Todd Bolender News

 Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced the appointment of two new members, Elysa Hotchkiss and Thom Panto, and two new apprentices, Lilliana Hagerman and Naomi Hergott to the Kansas City Ballet Company. Additionally there are 10 new members of Kansas City Ballet's Second Company comprised of KCB II dancers Ivan Braatz, Nikolas Gaifullin, Aaron Steinberg and Goldie Walberg and Trainees Miranda Dafoe, Lindsay Dekleva, Elizabeth Dennen, Melanie Jensen, Zoe Stein, and Kara Troester. High resolution photos can be downloaded here.

Kansas City Ballet will present the 5th Annual KC Dance Day at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity today, Aug. 29th from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

KANSAS CITY, MO (July 7, 2015) — Kansas City Ballet will present the 5th Annual KC Dance Day at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity on Saturday, Aug. 29th from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The full day will feature FREE dance performances, classes, demonstrations and FUN for the whole family. In addition to free classes, attendees will enjoy performances, prize drawings, giveaways and relaxing under the tent with food and beverages available for purchase from Two Guys and a Grill. Pre-registration for classes is recommended. Visit kcballet.org or register in person the day of the event. 

With enchanting beauty and grace, the Kansas City Ballet brings Dances Daring (Then and Now) to the stage of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. From the moment of the first curtain rising, to the fall of the final curtain the beautifully crafted and performed movements of the four-part ballet mystifies the audience.

The 57th season of Kansas City Ballet closes with “Dances Daring (Then and Now),” with four electrifying works in one performance: Edwaard Liang's Wunderland,featuring the music of Philip Glass, is a haunting, visually striking contemporary ballet; performed in celebration of the centennial of his birth, the pas de deux from Todd Bolender's most revered ballet, The Still Point, features the music of Claude Debussy; Concertino follows, set to the music of Arcangelo Corelli, by choreographer Amy Seiwert who is gaining national renown for her surprising, remarkable work; and finishing the program George Balanchine's iconic The Four Temperaments, set to the music of Paul Hindemith, is pure energy.

The 57th season of Kansas City Ballet closes with “Dances Daring (Then and Now),” with four electrifying works in one performance: Edwaard Liang's Wunderland,featuring the music of Philip Glass, is a haunting, visually striking contemporary ballet; performed in celebration of the centennial of his birth, the pas de deux from Todd Bolender's most revered ballet, The Still Point, features the music of Claude Debussy; Concertino follows, set to the music of Arcangelo Corelli, by choreographer Amy Seiwert who is gaining national renown for her surprising, remarkable work; and finishing the program George Balanchine's iconic The Four Temperaments, set to the music of Paul Hindemith, is pure energy.

Pacific Northwest Ballet corps de ballet dancer Brittany Reid has announced she will be retiring at the end of the run of Kent Stowell's Swan Lake (April 10 - 19), following a 15-year career with PNB.

Calling all balletomanes, historians, Ph.D. candidates, sociologists, audience members, and just about everyone else interested in dance. Do you want to see Diana Adams, Allegra Kent, Violette Verdy, Jillana, Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil LeClercq, Andre Eglevsky, Suki Schorer, Patricia Neary, Carol Sumner, Todd Bolender, Arthur Mitchell, Francisco Moncion, Nicholas Magallanes and Jacques d'Amboise again in the intimate surrounding of your living room? No, this not a joke, but the first of many VAI DVD releases from Montreal's Radio-Canada archive, encompassing a televised history of Balanchine's many works from 1954 well into the 1970s.

Artistic Director Devon Carney presents New Moves, a unique performance event designed to search out, develop and showcase emerging choreographers, both from the national dance scene as well as locally within Kansas City Ballet.

