Kevin McKenzie (dancer)

Kevin McKenzie (born April 29, 1954 in Burlington, Vermont) is an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. A former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, he has served as the company's artistic director since 1992.

    Dutch Queen Beatrix, Martine van Hamel and Kevin McKenzie in 1982

    Education

    The youngest of 11 children, McKenzie began taking dance lessons at the urging of his father, who was eager to see his son become the next Fred Astaire. Shortly after his first lesson at the O'Brien School of Dance, he found that he was drawn more to ballet than to tap dancing. After being informed of their great talent, his mother sent him and his sister to study at the Washington School of Ballet under the directorship of Mary Day. Mary Day created an environment where dancers were able to explore their own opinions. It is because of her training that he became interested in story telling and developing characters, which led him to be intrigued with ballet theater.[1] Following a year long bout of ulcerative colitis, McKenzie spent his senior year on preparing for the Varna International Ballet Competition. At the 1972 edition of the competition, he was awarded the silver medal for his performance in the junior division.[2][3] As a professional dancer, he trained with Maggie Black in addition to other professionals including Georgina Parkinson, Twyla Tharp, and Anthony Dowell. He also worked on acting with Mary Day throughout his career.[1]

    Career

    After his win, McKenzie joined The Washington Ballet, making his professional debut at the Kennedy Center in Les Sylphides. He left the company in 1974 to join the Joffrey Ballet, where he performed as a principal dancer.[4] He turned down Joffrey at first to see if he could get into Ballet Theater, but eventually accepted Joffrey's offer after getting advice from a colleague. In regards to his time as a professional dancer at Joffrey, he has said he "learned how to learn there." He believes his experience at Joffrey is what shaped him into an adult.[1] In 1979, he departed to join American Ballet Theatre as a soloist. The following year after joining ABT, he was promoted to principal dancer.[5] During his time at ABT, McKenzie danced all of the major roles in the repertoire, but he performed best in princely roles. As a principal dancer in ABT, some of the roles he performed include Solo in La Bayadere, Don Jose in Carmen, the Prince in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of the full-length Cinderella, Franz in Coppélia, the Gentleman With Her in Dim Lustre, Basil and Espada in Don Quixote (Kitri’s Wedding), Albrecht in Giselle, a leading role in The Garden of Villandry, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, the leading role in The Leaves Are Fading, the Friend in Pillar of Fire, the leading role in Raymonda (Grand Pas Hongrois), a featured role in Requiem, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide and the leading roles in Other Dances, Paquita, Les Sylphides, the Sylvia Pas de Deux and Theme and Variations. He created the role of Amnon in Martine van Hamel’s Amnon V’Tamar and a leading role in Clark Tippet’s S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.[6] Retiring from ABT in 1991, he returned to Washington Ballet to assist Mary Day as her associate director. The following year he returned to ABT to take over as artistic director.[7] McKenzie has a deep regard that ABT needs to "have the best it can possibly have," in terms of faculty members and administration.[1]

    During his professional dance career, McKenzie performed in cities across the world including Italy, Paris, London, Tokyo, etc. He had the opportunity to dance with the London Festival Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba, and the Universal Ballet in Seoul. McKenzie was given the role of permanent guest artist with The Washington Ballet in 1989. In 1991, he became the Associate Artistic Director of the company. He was also Associate Artistic Director and a choreographer for Martine van Hamel's New Amsterdam Ballet. Before becoming Artistic Director of ABT in 1992, his choreographic credits include Groupo Zambaria (1984) and Liszt Études (1991), which were both choreographed for Martine van Hamel’s New Amsterdam Ballet. He had also choreographed Lucy and the Count (1992) for The Washington Ballet. For American Ballet Theater, he choreographed The Nutcracker (1993), Don Quixote (1995, in collaboration with Susan Jones) a new production of Swan Lake (2000), a new production of Raymond (2004) with choreography by Anna-Marie Holmes, and a new production of The Sleeping Beauty in 2004 with Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. In 2014, he staged a new production of Raymond Divertissements with Irina Kolpakova.[6]

    At the time that he took over, ABT was $5.7 million dollars in debt and on the brink of collapse.[8] Revitalizing the repertoire with new versions of The Nutcracker and Don Quixote, the company's fortunes were further strengthened by the arrival of Paloma Herrera[9] and Angel Corella[10] whose performances proved box-office gold. Adopting a new guest-star strategy, McKenzie gathered the strongest roster of male ballet stars in the world to continue the company's box-office success. By the end of the 90's, performances from Julio Bocca, Jose Manuel Careno, Vladimir Malakhov, Corella, Ethan Stiefel, Alessandra Ferri, Julie Kent, Herrera, and Irina Dvorovenko ensured that the company's fortunes remained high.[11] Though a few dancers, such as Gillian Murphy, David Hallberg, Marcelo Gomes, and Herman Cornejo were promoted naturally through the ranks, this star-casting scheme had the unfortunate side effect of suppressing opportunities for the upcoming generation of dancers[12]

