Wylliams Henry - 3 Sep 2010 (Fall)

Wylliams / Henry Contemporary Dance Company

September 2010 First Friday Crossroads Art District Concert
www.wylliams-henry.org

3 September 2010 - 7pm, 20th and Baltimore, Kansas City, Missouri
Wylliams/Henry, 209 South Olive Kansas City, MO 64124 United States
(816) 241-4511 wylliamshenry@gmail.com

The stage from the front row position as the daylight leaves us for the spots.
Performing "Fever" sung by Peggy Lee and choreographed by William Whitener (repertoire piece)

Wot a Show!

I came to the show expecting to see maybe a half hour set of extracts to demo the upcoming Cyprus Avenue show. I was then going to head over to City in Motion for the graduation of a Burly-Q Class. Instead I got a full show, first half, intermission and second half. And I was cheering. I had really been knocked out both by the established repertoire for W/H and by the all-new choreographies created around music picks by KCUR's Bill Shapiro.

The first half was devoted to the repertoire. Somehow W/H is always able to pull off truly nice work. And this was true here. It was also good to see W/H get out and about. They are one of the country's best small moldern dance companies with a close association with Deeply Rooted in Chicago and to my dissapointment are still something of a secret. Several people I knew from social dance groups and even an ethnic group didn't know who they were. I'm really glad they got to see this show.

The second half of the show was all new choreography. And it was a sample for the upcoming (24, 25 Sept 2010) show at White Recital Hall (on UMKC campus, north side, same building as The Rep) with Bill Shapiro narrating the pieces as he narrates the songs on his radio show. Easily half the composers were not in the sampler so look for a rich set of new works in the full show.

You cannot help but get pulled in to these numbers. Two Mahalia Jackson spirituals were included in this sample show, "Didn't It Rain" performed as a solo by Latra Wilson and the closing piece, "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" as an ensemble number. "Plow" is a genuine knee-slapper and that audience didn't spare the leather. They left happy.

The Cyprus Avenue Show

The Cyprus Avenue works shown here are excerpts from the upcoming Cyprus Avenue Concert September 24th and 25th at UMKC's White Recitall hall. at 8 pm
http://wylliams-henry.org/performances/cyprusavenue2010

The Cyrus Avenue concert is a collaboration between Wylliams / Henry and Bill Shapiro of KCUR (he is the creator and the host of the long-running "Cyprus Avenue" program). The songs are his picks and he will be narrating (as he does on radio) while the choreography is all new.

Choreographers for the show are Mary Pat Henry, Paula Weber, William Whitener, Sean Curran, Tiffany Sisemore, Telly Fowler and DeeAnna Hiett. You can see a preview of some of the pieces as part of this First Friday at The Crossroads on the 3rd of September here: crossroads

It will be in the Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO 64110 (that is the north side of UMKC just south of Volker, with the exit off Rockhill - red brick building with "The Rep" - click here for tickets

Lighting designer E.J. Reinagal prior to the show "performing" "The Thinker"

An intense Tracey Franklin in "Pearls" by Kenny Pervine to A Woman in Somalia by Sade (repertoire piece).
For me Tracey doesn't catch me in the first second, she gets me in the second or third and after that I am riveted.

The company in the gospel tune "Keep Your Hand On The Plow" sung by Mahalia Jackson
(Cyrus Avenue new Choreo piece by Telly Fowler) Left to Right: Christina Mowrey, Tracey Franklin, Telly Fowler, Tracy Kofford (hidden), DeeAnna Hiett, Gavin Stewart, Christopher Barksdale.

DeeAnna Hiett and Gavin Stewart in "Ritual" by Amber Perkins (repertoire piece)

Erik Sobbe in "Variations" by Milton Myers. Brittany Duskin on the left (partial) (repertoire piece)

Brittany Duskin in "Variations" by Milton Myers. (repertoire piece)

"It's a Good Day" sung by Peggy Lee, choreograhed by William Whitener (repertoire piece)

Taking shots at Ladder Time by Paula Weber - photographer is Jaimie White, Mary Pat's daughter

"Ladder Time" by Paula Weber - L-R: Michael Tomlinson, Erik Sobbe. Behind is the choreographer, Paula Weber.
This was introduced to the repertoire with the March 2010 Edge show as a kind of side-show off stage.

"Fever" sung by Peggy Lee, Dancer DeeAnna Hiett, choreographer William Whitener (repertoire piece)

"You Won't See Me" sung by the Beatles - Dancers Erik Sobbe and Michael Tomlinson (front) - part of the Cyrus Avenue concert new pieces.

"You Won't See Me" sung by the Beatles - Dancer: Gavin Stewart - part of the Cyrus Avenue concert new pieces.

Tracey Franklin in"Cyrus Avenue" sung by Van Morrison (new Cyprus Avenue Piece)

Latra Wilson solo in "Didn't It Rain" sung by Mahalia Jackson and choreographed by Telly Fowler (new Cyprus Avenue Piece)