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The Dance Enthusiast Travels to Kansas for a Photo Essay: Peeking into the Kansas City Ballet's Exuberant Production of “The Wizard of Oz”
Choreography: Septime Webre l Costumes: Liz Vandal l Artistic Direction of Kansas City Ballet: Devon Carney
Brimming with color and magical dance, the world premiere Wizard of Oz is dazzling.
Under artistic director Devon Carney, Kansas City Ballet — the classical company that has no desiginated principal dancers — brings the beloved tale to life with Septime Webre's masterful choreography, Liz Vandal's vivacious costumes, and Nicholas Mahon's kinetic puppetry.
“The whole production is about love and how love’s intention brings courage, intelligence, heart into the subconscious," says Vandal.
Together, the collaborators set out to figure out, "how do we give this love to the audience?"
For The Dance Enthusiast, the creative team shares their insights into the ballet with photos of the world premiere.
The images feature scenes that were inspired by 1949 MGM film The Wizard of Oz, and the eponymous 1900 L. Frank Baum’s book in which it's based.
Devon Carney : Dorothy (Amanda DeVenuta) has a fully emotionally-realized persona with an eternal optimism [amid] the challenges she faces along her pathway down the yellow brick road to discover that indeed home is the best place.
Pastoral Kansas with chicken coop and farmhouse setting by set designer Michael Raiford. Aunt Em (Kaleena Burks) offers homebaked pies.
Professor Marvel (Humberto Rivera Bianco) tells Dorothy (Amanda DeVenuta) that a storm is coming and she must return home.
Liz Vandal: Costume is like a guiding line, interwoven . . . How do you link a parade of costumes into a storybook masterpiece? What is real, what is imagination, and what is the dream? Dorothy is at the center of this balance.
Devon Carney: Liz’s ingenious technique was to make every costume . . . asymmetrical except for Dorothy.
As the Tin Man (Lamin Pereira dos Santos) dances, his mechanical movements are punctuated by the trills and harmonics of composer-violinist Pierce’s musical score.
Devon Carney: With remarkable attention to the details, Liz has brought to life in a very imaginative way all these beautiful characters straight out of the book. Her sense of whimsy in the Land of Oz is . . . inspiring with the entire lexicon of characters. And the colors are incredible. The poppies are such a striking red, the citizens of Emerald City are covered as such — rich, deep and vibrant.
Devon Carney: Fantastic huge pieces of Emeralds (by Raiford) create a moving scenic backdrop with a disco ball to complete the look.
The farewell to Dorothy
Pictured l-r: Toto (Jeremy Hanson), the Lion (Liang Fu), the Scarecrow (James Kirby Rogers), Dorothy (Amanda DeVenuta), and the Tin Man (Lamin Pereira dos Santos). Photo Serena S.Y. Hsu |Zuma Press
Kansas City Ballet's October 2018 world premiere
Look for future performances by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (May 2-5, 2019) and the Colorado Ballet (February 1-10, 2019)
Choreographer: Septime Webre
Artistic Director: Devon Carney
Costume Designer: Liz Vandal
Puppetry design by Nicholas Mahon (Pyeongchang Olympics ceremonies)
Set design by Michael Raiford / Music by Composer-Violinist Matthew Pierce
Kansas City Symphony conducted by Ramona Pansegrau / Lighting design and design coordination by Trad A. Burns
Projection design by Aaron Rhyne
The Dance Enthusiast Covers The Stories Behind Dance Performance, Speaking with Artists, and Creating Conversation
For more Behind-the-Scenes Stories of the NYC Dance World Click on our Day In The Life of Dance Section
