Krista Lang Blackwood

Krista Lang Blackwood

Krista Lang Blackwood is an award-winning educator, performer and freelance writer. When she's not teaching or performing, she combs the greater Kansas City region for off-the-beaten-path arts and culture offerings, usually in the company of her husband and precocious, French-speaking son. 

Creative Fire

“Don’t worry! Fifty is the new 30!” We’ve all heard phrases like that as we grow older. Phrases designed to reassure us that we haven’t lost our youth. Or our vibrancy. Yes, with each passing year, our bodies get creakier. Our waistlines expand. Our hairlines recede. Our laugh lines become wrinkles. But we also settle. […]

Kansas City Ballet Celebrates 60 Years of Dance

Kansas City Ballet Celebrates 60 Years of Dance

The Kansas City Ballet, one of the diamonds in Kansas City’s crown, turns 60 this year. Last season, the Kansas City Ballet reached more than 90,000 people through outreach, dance education and training, and performances combined. Last June, the company hosted the annual national DanceUSA Conference, which gathered over 500 industry professionals from across the country to Kansas City.

The Job: April Berry

The Job: April Berry

“Dance came from the people and should always be brought back to the people.” This quote, attributed to Alvin Ailey, is one that Community Engagement and Education Manager for the Kansas City Ballet, April Berry, takes to heart. Berry began her performing career as a ballerina in Switzerland and was principal dance artist with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 11 years.

Death on the Mountain: ‘Everest’ comes to the Kauffman Center

Death on the Mountain: ‘Everest’ comes to the Kauffman Center

In the spring of 1996, “Outside” magazine sent writer Jon Krakauer to Mount Everest chasing a story: the commercialization of Everest. Since 1985, tourists with little or no climbing experience had been able to reach the summit thanks to company tours designed to allow any reasonably fit person to make the trek. In the years that followed, as many as 40 people per day reached the summit as a part of a paying group.

Kansas City’s Quiet Virtuoso

Kansas City’s Quiet Virtuoso

Close your eyes and imagine a musical virtuoso. Who are you seeing? Mozart, with his powdered wigs? Liszt, with his aquiline nose? The Beatles, with their mop haircuts? Prince, with his velvet jackets? Toscanini? Bach? Elvis? Pavarotti? Sting? You probably didn’t see a middle-aged man in a pullover sweater named Robert Pherigo. But if you ask a musician in Kansas City to name a virtuoso, Robert’s name usually tops the list.