KANSAS CITY, MO (January 26, 2015) - The Kansas City Ballet today announced the 2015-2016 season. The 58th season will commence with the Kansas City Premiere of The Three Musketeers, choreography by Andre Prokovsky and music by Guiseppe Verdi, to be followed by the unveiling of Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney's all new production of The Nutcracker. Following the holiday classic, the winter program will feature the Kansas City Premiere of Swan Lake, choreography by Devon Carney, after Marius Petipa with the beloved music of Tchaikovsky. The 2015-16 season will finish with a joyful Spring Program featuring Kansas City Premieres of Adam Hougland's The Rite of Spring as well as new works by choreographers Helen Pickett, Viktor Plotnikov, and Yuri Possokhov. The Kansas City Symphony, conducted by renowned Kansas City Music Director Ramona Pansegrau, will accompany the 2015-2016 season.

KANSAS CITY, MO (January 6, 2015) — Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced the choreographers chosen for New Moves, a unique performance event designed to search out, develop and showcase emerging choreographers, both from the national dance scene as well as locally within Kansas City Ballet. New Moves is presented to provide time and space for choreographers to create world premiere works with accomplished professional dancers. New Moves will feature choreographers Robert Dekkers, Andrea Schermoly and Kelly Ann Sloan, plus Kansas City Ballet artists Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye, Travis Guerin and Jill Marlow.

The Kauffman Performing Arts Center in Kansas City, Mo. is known as one of the most spectacular buildings in the metropolitan area. With its breathtaking city views, through the large slanted glass windows, little surpasses it for beauty. Through December, the phenomenal view from the windows is matched by the beauty and grace that currently plays with the Kansas City Ballet's presentation of the holiday classic, The Nutcracker.

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by Iyun Ashani Harrison, Jose Limon, Vivian Little, Michele Miller, and Amy O'Neal at its Fall 2014 Concert, which takes place at the Cornish Playhouse this weekend, Nov. 21 and 22. Many of the pieces, including one world premiere from Harrison, focus on issues relevant to the dancers and today's college students.

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by Iyun Ashani Harrison, Jose Limon, Vivian Little, Michele Miller, and Amy O'Neal at its Fall 2014 Concert, which takes place at the Cornish Playhouse on Nov. 21 and 22. Many of the pieces, including one world premiere from Harrison, focus on issues relevant to the dancers and today's college students.

Kansas City Ballet is pleased to announce that Grace Holmes, previously Professor of Dance at University of Texas at Austin, assumed the role of Kansas City Ballet School Director beginning September 1, 2014. Her responsibilities will include oversight of the Academy, the Kansas City Youth Ballet, the newly created Trainee Program, the Studio Division and the summer programs for the more than 600 children, young adults and adults in the downtown Bolender Center campus and the Johnson County campus.

Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced the appointment of three new members of the artistic staff: Grace Holmes as the new Director of Kansas City Ballet School, Kristi Capps as the new Ballet Master and Anthony Krutzkamp as newly created position of Manager of KCB II. Carney also announced eleven new members of the Company, increasing the Company from 28 to 29 members for the 2014-2015 season. He also announced the appointment of four new KCB II dancers, which stands at six members. Carney also announced the creation of a Trainee Program with five students, two selected from Kansas City Ballet School.

Kansas City Ballet will present the 4th Annual KC Dance Day at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity today, Aug. 23rd from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The full day will feature FREE dance performances, classes, demonstrations, giveaways and FUN for the whole family.

KANSAS CITY, MO (Aug. 5, 2014) — Kansas City Ballet will present the 4th Annual KC Dance Day at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity on Saturday, Aug. 23rd from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The full day will feature FREE dance performances, classes, demonstrations, giveaways and FUN for the whole family.

The Kansas City Ballet calendar for the 57th season will be filled with Kansas City premieres, the presentation of The Nutcracker at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and other exciting and diverse events at the Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity. Single tickets for the 2014-15 season will be available to the public on Monday, August 18 at 9 a.m. Tickets for The Nutcracker will be available to the public on Monday, Sept. 8 at 9 a.m. Purchase tickets online at www.kcballet.orgor through the Kansas City Ballet ticket office 816.931.2232.

Kansas City Ballet's 56th season will conclude with the highly anticipated evening-length Kansas City Premiere of Victoria Morgan's Cinderella. The delightful score by Sergei Prokofiev will be performed by the Kansas City Symphony, conducted by Kansas City Ballet Music Director Ramona Pansegrau.