By The Shout

The following announcement is based on a press release from the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company.

WICHITA — Regina Klenjoski Dance Company, Wichita’s professional contemporary dance company, heads to the Kansas City area this week for the world premiere of a new work created by choreographer Katarzyna Skarpetowska as part of New Dance Partners, September 18-19 at the Midwest Trust Center at Johnson County Community College.

The premiere follows an intensive two-week creative residency in the Wichita area, where Skarpetowska has been working with RKDC’s professional dancers at Midwest Dance Mechanix in Andover. After its conclusion on September 16, the company travels to Overland Park for technical rehearsals and performances. For Regina Klenjoski, the residency and premiere are also an opportunity to highlight the professional dance artists working in Wichita.

"Part of what matters to me about this project is that the creative process is happening in our community," said Klenjoski, RKDC founder and artistic director. "We get to invite students and community members into that process through open rehearsals, and then our Wichita artists get to carry that work onto a larger regional stage."

For RKDC, the project continues a long history of creating, commissioning and presenting contemporary dance in Kansas while connecting Wichita artists with audiences across Kansas. 

“New Dance Partners gives RKDC the opportunity to do what has always been central to our work: bring artists together, invest deeply in the creative process and build new dance right here in Wichita,” Klenjoski said. “Kate has brought a distinctive movement language and musicality into the studio, and our dancers have met that work with tremendous commitment, intelligence and artistry.”  

Performing Skarpetowska’s new work for RKDC are Rhiannon Vieyra, Elijah Richardson, William Clayton, Samantha Zimmerman and Lille Nightingale.

Skarpetowska is a Juilliard graduate and former member of Parsons Dance and the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. Her choreography has been commissioned by companies including BalletX, Richmond Ballet, Smuin Ballet, Parsons Dance, Repertory Dance Theatre and Ailey II. She was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2016 and was nominated for a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award in 2017. She also serves as a repetiteur for the Lubovitch Foundation, staging works for companies including New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Martha Graham Dance Company.

The company’s participation in New Dance Partners places RKDC alongside three other professional dance organizations commissioned to create new works for this year’s program. Now in its 14th year, New Dance Partners brings together professional dance companies and choreographers to create and premiere original works. This year’s program features four world premieres pairing Kansas City Ballet with Caili Quan, Owen/Cox Dance Group with Christopher Page-Sanders, Störling Dance Theater with Jennifer Owen, and Regina Klenjoski Dance Company with Katarzyna Skarpetowska.

Regina Klenjoski Dance Company is a professional contemporary dance company led by celebrated choreographer Regina Klenjoski. Founded in Los Angeles in 2001 and based in Wichita since 2014, the company has a body of work spanning over two decades through original productions, commissions, artist residencies, interdisciplinary collaborations, educational programs and community-based projects. The company creates and presents contemporary dance, supports professional artists, and builds connections between dance and the communities it serves.

RKDC’s work has received multi-year support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas Arts Commission and Wichita Arts Council.

Performance Details

New Dance Partners: The Ultimate Collaboration
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 18-19
Yardley Hall, Midwest Trust Center
Johnson County Community College
12345 College Blvd.
Overland Park, Kansas

Tickets begin at $25 and are available through the Midwest Trust Center Box Office.

Announcements are submissions from arts and cultural organizations and community members. They are published at the discretion of SHOUT editors and may be lightly edited. Send press releases and other announcements to emily@shoutwichita.com.

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