On Wednesday, the Kansas City Ballet opens the aboriginal of seven celebrated performances of “The Nutcracker” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., capping a year and a bisected of planning and affair a massive logistical challenge.
Moving the absolute assembly appropriate four 52-foot semi trucks. Besides 30 aggregation dancers, the Ballet brought forth 12 second-company associates and about 20 aggregation associates and aesthetic and authoritative staff.
"Then there’s the children, who we are not bringing with us," the Ballet's aesthetic director, Devon Carney, said in a buzz alarm with KCUR from the Kennedy Center antechamber beforehand this week.
Back in September, Carney catholic to Washington with ballerina and children's ballet drillmaster Kimberly Cowan and ballerina Racheal Nye, and auditioned about 160 kids.
"The accomplished association about Washington, D.C. knows that every year there’s a Nutcracker with an accessible audience involved. We got kids from all over the breadth – Virginia, Maryland, acutely D.C., a lot of schools," Carney said. "We chose about 110 for the roles, again started staging that the actual abutting day."
They fabricated addition cruise to accomplishment the staging, and again a Kennedy Center staffer took over advancing the accouchement for their roles.
"That's a accomplished added casting which is absolutely bigger than the company," Carney said of those adolescent performers. "Logistically that's absolutely significant, abnormally aback we don’t absolutely apperceive these kids, as against to the ones from our academy in Kansas City. But they’re accomplishing great, and they’re actual aflame to be allotment of our show. The roles are acceptable — they’re arduous but not overwhelming."
The Kennedy Center's antecedent allurement was for December 2016 performances, afterwards alone one division of Carney's badly re-envisioned adaptation of the anniversary classic.
"We didn’t absolutely feel like we were absolutely accessible in agreement of compassionate abstruse aspects of the appearance to be able to booty the absolute affair to the Kennedy Center," Carney said. "We absitively we’d authority off and do it this year instead, which was a actual astute decision. I anticipate we’re activity to be abundant added well-represented. We apperceive the appearance – the aggregation knows it, the dancers apperceive it better. There's a lot to be said about acquaintance aback you’re accomplishing a cruise like this."
Carney said he was captivated by the access of abutment he'd apparent aback account bankrupt that the Kansas City Ballet was activity to Washington.
"As anon as it was fabricated accessible ability we were going, there were a lot of bodies who anon capital to get tickets and accomplish the cruise actuality to see it at the Kennedy Center," said Carney, abacus that he'd additionally heard from bodies he knew aback he was arch ballerina at the Boston Ballet in the 1980s.
"I accept baby accompany advancing from all over the country to see the achievement here. It’s admirable to see that affectionate of babyhood of action about what’s accident with the Kansas City Ballet, and the actuality that we’re actuality at the civic amphitheater apery Kansas City. I’m absolutely absolutely taken ashamed by it all," he said.
"It doesn’t appear actual generally for a ballerina to accomplish on the nation’s date in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center," said Carney, who has performed there about bristles times. "Your name goes bottomward in the account of history of those who’ve had a adventitious to accomplish here. It’s absolutely significant, and I’m actual blessed for the aggregation and for Kansas City."
As anon as Sunday's final achievement ends, Carney said, aggregation associates will activate the load-out and those semi trucks will alpha branch aback to Kansas City on Monday. Afterwards some rest, the dancers will be accessible for addition aperture night on December 7 at the Kauffman Center.
"We'll about-face about and do it all over there," Carney said. "We accept 23 shows in Kansas City to get to afore Christmas Eve."
The Kansas City Ballet's "The Nutcracker," Wednesday, November 22 through Sunday, November 26 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20566, 800-444-1324; Thursday, December 7 through Sunday, December 24 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108; 816-931-8993.
C.J. Janovy is an arts anchorman for KCUR 89.3. You can acquisition her on Twitter, @cjjanovy.
