No Place Like Live Performances

With my son, Ryan, I attended The Wizard of Oz Ballet at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri last Friday night.

The transformational experience moved me, entertained me, filled my soul with hope, and yes- carried me over the rainbow.

For two hours plus, I didn’t think about mass shootings, inflation, the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, or the stock market.

Of course, I know the story of Dorothy and Toto’s journey to OZ backward and forwards, but seeing it in a ballet format gave me a new perspective.

It is difficult to explain the entire experience, but the way the production incorporated digital background imagery - showing us corn on the cob instead of stalks of corn when we meet the Scarecrow - to personifying the yellow brick road brought this old story new life.

All of the performers were top-notch and executed traditional ballet dance steps; however, they threw in funky modern steps as well. Needless to say, the choreography blew me away.

Parts of the ballet incorporated traditional movements as shown here in one of Dorothy's solos in Munchkinland.

Difficult to capture this image, but Dorothy is lifted up by a man from the Emerald City and her arms dig in on both sides which seemed like a bit of a combination of classic and modern dance.

Floss dancing made a few appearances as well.

In this post, I haven't even touched on the music, costumes, or puppetry. I am still working on my thoughts and hope to post more this week.

For now, I know my experience at The Kauffman Center enriched my life because it is Monday and I am still thinking about it.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught me a few important life lessons: wash my hands more often, stay home or wear a mask when I have a cold, but most importantly the pandemic taught me that I need to incorporate live performances into my life as much as possible. I need to get out of my world and live in another world even for a few hours to mitigate my stress and anxiety. Yes, reading books does this for me, watching TV and even watching movies on a big screen help; however, there is nothing like attending a live performance and seeing real people perform in front of my own eyes.

No Place Like Live Performances.