Wylliams / Henry Contemporary Dance Company
May 2014 Concert
www.wylliams-henry.org
Fri/Sat May 30 & 31 • 8 p.m.
White Recital Hall in the Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, Mo. 64110.
Tickets were $24 & $18 for adults, $15 for students and
seniors
On friday, despite the Rep Gala celebrating 50 years and taking over the parking lots:
The Wylliams-Henry concert drew a pretty well filled house. When I first saw the disregardful celebration
arrangements which basically cut off the dance concert, I was worried that no one would show.
But hardy souls came through regardless and it was like old home night in the KC dance world.
Heck of a show!
List of pieces in show order - see program credits listed below:
Back to Bach
Solemn Vow
Mosquito
Monfassa
- intermission -
Never Wake a Sleepwalker
Exit
Ice Fire
Allessandra Perdichizzi in "Mosquito" by Ming Xia
Demetirus McClendon in "Never Wake A Sleepwalker" by Autumn Eckman
"Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin - Hassan Ingraham, Holly DeWitt and Demetrius McClendon
Winston Dynamite Brown in "Exit" by Tiffany Sisemore
Lisa Thorn-Vinzant (front) contemplates her wedding ring - Left is Paula Weber in "Solemn Vow" by Mary Pat Henry
Katie Jenkins, Lisa Thorn-Vinzant, and Paula Weber in "Solemn Vow" by Mary Pat Henry
Three dancers each portray a portion of one woman's life, here all three dancers contemplate their ring
(left to right) as the young woman, as the young matron and finally as the older woman.
As the title suggests this show has mostly familiar material to the company, reconstructed although some of those pieces haven't been seen for many years, so it is nice to get to see them in concert again. These are good dancers and the material it is freshly danced with a nicely balanced program, starting with Back to Bach (uplifting) and ending on an up note with Ice Fire. (not meaning any downers anywhere else - all are worth seeing) Also Lisa Thorn-Vinzant (a KCB ballet mistress and former KCB dancer, also UMKC adjunct) is in “Solemn Vow.” Also Paula Weber, head of the UMKC dance department and a returning graduate Katie Jenkins who has been dancing with Cleo Parker Robinson in Denver. Solemn Vow itself has three women, each dancing a different phase in a woman’s married life. The “vow” is to marriage and each pays attention in the dance to the ring on her left hand. Mary Pat Henry is the choreographer. I’ve shot "Solemn Vow"before but I think I have some of my best pictures of the piece this time around. Practice. Also Ming Xia has a piece called “Mosquito” which she choreographed and sent in pieces, on Vimeo, from her location in China. She had regular updates and changes to the piece. She was collaborating with UMKC’s Jim Mobberley who did the soundtrack with two pieces performed back to back, Icarus Staircase and Icarus Waxed (where a flyswatter sound at the end collapses the dancer). Ming Xia was here last year on an arts exchange program performing and teaching. Mary Pat went to China last year. Ming performed at Modern Night at the Folly last year. I did video on Ming’s pieces last year and did some of the transfers from Vimeo to Mary Pat and editing of the final version of “Mosquito” which came here in pieces over the web. By the time of the last changes the piece looked very different. Alessandra Perdichizzi has the task of being the pesky, buzzing mosquito, in mosquito costume. With the music and smoke, it has the flavor of classic Chinese theater even though this is modern dance. The terms were use to classify these works are not always able to contain their range of genres. It was a fun piece, and at the end our pesky mosquito gets swatted with a big Fwaap sound and the lights go out. |
Cell phone pictures while working through notes - Holly DeWitt
Adriene Barber in a tour jeté as she reverses direction (she is moving right to left) - "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Winston Dynamite Brown in "Exit" by Tiffany Sisemore
Ice Fire
Preparing bleachers, stage and shelter structure in the parking lot of the Rep for their Gala.
It is a mess and in the way of Wylliams-Henry concert goers. And not just the lot shown but
the lot to the rear of this shot which was reserved for attended parking.
Wylliams-Henry concert goers had to park in the parking facility between Cherry and Oak, then walk across Cherry.
