KCMO to be wowed by New Dance Partners performance

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

“There are a lot of exciting things going on in the Kansas City dance community,” says Devon Carney, Artistic Director of the Kansas City Ballet. He is particularly excited about the “New Dance Partners” project at Johnson County Community College.

New Dance Partners is putting on a performance as part of the national Dance/USA annual conference to be held in Kansas City in June. The performance on June 8 features the Kansas City Ballet, the Owen/Cox Dance Group and the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company.

“New Dance Partners is an exciting thing that started four years ago,” says Carney. “They decided to do this collaborative idea, to be able to commission each of these three companies and give them an opportunity to have a piece created for their company that normally they might not be able to afford.”

Owen/Cox will be dancing a piece called Ghost Light by Penny Saunders. Wylliams/Henry will present Twisted Metal by Gregory Dawson. Both works are contemporary, and both were commissioned by Johnson County Community College through the New Dance Partners project. Kansas City Ballet will perform Interplay by Jerome Robbins.

The two contemporary dance companies each stage three performances a year. In addition to commissioning new works, the New Dance Partners project is a presenting theatre and puts on performances throughout the year.

Carney is looking forward to the Dance/USA conference, which brings together dance leaders from across the United States. It’s an opportunity, “to find out what the trends are and how to move the needle forward,” he says.

And having the conference in Kansas City lets national dance leaders see innovations like New Dance Partners. “It is a quite unique model,” says Carney. “Leaders wonder how they could make that work in their own community. It’s great that there is an organization that is doing their part and having new works created. That’s how our art form will continue to be relevant looking to the future. We are always focused on making sure that part of my season is involved in a new creation.”

The program has a regional reach and has worked with the Oklahoma City Ballet in the past.

Kansas City dance aficionados can experience a New Dance Partners performance June 8 at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $24 to $41.50 and can be purchased online at www.kcballet.org.

Organizers say dance patrons will do themselves a favor if they watch what the New Dance Partners project is doing in their community. It provides the opportunity to see newly commissioned works done by the outstanding dance companies in the Kansas City area.

Copyright 2017 The Gayly – June 2, 2017 @ 11:35 a.m.