Photos / Copyright 2008 Mike Strong - all rights reserved - kcdance.com - artfulDancer.com
Email This PageAt the Spencer Theatre - (north side of UMKC campus, theater of The Rep)
Matthew Powell is the artistice director for this, the first Crossroads Ballet Festival. This is what happens when top dance professionals get together and decide to put on a show, and more, decide to promote ballet in the midlands. Matthew is the artistic director for this, the first CBF. But this is more than a concert, it is a mission and a passion. And a new dance organization in this area, a cooperative really, devoted to spreading ballet.
This show was packed tonight (Friday) and will no doubt be packed tomorrow (Saturday) (note, saturday was also full). Spencer Theatre - usually used for plays at The Rep - proved to be a perfect pick. Every seat was good.
Robust and high spirited, Crossroads Ballet Festival is a show of and by and for friends, fellow dancer friends, fellow friends of ballet and future friends of ballet. And it is friends pulling for friends. The attitude all around was fresh and enthusiastic.
Last night, in dress rehearsal there were still tons of items to clear up - technical glitches. It looked like it could have used another night for preparations, but tonight, I didn't see those glitches. There were a couple of small moments, with a couple of new errors, but not enough to mention by themselves. This is the kind of curative you get when buddies work for buddies. This did not have a company feel and so it was interesting to me to see how this would work.
Jennifer Tierney and Charles Martin in "El quinto Miembro" choreo by Chelsea Wilcox a ballet to salsa music with three couplesIt is a smorgasborg of classic standards mixed with new, special choreography, some of it just for this show. In some cases mixing ballet with salsa, to the exquisite elevation of both. Chelsea Wilcox's "El Quinto Miembro" was a lush mix of salsa music by Pink Martini and ballet couples.
Karen (Jennifer Tierney) dies on the steps in "The Red Shoes" ballet, Choreo by Matthew PowellThe "Red Shoes" is a new version of The Red Shoes ballet, originally setup as a show within a show. Powell has changed the story somewhat but this is still about magical shoes which make the character dance, first to her delight and then, unable to stop them or remove the shoes, they dance her to her death. In this case he throws in a carnival load of friends and a set of prostitutes portrayed with melodramatic relish. The fiendish shoemaker, portrayed by Charles Martin (KCB dancer), uses the shoes he makes to setup Karen for attack and rape. Karen's rape is carried out behind a moving screen of cloth, carried across the stage by the prostitutes, hiding Karen and the Shoemaker from view. The closing brings another young woman looking longingly at another pair of red shoes on display as the shoemaker lurks behind her, in full-melodrama pose.
After Karen (Jennifer Tierney) dies, the lurking,
evil shoemaker (Charles Martin)
goes after his next innocent prey in The Red Shoes balletThe text of the original Hans Christian Anderson story: http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html - from 1845. If you read this you can see the Matt's story differs greatly (no mother's funeral or old lady or old soldier or headsman to cut off her feet) but Anderson's original story is a bit strange anyway. Then there is the 1948 movie with Moira Shearer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(film)). It shows off Shearer's talents but I've always wondered why her character allows herself to be put through so much agony. Then, again, everyone has a story to tell.
V.I.P. seats $100 - include autographed poster and exclusive access to a closing night reception with the dancers. Helen F. Spencer Theatre (and ticket office), UMKC , 4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, Mo.
Tickets: $20-$25 and student $15 (with student ID one hour before curtain):
Phone for tickets: 816-235-6222
URL: http://www.crossroadsballet.org
