Simply solos: visionary director of Kansas City Ballet, William Whitener, makes dance heritage come alive.

THE KANSAS CITY BALLET CONCLUDES ITS SPRING SEASON WITH A STUNNING KALEIDOSCOPE OF SOLO works selected by Artistic Director William Whitener. In one evening, Whitener gives his dancers and his audience a history lesson, a mind-expanding program, and an unusual artistic challenge.

The program, to be performed in the Lyric Theater April 11-14, comprises solos created by dance legends Michel Fokine, Lotte Goslar, Agnes de Mille, Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, and Daniel Nagrin, cradled between The Cloud Chamber, a new work by company dancer Russell Baker, and a reprise performance of Whitener's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Since taking the artistic reins of the company in 1996 from Todd Bolender, now artistic director emeritus, Whitener has crafted programs featuring contemporary works to broaden the range of his dancers and expose his audiences to a plethora of dance styles. He is also committed to preserving significant works that are at risk of extinction.

Whitener expresses pride in the success of the company's revival of Antony Tudor's 1954 Offenbach in the Underworld, produced in collaboration with Donald Mahler of the Tudor Trust and Leslie Rotman of the Dance Notation Bureau in 1999, and last season's pristine restoration of George Balanchine's Renard (1947), made possible in part by the Balanchine Foundation.

A gifted and versatile dancer from 1969 to 1989, Whitener won acclaim as a member of the Joffrey Ballet for his interpretation of the leading role in Gerald Arpino's The Clowns (1968) as well as roles in works by Leonide Massine, Kurt Jooss, Anna Sokolow, Alvin Ailey, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp. He also made a name for himself on Broadway in the original cast of Bob Fosse's Dancin' (1978). Later he assisted with the reconstruction of the master choreographer's works in Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

Since launching his directorial career in 1991 with Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal and as director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet from 1993 to 1995, Whitener believes the director must serve as curator to enhance the artistic experiences of the community. "[Robert] Joffrey's interest in works from the past and his influence in bringing them back to the stage rubbed off on me," he comments about his decision to present the April program. "As a participant in the revival of those pieces, I learned the impact that working with outstanding dance artists and choreographers can have on a dancer's career. Plus, some of the most meaningful works I ever danced were solos.

"The long solo sequence at the beginning of Clowns was my introduction to solo work as a professional dancer," he recalls. "Through that experience, I learned there was a special set of skills required for a dancer to be able to hold the stage alone." Later, as a leading dancer in Twyla Tharp's company, Whitener performed a thirteen-minute solo she had created to Brahms's Variations in A Minor on a Theme by Paganini for Piano. "It was always first on the program and it became my calling card. I remember dancing it all over the world in every type of theater and setting. My awareness of the intimacy and communication that develop between the audience and soloist grew in direct proportion to the number of times I performed it."

In retrospect, he explains, "It isn't possible to teach someone how to perform solo works. That can only be learned through performance, and it has a profound effect on the life of the performer. It is entirely up to the dancer to create the atmosphere ... to project or translate the choreography across the footlights in a manner that is meaningful for the audience. I know that I will always feel Brahms' Paganini in my bones. That is why I want to provide some of my dancers here with that unique performing experience."

But before he had time to think about what solos to reconstruct, Whitener received a fortuitous announcement from the Dance Notation Bureau of a special offering of works available for licensing. Whitener was intrigued by Totem Ancestor (1942), choreographed by Merce Cunningham while he was still a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. With Cunningham dancer Daniel Roberts available to reconstruct the piece, "the program took on a life of its own," Whitener said. "I immediately contacted Daniel Nagrin, whom I have always admired immensely for his dance works and his books, to ask for his Strange Hero, created in 1948." Nagrin agreed to restage the piece, a jazzy ode to gangsterdom complete with dangling cigarette.

To add levity, Whitener contacted the De Mille Working Group to request permission to perform the American Repertory Dance Company's revival of Agnes de Mille's whimsical 1928 Debut at the Opera. Permission was granted and arrangements made for former ARDC member and Martha Graham Dance Company principal Janet Eilber to stage the piece.

Whitener thought that the solo program might be ideal to introduce his dancers and audiences to the work of Anna Sokolow. "I have admired her for what she brought to her work--rage, rebellion, humor, and tenderness--since I saw her perform when I was a teenager in Seattle." He invited Lorry May to mount Kaddish (1945), set to a score by Maurice Ravel.

A casual conversation with choreographer Kathryn Posin, who set Stepping Stones for Whitener's company last season, led to his next acquisition. "She reminded me that Lotte Goslar had created It Starts With a Step in 1968 for out mutual friend Lance Westergard." It wasn't until Whitener saw the video that he realized he had found the perfect opener for the program, for reasons including its title. Westergard, who has danced with the several modern and ballet companies and is director of dance at Hofstra University, was delighted by the prospect of staging it.

At that point, Whitener needed one more solo to balance the program. "I realized I had nothing from the classical repertoire. There was only one solution," he adds quietly, "Fokine's The Dying Swan." The poignant solo created in 1907 (some sources say 1905) to a score by Camille Saint-Saens for Anna Pavlova would close the program. Whitener wasted no time enlisting former Boston Ballet principal Elaine Bauer to stage the work. Her interpretation had drawn favorable comparison to those of Russia's revered Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya.

With the solo program in place and the supporting cast of luminaries waiting eagerly to trek to Kansas City, Whitener began preparing his dancers. According to company dancer and choreographer Russell Baker, "William started teaching six of us Strange Hero from Mr. Nagrin's video and sent him a video with each of us dancing a different section of the solo. When Nagrin arrived, he asked for only three of us to work with him and gave each of us pads to take notes to give to him at the end of each day's rehearsal. That was quite an experience, because after you gave him your notes, he would give you his."

Although Nagrin was adamant that he did not want anyone to imitate his approach to the solo, he was not averse to demonstrating various passages. "He told us that, at 84, he didn't turn anymore because his balance was no longer good," Baker recalled, "but when he got up to dance he became a totally different person. It was breath-taking, and I will never forget it."

During a break between rehearsals Nagrin commented, "I'm having a wonderful time working with the company. They are all very good dancers, very different from each other, and they didn't put up any fences."

Westergard says Goslar's dance, though humorous, requires mature artistry: "It Starts With a Step is one of the purest dances I ever performed. There is no artifice, no hiding behind a character, no hiding behind a costume."

The discipline and sensitivity necessary to bring these solos alive is what Whitener works on with the dancers between the coaching sessions and the performances. While restoring dances no longer depends solely on muscle memory, there will always be a need for visionaries such as Whitener to maintain the link between the dances of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Lili Cockerille Livingston, author of American Indian Ballerinas, performed with the New York City Ballet and was a featured dancer in the Original Harkness Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet.