, Dokoudovska stepped down as artistic director of the Ballet to devote her time to teaching as head of the ballet department at the Conservatory of Music on the University of Missouri–Kansas City campus. That same year, KCB qualified as a member of the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Touring Program.
From 1976 to 1978, Eric Hyrst served as artistic director.
In 1977, the company office moved to the Prescott Firehouse in Kansas City, Kansas, an upstairs room with a fire pole in the corner. In April 1977 New York City Ballet dancer Patricia McBride performed her first full-length production of Giselle with the KCB.
In 1977–1978, the company went to a four-production season with the addition of a second spring show.
Ronald M. Sequoio served as artistic director from 1978 to 1980. In 1979, the company moved to a warehouse under the Broadway Bridge at 3rd and Broadway in Kansas City, Missouri.
1981–1995 – Bolender era
In January 1981, Todd Bolender, a renowned and long-time New York City Ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer, accepted the artistic directorship of the Kansas City Ballet. His first year proved to be pivotal for the company with the introduction of major new works and the implementation of several major initiatives to include the creation/formation of the [|Kansas City Ballet School].In May 1982, Bolender saluted his mentor, George Balanchine, by presenting a four-day Balanchine Festival at the Lyric Theatre.
Kevin Amey joined KCB as company manager in February 1983. During the 1983–1984 season, the company increased its performance season with 25 tour dates in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
In 1985, Michael Kaiser joined the KCB as General Manager.
In 1986, the KCB was renamed the State Ballet of Missouri. The company continued to operate under this name for the next 13+ years. That same year, the company moved to what was then called the , a former school building on 42nd Street.
In 1987, KCB debuted in New York City with four Bolender ballets – , , and .
In 1988, Alvin Ailey came to KCB with his ballet – the company's first Ailey work. Also in 1988, American Ballet Theatre's stages his work .
In 1989, KCB premiered Bolender's work , created and performed to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the University of Missouri.
In 1991, KCB premiered its first work by Antony Tudor, .
In 1994, Muriel Kauffman, long-time Kansas City civic leader, philanthropist, and KCB Board Chairman from 1990 to 1992, established a $1 million endowment for the Kansas City Ballet.
In 1994, KCB's Nutcracker sets were redesigned by Robert Fletcher.
Una Kai retired as Ballet Mistress in 1994.
In fall 1995, Bolender choreographed a "Tribute to Muriel" in memory of long-time Kansas City philanthropist and KCB-supporter Muriel Kauffman.
In 1995, Bolender retired at age 81. He was named Artistic Director Emeritus in 1996.
In the fall of 1996, Bolender premiered his last new work for the company, , commissioned by a “Meet the Composer” grant with James Mobberley, composition professor at the and composer-in-residence with the Kansas City Symphony.
1996–2013 – Whitener era
, a veteran Joffrey Ballet and Twyla Tharp dancer, prolific choreographer, and experienced artistic director, was selected as KCB Artistic Director in the fall of 1996.In the spring of 1997, Whitener premiered , the first of his many creations for the KCB. In the fall of 1997, KCB established a full-time [|community outreach] director position.
In 1998, was appointed Executive Director of the KCB. In the spring of 1998, Whitener premiered two new works: Songs in the Open Air and featuring the and local Kansas City actor Dale O’Brien at the Midland Theatre.
In 1999, the company moved to the old NCR Building at 1601 Broadway. KCB presented , staged by KCB Ballet Mistress/School Director , and two world premiers emphasizing live music: Lila York's Gloria which showcased the with the Kansas City Ballet Orchestra and Ann Reinking's which included a six-musician band on stage.
In January 2000, after nearly 15 years as the State Ballet of Missouri, the Kansas City Ballet reclaimed its original name. In October 2000, Whitener co-choreographed On the Boulevard with Twyla Tharp Dance colleague . The dancers perform alongside the with Grammy-nominated guest vocalist Karrin Allyson. In May 2000, Artistic Director Emeritus Todd Bolender traveled to New York City with four company dancers at the invitation of the to videotape Bolender's recreation of the "lost" Balanchine ballet .
In 2001, the company participated in Kansas City's . KCB presented two ballets by Balanchine, his masterpiece and Bolender's recreation of Balanchine's .
In the spring of 2002, Whitener garnered national attention and a Dance Magazine cover article with his work Six Solos, a program presenting six solo works created by the legendary choreographers Lotte Goslar, Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, Agnes de Mille, Daniel Nagrin, and Michel Fokine.
In February 2003, in a collaboration with Johnson County Community College, KCB performed Merce Cunningham's , as staged by Catherine Kerr, with Cunningham in attendance.
In 2004, as part of the and for the first time since 1987, KCB dancers were invited to New York City to perform Bolender's recreation of Balanchine's in the "Wall-to-Wall Balanchine" event at the in Manhattan.
In 2005, KCB performed Twyla Tharp's as part of the "Evening Stars" dance series at Battery Park in New York City. Midwest Youth Ballet began its residency at Kansas City Ballet School in September 2005.
In 2006, KCB announced plans to renovate the old at Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri as its new permanent home. Whitener added the story ballet to the repertory and presented a second series of solo dances by master choreographers, Six Solos of Consequence II.
In January 2007, KCB made a final interim move to a former ladies apparel wholesale warehouse at 1616 Broadway. In May 2007, Whitener added to the KCB repertory.
In 2008, as part of KCB's 50th Anniversary Celebration season, Whitener added Tharp's to the repertory as well as two world premieres, Whitener's and Donald McKayle . That same year, KCB made its debuts at the Joyce Theatre in New York City as well as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The company also performed an extended run of Ib Andersen's at the .
In 2009, Whitener continued to add to the KCB repertory with 's , the world premiere of by Karole Armitage, and 's .
In August 2011, after operating out of nine different locations over the course of 50+ years, the KCB moved into its new permanent home, the totally renovated Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity. In October 2011, KCB made its debut as the resident dance company of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts with William Whitener's Tom Sawyer: A Ballet in Three Acts.