Hassan Ingraham in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
A hinge in "Mosquito" by Ming Xia, soloist Alessandra Perdichizzi
top: going to the ground in rehearsal from the hinge - bottom: at the point of getting into the hinge
Never Wake A Sleepwalker by Autumn Eckman - (L-R) Katie Jenkins, Alessandra Perdichizzi, Holly DeWitt
Spring Program | |
Back To Bach | |
| Choreography | Eleo Pomare |
| Music | Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Costumes Design | Eleo Pomare |
| Dancers | Adriene Barber, Winston Dynamite Brown, Holly DeWitt. Katie Jenkins,Demetrius McClendon, Hassan Ingraham, Alesandra Perdichizzi, Myiesha McGriff |
Solemn Vow | |
| Choreography | Mary Pat Henry |
| Costumes Design | Judy Pfeifer |
| Dancers | Katie Jenkins - as a young woman, Lisa Thorn Vinzant - as a young matron, Paula Weber - as an older women |
Mosquito | |
| Choreography | Ming Xia |
| Music | James Mobberley |
| Trumpet Soloist | Keith Benjamin |
| Costume Design | Ming Xia |
| Dancer | Alessandra Perdichizzi |
Monfassa | |
| Choreography | DeeAnna Hiett |
| Music | Geoff Bennett |
| Costume Design | DeeAnna Hiett |
| Fabric Design | Enea Brownley |
| Dancers | Adriene Barber, Winston Dynamite Brown, Holly DeWitt, Katie Jenkins, Demetrius McClendon,Hassan Ingraham, Alessandra Perdichizzi |
Never Wake A Sleepwalker | |
| Choreography | Autumn Eckman |
| Music | Eugene Friesen |
| Costumes Design | Autumn Eckman |
| Dancers | Adriene Barber, Holly DeWitt, Katie Jenkins, Demetrius McClendon, Myiesha MeGriff, Hassan Ingraham, Alessandra Perdichizzi |
| Never Wake a Sleepwalker was generously supported by a commission from Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series and director Emily Berhman as part of the 2013 New Dance Partners performances at Johnson County Community College. | |
Exit | |
| Choreography | Tiffany Sisemore |
| Music | U2 |
| Costume Design | Tiffany Sisemore |
| Dancer | Winston Dynamite Brown |
Ice Fire | |
| Choreography | Fred Benjamin |
| Music | Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays |
| Costumes Design | Fred Benjamin |
| Dancers | Adriene Barber, Winston Dynamite Brown, Holly DeWitt, Katie Jenkins, Demetrius McClendon, Myiesha McGriff, Hassan Ingraham, Alessandra Perdichizzi |
Adriene Barber in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
"Never Wake A Sleepwalker" by Autumn Eckman - Denetrius McClendon at the front of the line
"Monfassa" by DeeAnna Hiett
- (top) Alessandra Perdichizzi, (floor) Katie Jenkins, Holly DeWitt
Alessandra Perdichizzi in "Mosquito"
a
"Back to Bach" by Eleo Pomare - Adriene Barber, , Demetrius McClendon
"Back to Bach" by Eleo Pomare - Demetrius McClendon and Winston Dynamite Brown with Katie Jenkins behind Demetrius
"Back to Bach" by Eleo Pomare - Holly DeWitt
Katie Jenkins in "Back to Bach" by Eleo Pomare
Demetrius McClendon in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
.
Hassan Ingraham (top) with Demetrius McClendon and
Winston Dynamite Brown in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Katie Jenkins in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Same thing during an on-stage run, prior to dress -
Katie Jenkins in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Adriene Barber (top) and (L-R floor) Alessandra Perdichizzi, Katie Jenkins, Hassan Ingraham in "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Holly DeWitt, Adriene Barber, Winston Brown during an on-stage run, prior to dress - "Ice Fire" by Fred Benjamin
Adriene Barber in "Ice Fire"
Jane Gotch, Logan Pachciarz (KCB) and Nadia Iozzo (KCB) (Saturday evening)
Joseph Flickner and Alexis Borth, both UMKC (Saturday evening)
Dancers all the way from American Youth Ballet doing usher duty (American Dance Center - 118th and Quivira) (Saturday evening)
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