The past, present and future of the Kansas City Ballet was celebrated on Saturday, March 5th, when Kansas City Ballet Guild presented the annual Ballet Ball at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center Hotel. This year’s gala raised approximately $300,000 for Kansas City Ballet. The event honored the incredible contributions to the organization by the late Mrs. Muriel Kauffman who gave the ballet a much needed boost with a $1 million donation in the early 1980s. But money was only part of the equation, ball chairwoman Alison Nordholm's video explained. “Muriel believed the arts were absolutely necessary in Kansas City, and she was constantly interested. Muriel was a giver. By giving the ballet $1 million, she was making a statement. She turned the ballet around. It was the match that lit the bomb.” A highlight of the evening featured three generations of Kauffman women — Julia Irene Kauffman; her daughter, Lauren Scruggs; and granddaughter, Brittany LaPointe — dancing with Artistic Director William Whitener, Artistic Director Emeritus Todd Bolender and members of the ballet company. In addition, students of the Kansas City Ballet School and company members Logan Pachiarz and Kimberly Cowen, presented an excerpt from the ballet “Tribute to Muriel,” originally created in Mrs. Kauffman’s honor by Todd Bolender in 1995. Another big part of the evening was the presentation of the 23rd annual Pirouette Award, given by the Kansas City Ballet Guild. This year's winners were Anthony and Carol Feiock for their support of Kansas City Ballet for many years. The Guild would
like to thank their Premier Underwriter, the Muriel McBrien Kauffman
Foundation, as well as all of the major benefactors who made this
evening such a glittering success.
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