Kansas City Ballet
Kansas City Ballet lit up the outdoor bandshell in Manhattan’s Battery Park on September 6, opening the Evening Stars series. Artistic Director William Whitener, a former Twyla Tharp dancer, presented Tharp’s Catherine Wheel Suite, which he staged with fellow Tharp alumna Shelley Washington; and KCB put a shine to Tharp’s challenging movement in this pure dance revival. The troupe also performed David Berkey’s Sentinel; Jacques d’Amboise’s Meditation and Whitener’s Jaywalk.
Extracting the positive from Tharp’s perplexing 1981 Broadway production, The Catherine Wheel, the new suite includes two midsections and the popular finale: “Dinosaur,” “Cloud Chamber” and “The Golden Section,” all set to music specially composed by New Wave musician David Byrne. Eight dancers in dark, casual costumes with bright red bands on wrists and ankles fuel the smoky chaos of “Dinosaur” with energy and athleticism.
Stefani Schrimpf and Logan Pachciarz dance “Cloud Chamber.” Upper bodies writhing, they fall and knock against each other with uncanny virtuosity. Schrimpf calls the shots. Sitting in deep plié, she extends her long arms to turn Pachciarz to face her—and then he carts her off.
Santo Loquasto’s costumes in “The Golden Section,” are variously cut from gold material. Women wear a tutu-toga hybrid. In architecture, the “golden section” is a geometric ratio identified with the classical beauty of ancient times. As if in a perfect world, Tharp’s women revel in sensual solos. The men rotate their shoulders in unison, like a machine; and a stomping quartet marks the corners and central axis.
Schrimpf finishes the fine “Golden Section” in insouciant arabesque, standing on her kneeling partner’s lap. Her gesture bids a statuesque goodbye.
First on the program, and filled with Tharpian fun, Jaywalk analyzes 1950s Beat culture. In a vintage recording, poet Carl Sandburg asks, “What is hip?” And KCB’s cool, smooth moves supply the answer.
In a solo, Pachciarz turns away as if mentally preparing before each languid phrase. Women prance with feline hands or show-off tiny sissonne jumps. Deanna Hodges taps to music by jazz legends John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Dazzling duets near the end confirm the incredible skill nurtured in this company.
In the elegiac Sentinel, to Brahms, four powerful men link arms in fluid waves. Understated white costumes and gestures suggest sailors at sea. Like Jaywalk, this dance is moving, despite its disturbing discontinuity. When Pachciarz appears lost in thought or the sailors momentarily leave the stage, we’re left in suspense; but these breaks also release us from the dance’s spell.
Meditation is an idyllic duet set to Jules Massenet’s music. Kimberly Cowen and Juan Pablo Trujillo performed it in memory of the late Melissa Hayden. At one point, Cowen arches her pliant back over Trujillo’s arm, as he spins her around in the air. Finally he lifts her in an impossible embrace, her legs fishtailing upward like a beacon in the night.
Lori Ortiz is a freelance arts journalist based in New York City.
