This Saturday, May 29, 2021, Kansas City Ballet’s Second Company performs at Powell Gardens. There will be five shows at the top of each hour from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Kingsville, Mo. Each performance is 10 minutes and is included with admission tickets to Powell Gardens that day.
Second Company Manager Christopher Ruud says: “To be outside with people enjoying the gardens and reveling in the spring of new existence can only encourage and inspire theses dancers to continue to flourish like the flowers around them. My tandem hope is that the patrons of Powell Gardens will see the blooming of these young dancers and feel renewed.”
THE PROGRAM
Each 10-minute performance includes two ballets with a familial connection.
Mobile: Originally named as an acronym for “Moving objects behaving in linear equipoise”, Mobile is a piece of choreography for three dancers created in 1968 by Tomm Ruud (father to Second Company Manager Christopher Ruud). The work is a study in the beauty of balance, strength, and coordination. Those qualities coalesce in the performance of “Mobile” to exhibit something that is almost otherworldly, taking us on a slow and quiet journey through a different existence. The beautiful and ethereal music that lends to this atmosphere is the Adagio from “Gayane” by Aram Khachaturian.
The second ballet is Star Silk pas de deux. Created this season by Christopher Ruud, the pas de deux from Star Silk is the central piece of the larger ballet that was inspired by composer Ryan Carney’s electronic score. In listening to the musical selections from Ryan’s album, “Orbital Beats Vol. 1”, Christopher was inspired to make movement that is constantly in forward motion. While the rest of the ballet shows this, the pas de deux provides a resting moment in the middle of the work. This brings the audience in close to show the unique and athletic relationship between dance partners as it sinuously evolves from one moment to the next.
“Getting to perform for a live audience is so fulfilling especially when we get to do it at such a beautiful venue like Powell Gardens. After a long year absence of audiences, getting back out on stage is really exciting for all of us!” says KCB II dancer Troy Santulli.
TICKETS
Tickets are still available! Please click here to buy your tickets in advance.
Is Kevin Wilson still dancing with the company?
Yes. Kevin is still a vibrant member of the company.