'Giselle' (choreography by Devon Carney), 2011, featuring Janessa Touchet.
Credit Peter Mueller
Frisch's Presents 'The New Nutcracker,' 2011. Devon Carney danced the part of Drosselmeyer.
Credit Peter Mueller
'The Sleeping Beauty' (choreography by Devon Carney), 2010, with Cincinnati Ballet dancers.
Credit Peter Mueller
'The Sleeping Beauty,' 2010, Dawn Kelly, with Cincinnati Ballet dancers.
Credit Peter Mueller
'Swan Lake' (choreography by Devon Carney), 2009, Anthony Krutzkamp, who now dances with the Kansas City Ballet, and Kristi Capps, with Cincinnati Ballet dancers. .
Credit Courtesy: Cincinnati Ballet
The Kansas City Ballet's new artistic director Devon Carney
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Jill Marlow and Anthony Krutzcamp at the Bolender Center, Both danced at Cincinnati Ballet before Kansas City Ballet.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Executive director Jeffrey Bentley calls Carney 'the right person...at this point in time.'
After an extensive search process, the Kansas City Ballet has a new artistic director. Dancer, choreographer and teacher Devon Carney begins his new post in July. Carney succeeds outgoing artistic director William Whitener.
The Kansas City Ballet has named Devon Carney as the company's new artistic director. For the last decade, Carney has worked with Cincinnati Ballet; since 2008, he's served as associate artistic director.
This marks Artistic Director William Whitener's final season with the Kansas City Ballet. After 17 years with the company, he's preparing to return to New York. Whitener answered a few questions before the final performances.
William Whitener became Artistic Director of the Kansas City Ballet in 1996. After having staged, taught, acquired, commissioned or created 85 works for the organization and seeing it move into its new rehearsal and performance spaces, Whitener now prepares to leave the Ballet and embark on yet another chapter in his remarkable career.
Sarah Walborn, Arielle Espie, and Jill Marlow hold a pose.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Yoshiya Sakurai dances alone in the first movement of the world premiere of Karole Armitage's 'Energy Made Visible.'
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Rachel Coats and Jill Marlow dance beneath an abstract trail of paint.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Performing his own composition, Bobby Watson plays his saxophone in tune with a previously recorded track for Rachel Coats.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Choreographer Karole Armitage was inspired by the painting of the 20th-century American artist, Jackson Pollock.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
A fragment of dance is reflected in mirrors above.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Logan Pachciarz and Jill Marlow move together in a fierce harmony.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Dancers are reflected in the mirrors hanging over the stage.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Anthony Krutzkamp and Rachel Coats perform a pas de deux.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Anthony Krutzkamp and Rachel Coats perform in the Kansas City Ballet's final program of the season.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Bobby Watson layers his saxophone against a previously recorded track.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Jill Marlow strikes a graceful pose.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Anthony Krutzkamp and Rachel Coats create an expressive abstraction.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
To the cheers of a small gathered crowd at the dress rehearsal, Bobby Watson stands with the dancers after a dress rehearsal.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
In Margo Sappington's 'Common People,' music from Shatner’s album, 'Has Been' strikes a new tone as Anthony Krutzkamp and Aisling Hill-Connor dance to 'Familiar Love.'
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Minimalist staging and colorful leotards evoke a subtle 'Star Trek' feel.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Logan Pachciarz is bathed in a blue hue.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Geoffrey Kropp and Molly Wagner dance to the witty banter of William Shatner.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Clad in cranberry and amber, the company performs 'Together.'
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Laura Wolfe makes a sassy entrance in 'Ideal Woman.'
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye pirouettes alone on stage.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
In "Hey-Hay, Going to Kansas City," Charles Martin, Logan Pachciarz, and Ian Poulis compete for the charms of Molly Wagner.
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
The mood takes a seductive turn as Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye and Aisling Hill-Connor dance to 'Taurus Mood.'
Credit Julie Denesha / KCUR
Logan Pachciarz and Nadia Iozzo artfully stumble and flirt in 'King Alcohol.'
Choreographer Karole Armitage, a native of Lawrence, Kan. says artist Jackson Pollock can be viewed as "a metaphor for the creative process"; his lines of dripped and poured paint are like a dance. Kansas City Ballet concludes its season with a world premiere by Armitage, exploring the intersection between art, jazz, and dance.
Kip Niven, plays Holocaust survivor Gad Beck in Jake Heggie’s 'For a Look or a Touch.' The Heartland Men's Chorus stands in the background.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Remembering the cabarets of Berlin (Kip Niven, as Gad, at left, and baritone Morgan Smith, as Manfred, at right) during a tech rehearsal.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
In Jake Heggie’s 'For a Look or a Touch,' baritone Morgan Smith plays Manfred Lewin, and actor Kip Niven plays Gad Beck. Manfred and Gad were lovers as teenagers in Berlin until Manfred and his family were arrested.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Actor Kip Niven, as Gad Beck. 'For a Look or a Touch' is based on Beck's diaries.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Baritone Morgan Smith and stage director Brian Clay Luedloff review the score.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Stage director Brian Clay Luedloff and Artistic Director Joe Nadeau discuss riser placement for the chorus at a rehearsal.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Stage director Brian Clay Luedloff and baritone Morgan Smith relax during a break.
In the 1920's and into the early 1930's, there was a thriving gay culture in Europe, especially in Berlin. But, with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, that all changed.