Christopher Barksdale.

Christopher Barksdale, a dancer whose acute musicality and ability to inhabit roles ranging from Phlegmatic in Balanchine's Four Temperaments to a drunk in Donald McKayle's Hey Hey I'm Going to Kansas City, ended his 21-year career with Kansas City Ballet on May 10. He performed artistic director William Whitener's Salute, choreographed as a tribute to the 37-year-old dancer's many talents.

The last of KCB's men to be schooled by the late Todd Bolender ("DM Awards," 2007), Barksdale began his training in the company school in 1981, at age 10. In 1987, following four years at School of American Ballet, Barksdale joined KCB, building a reputation for fine-tuned technique and acting ability.

From Bolender he learned both. "He gave me a sense of real technique and the knowledge that you have to work daily to make it correct," Barksdale says. Bolender cast him in his own roles in Balanchine's Four Temperaments and the revival of Renard.

Barksdale, like his mentor, is a man of the theater and won't be leaving the stage. While dancing full-time with KCB, he earned a BA in music from the Conservatory of the University of Missouri Kansas City, performing in opera and musical theater. In May, he choreographed the Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre's production of Kiss of the Spider Woman, and in early June he performed with the Owen/Cox Dance Group. He plans to continue in Kansas City opera and musical theater and to audition for productions elsewhere.