    With the retirement of this wave of leading dancers over the course of the late aughts, McKenzie changed course on the company's policy of importing established stars by opening the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School to nurture the company's homegrown talent and appointing Alexei Ratmansky as Artist in Residence to shape ABT's future choreographically.[13][14][15][16] In recent years, while the company continues to perform McKenzie's versions of Don Quixote and Swan Lake, his Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty have been replaced by Ratmansky's restorations. Even as he has continued to support Ratmansky's choreographic endeavours, McKenzie has also invested in commissioning new work from female choreographers, particularly Jessica Lang.[17][18][19] McKenzie stresses the importance of versatility in dancers, and being open to new ideas and training. He has stated it is crucial to "produce a dancer who is thoughtful, well-developed, but in the absence of style." He also believes that individual teachers create great dancers, not necessarily schools or training programs as a whole. McKenzie stresses the importance of dancers bringing their own unique style to pieces. He calls on music a lot as a dancer and a choreographer. McKenzie usually works with dancers on the classical ballets, but believes dancers have to find what is universally truthful about their interpretations.[1]

    Awards

    Media

    McKenzie helmed ABT's presentation of Anna-Marie Holmes' Le Corsaire in 1995[22] and a decade later in his production of Swan Lake in 2005.[23][24] Both performances were aired on PBS.

    Personal life

    McKenzie spent his childhood growing up in a big family, and says that dynamic sustained him throughout his dance career.[1] McKenzie is married to the former ballet star, Martine van Hamel. The two co-founded Kaatsbaan International Dance Center.[25]

    References
    1. "Interview with Kevin McKenzie". NYPL Digital Collections. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
    2. "VI International Ballet Competition – Varna 1972". XXVIII Varna IBC 2018. April 18, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    3. "Facing the Daunting Task of Turning Around ABT : Dance: Kevin McKenzie, the new ABT artistic director and former dancer, takes over a financially crippled troupe. He is confident, though, that the company 'is going to make it.'". Los Angeles Times. November 30, 1992. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    4. "The Joffrey's Flexible Classicist". Washington Post. August 1, 1978. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    5. "Kevin McKenzie Named Ballet Theatre Principal". The New York Times. February 11, 1980.
    6. "Kevin McKenzie". American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
    7. "McKenzie named director of American Ballet Theatre". UPI. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    8. Kisselgoff, Anna (May 2, 1993). "DANCE; For Kevin McKenzie, an Uphill Battle". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    9. Kisselgoff, Anna (December 22, 1994). "DANCE REVIEW; Guest Artists: 'Nutcracker' Tradition". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    10. Kaye, Elizabeth (May 21, 1995). "DANCE: UP AND COMING: Angel Corella; A Young Rocket Who's Lifting Off Toward the Stars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    11. Kisselgoff, Anna (May 14, 1999). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; They Make People Gasp". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    12. Acocella, Joan (June 18, 2012). "Bring in the Ballerinas". ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    13. Macaulay, Alastair (September 12, 2008). "Alexei Ratmansky Will Bring Hope With Him When He Joins American Ballet Theater". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    14. John Rockwell (May 21, 2006). "Kevin McKenzie Keeps American Ballet Theater in a State of Permanent Renewal". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
    15. Paula Routly (November 7, 2012). "Kevin McKenzie, Burlington's Billy Elliot, Comes Home to Take a Bow". Seven Days. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
    16. Harss, Marina (May 17, 2019). "'More Than Pretty Dances': Alexei Ratmansky's Alliance With Ballet Theater". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    17. "Jessica Lang". American Ballet Theatre. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    18. Kourlas, Gia (May 9, 2018). "Ballet Theater Announces Female Choreographer Initiative". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    19. Cooper, Michael (June 27, 2019). "Female Choreographers Take Center Stage in Ballet Theater's Fall Season". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    20. "Dance Magazine Award Recipients". Dance Magazine. June 1, 2018. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    21. "Adelphi Commencement 2019 on Sunday, May 19: Honorary Degrees Planned for Accomplished Dancer, Autism Advocate". news.adelphi.edu. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    22. Sun-Sentinel, GUILLERMO PEREZ Special to the. "PBS PRESENTATION OF BALLET LE CORSAIRE A SENSUAL TREAT". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    23. Mattison, Ben (June 20, 2005). "PBS Broadcasts American Ballet Theatre Swan Lake". Playbill. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    24. "This 'Swan Lake' makes lofty viewing - The Boston Globe". archive.boston.com. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
    25. "Martine van Hamel: How I Teach Ballet". Dance Teacher. February 27, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
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