Wylliams/Henry Dance Company honors legacy of two artists

The audience gave standing ovations all three nights of the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company Fall concert in White Recital Hall, Sept. 13-15.

The near-capacity audiences were treated to a company world premiere performance of "Sweet Otis Suite," an original work dedicated to the two artists who inspired it, the dancer Leni Wylliams and the musician Otis Redding.

Both artists were killed tragically before their times, making the story behind the piece as intriguing as the dancers' performance of it.

"We were very pleased with the reception of the piece," said Artistic Director and former Dance Department Director Mary Pat Henry, who choreographed the piece. "We were thrilled that the audience was moved by the performance, as we were to present it."

Henry co-founded the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company in 1991 in Kansas City, along with the late Leni Wylliams.

The company now holds the position of Artist in Residence at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, and continues to present concerts in Kansas City and around the Midwest region.

The timing of the premiere was poetic, yet fitting, since this is the 40th anniversary of Redding's untimely death in a 1967 plane crash, just before the release of his best-known hit song, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."

It is also the 11th anniversary of the tragic death of Wylliams, former UMKC faculty member and co-founder of the dance company, who was brutally murdered in his home in 1996.

The hit song was to be a solo for Wylliams, as a collaborative work choreographed by Henry.

The work was abandoned after his death, but always lingered in Henry's mind, as an important piece of business yet to finish.

"In our conversations, Leni and I made plans for a number of works," Henry said. "And most of them have been finished and performed ... except for this one ... this was the last work inspired by Leni Wylliams that still need to be presented ... and now seemed the right time."

One of the reasons for presenting the work now was Henry felt the composition of the Dance Company was right. The solo piece was to be performed on a raked platform, tilted at a 45-degree angle, representing the "dock of the bay," which made it a particularly challenging piece to perform.

"When Rodni Williams returned to the company, and Torens Johnson joined us, we knew we had the right composition," Henry said. "Up until now, it did not seem like we had the right mix of talent to present this kind of work ... but we do now."

Williams, Jennifer Medina, Johnson and DeeAnna Hiett have worked or trained with Williams directly. The other dancers in the company, in turn, have worked directly with those veteran dancers.

"As a result of the intimate connection with Leni's style of dance, when I describe what vision of Leni's work I am trying to reproduce, they understand," Henry said. "So, Leni's influence on the dancers and the company as a whole is still very strong."

The company was founded as a repertory company that would serve as a "living archive of the best of American contemporary dance." The dances range from established contemporary classics to exciting, provocative, avant garde works by new artists. It has continued that tradition by performing works of well-established choreographers (such as KC native Milton Myers and Tony Award-winning Bill T. Jones) and adding innovative works choreographed by members of the company.

Performing this piece at this time was particularly special to Henry, for it presents the extraordinary legacy of two great artists together at a significant time for remembering both of them.

"Torens Johnson had the theatricality and mature artistry to bring his own personality to the role, to make it real theatrically, giving the solo the persona and atmosphere that Leni would have brought to the role," Henry said. "At the same time, we are presenting the music of Otis Redding to a whole new younger audience, helping to rekindle an interest in his work so that others can appreciate his accomplishments, and to realize how truly gifted Otis Redding was and how much influence he had on popular music."

Henry still feels Wylliams continues to be very much a part of the company, despite his tragic departure.

"Within the company there is a direct legacy linage to Leni," Henry explained. "And that kind of passion and emphasis on artistry over technique, that Leni inspired, are still the continuing principles of the company ... In that regard, Leni is still very much with us."

To find more information on the Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Co., visit http://wylliams-henry.org/.

englishn@umkc.edu