This year’s Moving Arts performance includes a world premiere of choreographer Gabriel Lorena’s “The Shape of Life,” inspired, he said, by “the biblical idea that God is the potter and we are the clay.” (photo by Ryan Bruce)
This year’s summer dance festival at the Folly showcases the group’s new focus on contemporary work
Since the 15th century, the continuity of a monarchy has been declared with the phrase: “The King is dead. Long live the King.” Bending that concept (and with a nod to the band Rush), Moving Arts honors the end of one era and the beginning of the next.
“We’re not going to do legacy works anymore,” said Logan Pachciarz, co-founder and executive director. “We’re going to do works that push the narrative and push it forward.”
Pachciarz, a former member of the Kansas City Ballet, co-founded the organization in 2013, then called the Kansas City Dance Festival. Even though this is Moving Arts’ 12th year, this is their 10th presenting season, having missed a couple years due to the pandemic.
Each year, they’ve brought together an impressive cadre of exceptional dancers in Kansas City — some from KCBallet, some from across the nation and the world — to perform a curated selection of high level, inventive works. Many dance companies have nine- or ten- month contracts, so this organization was designed as an opportunity for dancers to continue working through the summer months.
For a few years, they teamed up with dancers in Cincinnati, presenting the festival in both cities, but as of last year, the event is once again centered in Kansas City, for Kansas City audiences.
After a transitional season in 2024, the organization is ready for its next steps. This year, Kaleena Burks has taken over as artistic director, having served as a rehearsal director in 2023 and associate artistic director last season. She is also a member of Kansas City Ballet, dancing with the company since 2010. Pachciarz moved from artistic director to an executive director role, focusing on fundraising and community relations.
“She’s flexing her muscles in a different way,” said Pachciarz.
Burks has been a part of the group since their second season, in 2014, when she was featured in Todd Bolender’s “The Still Point” (celebrating the former Kansas City Ballet artistic director’s 100th birthday) and she’s seen the organization grow and change over the last decade.
“Moving Arts truly became a summer home for me and a place where I felt deeply supported, both inside and outside of the studio,” said Burks. “I now strive to continue to foster a healthy and positive work environment for our artists.”
Bringing in outside artists and outside influences to work and perform with Kansas City dancers has always been a part of the program, said Pachciarz, as well as creating a supportive environment where artists can share and a safe environment where they can explore.
This year’s performances feature world premieres by choreographers Gabriel Lorena, Emily Mistretta and Pachciarz, all currently or recently based in Kansas City.
All three artists have created work for the organization before, though not on the same program. Though in the early years Moving Arts performed both modern and classic ballet works, the organization has been moving toward presenting exclusively contemporary work, many created specifically for Moving Arts, with all-world premiere shows in 2018 and 2022.
To date, Moving Arts has presented 29 new works to Kansas City audiences.
These creative opportunities are essential to Moving Arts’ mission. “I really like to have zero constraints on the choreographers,” says Pachciarz. “It’s really what they want to do … what they can create from their own mind and their creative process.”
“There are people who are trying to control our art and those are the times where my punk side comes out,” he said.
Lorena, originally from Brazil, joined Kansas City Ballet in 2022 and Moving Arts in 2023, where he danced and created the work “Yin Yang.”
“Gabriel is a visionary,” said Burks. “He comes into every situation with so many ideas you can almost see his brain shifting through them as he speaks.”
He returns to the festival with “The Shape of Life,” inspired by “the biblical idea that God is the potter and we are the clay,” said Lorena. The work “reflects on personal events of life that have shaped us into who we are today.”
“It is a search for self-discovery, freedom for expression, a path to healing, and communication, and a reminder of the inner strength art helps us uncover,” he says.
Mistretta came to choreography a few years ago, creating work for Kansas City Ballet’s New Moves series and Moving Arts with her 2019 work “In Wounded Wood.” Mistretta has a spontaneous, improvisational style, and an eye for theatrical effect.
Burks has danced in three of Mistretta’s previous works. “Her work is so profoundly human in its rawness of emotion, without demanding it. I’ve seen her ease audiences into feelings of elation, strife, and mystery, until you’re often brought to tears by her own discovery of movement,” said Burks.
Pachciarz fills out the program, inspired by the music of San Francisco-based indie-rock singer/songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle. Pachciarz’s work is dedicated to the memory of longtime Kansas City arts support and former Moving Arts board member David Donovan, who died in January.
Each work reflects the choreographer’s independent creative vision and, in turn, the vision of Moving Arts for supporting artistic opportunity for dancers and choreographers alike.
“Moving Arts makes me feel at home, giving me room and space to play, fail, explore and develop myself,” said Lorena.
This performance is both a sendoff and a herald for new beginnings. Lorena will dance in Rotterdam next season. Mistretta retired from the Kansas City Ballet at the end of the 2024-2025 season, having danced with the company since 2016 and Boston Ballet for 10 years prior.
Their skill and vision, fostered here in Kansas City, contributes to a healthier, more robust community.
“There is so much artistic talent currently calling Kansas City home,” said Burks, “and it fills me with joy to provide a space where the public can enjoy these incredibly talented artists.”
Moving Arts presents “A Farewell to Kings” July 11 and 12 at the Folly Theater. For more information visit www.movingartsco.org.
