*Kansas City Ballet: Carmen* Lyric Theatre

The Kansas City Ballet’s Fall Performance this year included 4 pieces, ranging from a classical Russian pas de deux to a fresh and fiery Spanish influenced ballet. Frescoes was the opening piece, an excerpt from the full length ballet The Little Humpbacked Horse. In this excerpt, the figurines from painted frescoes are brought to life and dance about.

The second piece was Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, a traditional, well-known excerpt in the classical ballet world. It was inspired by Lord Byron’s 1814 poem, The Corsair, and pas de deux simply means it is for two dancers. This piece was lovely and performed effortlessly by Laura Wolfe and Marty Davis.

Splendid Isolations III was the third piece, a more modern, romantic ballet duet. Dancers Angelina Sansone and Juan Pablo Trujillo were breathtaking in this performance. The female dancer donned a simple white camisole leotard with an enveloping, long white skirt. Throughout the piece, it was obvious this long skirt was symbolic of something the female was holding onto, something that was keeping her from being with her lover. It was beautiful to watch the journey of this woman and the struggles she had with letting go of something she loved to be with someone she loved. I read in the Program Notes that the inspiration for this ballet came from Gustav Mahler (composer, conductor) and his wife Alma, whereas Mahler had asked Alma to give up her career as a composer before he would marry her. Interesting. No one should have to give up a love and talent like composing for their soon-to-be-spouse. But I regress, that was in a much different day and age.

The feature and final piece was the fiery Spanish influenced ballet, Carmen. Choreographed by the KC Ballet’s own William Whitener, it is inspired by the story Carmen published by Prosper Merimee in 1845. The lead character, Carmen, is a seductive gypsy who convinces a Basque military officer, Don Jose, to fall in love with her and renounce his allegiance to the military. This piece had a large cast which included gypsy and officer dancers, an on-stage guitarist, and a lady named La Hilandera, a castanet playing Flamenco/Spanish dancer. She played the castanets quite impressively while she danced, I might add. The lead character was played by Kimberly Cowen, who I also saw perform this role at the World Premiere of Carmen in May 2007. Cowen was fiery and elegant, and delivered a great performance once again in this ballet.


Kansas City Ballet’s next performance will be their annual production of The Nutcracker, Dec 16-27 at the Music Hall. For more information visit The Kansas City Ballet