The word move danced in my head last night while watching the dancers of the Kansas City Ballet. Three more nights at the Lyric. Four more performances of Mercy of the Elements, Moves, and The Catherine Wheel Suite. A move soon, this summer, to their new home The Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, a new stage at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Movement. The performance moved me as well.
These artists, this giving company of dancers, gave it their all last night. I cannot fathom their depth of talent and for that reason some of them could read this today and say “…if you think that was our all, come see us this evening”. I’m in no position to share a review and in fact I’ll venture to say that few writers in this city could craft a competent technical assessment. Dancers could but dancers dance, express with their bodies. William Whitener may be smoothing edges and making changes today prior to this evening. Eddie Verso could be sharing some coaching this afternoon to intensify an already intense Moves. Whitener and Aisling Hill-Conner will be sharing notes today to pump up the volume and fun of the Catherine Wheel Suite. James Jordan and Karen Brown, master and mistress, will have notes to pass on as well.
Last night I enjoyed the moments of stillness too. The moments of anticipation before the curtain rose, standing outside at intermission on the steps of the Lyric taking in the cool night air thinking of all those times here, meeting Eddie and Bill between pieces, smiles, handshakes and happiness, the hush after the last ovation as people left the theatre. I stayed for a moment to just take it in and savor it.
But what’s continuing to move before my eyes, making it very distracting to try to write this, are the vivid images of movement from last night, the poetry, the many palettes of colours, the moves, the elements, the sweet sights and sounds of it all. That’s what ballet does to me. These people who move for me in what at first seems like a perishable moment of expression seem to brand those images on my brain with a white hot embrace. It’s quite hard to describe, but you probably understand for you may have a tune in your head today, or an image of home, a loved one. Our world is full of movement and memory. Dance intensifies this world.
Sometimes movement exhausts. I know the dancers understand the meaning of tired far beyond my scale of measurement. On they’ll go this evening and every day until Sundays last curtain. And on Monday, rest? I doubt it. These people have to move, it is their art form to do so. Incredible.
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meet the people who move...
- Kaleena Burks
- Stayce Camparo
- Rachel Coats
- Kimberly Cowen
- Gabriel Davidsson
- Marty Davis
- Michael Davis
- Michael Eaton
- Arielle Espie
- Aisling Hill-Connor
- Nadia Iozzo
- Geoffrey Kropp
- Luke Luzicka
- Caitlin Mack
- Charles Martin
- Marcus Oatis
- Tempe Ostergren
- Logan Pachciarz
- Alexander Peters
- Adam Rogers
- Catherine Russell
- Yoshiya Sakurai
- Angelina Sansone
- Stefani Schrimpf
- Laura Wolfe
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