people
From her start as a baton twirler to a teaching visit to KU, Billie Maboney has spent
A LIFE IN DANCE
Dancer Billie Mahonev leads a class at Robinson Center. Mahonev's first job was leading a holiday parade in New York City
Mahoney, above, is the producer and host of the television series "Dance on with Billie Mahoney," which airs in New York City and on American Cablevision in Kansas City.
Story by JL Watson Photos by William Alix
hen Billie Mahoney first stepped onto the streets of New York she
was a dancer with a baton, a dream, and not much else.
"I was flat broke and in debt," said the Kansas City native. "I found out about the local Y's (YMCAs) from friends, and the first day I was there I picked up a copy of 'Actor's Cues' and looked for auditions."
Mahoney landed her first job the same day.
She has come a long way since then. She has danced all across the United States and the world, sharing her craft with students.
This week she brings her talents to KU students. Mahoney is teaching two classes with the University Dance Company.
Mahoney's first job was leading the St. Patrick's Day Parade for the Arthur Gottfried and his TV show while twirling a baton.
When she teaches classes this week, Mahoney will not be using a baton.
"I told them I would do jazz and soft shoe, but I've thrown in some other styles, including tap. Tap is my specialty," she said, shuffing a steady rhythm on the tile floor.
Labanotation is another of Mahoney's specialities. Labanotation is a system of recording movement and writing dance scripts. It allows choreographers to write down details of movements, in order to preserve them for future generations. Mahoney said.
"We break down all movement into direction, level, and timing." Mahoney said.
Billie Mahoney Dancer and producer
"Tap is my specialty."
"That way we can reproduce a dance from the 1920s or '30s, keeping true to the choreography, right down to the facial expressions."
In 1976 Mahoney was faced with one of her greatest personal challenges. She was struck with inflammation of the joints, and was hospitalized for two weeks.
"During that time the doctors told me I wouldn't be able to dance again for two years," she said. "I knew I had to do something, so I saw an ad in the paper for media studies and decided to look into it."
Because Mahoney already had earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in foreign languages and had spent all of her life dancing, she said she felt it would be cheating to get a master's degree in dance. Instead, she attended The New School for Social Research in New York City and got her master's in media studies.
It opened a new set of doors for her.
"I learned how to run the camera, produce a show, and do all the things required of producing a show for television," Mahoney said. Mahoney's experience led her to produce her own show, "Dance On: with Billie Mahoney." The show airs in New York City and on American Cablevision in Kansas City, Kan.
Patrick Suzela, professor of dance, said he met Mahoney at a Jose Limon Dance Company rehearsal several years ago.
"She is a great performer," he said. "She has a huge background in so many fields, like notation, tap, and reconstructions."
Mahoney said she enjoyed working with students because it allowed her to pass on her knowledge to a new generation of dancers.
"In dance, since our bodies are our instruments, it's important to have a well-trained body," she said. "But more than that we need to communicate what's inside. It's away to share with others what we know."
theater
Play addresses issues from child's viewpoint
"Step on a Crack," presented by KU Theater for Young People, deals with children's concerns about stepparents.
By Sara Bennett Kansan staff writer
"Step on a crack, break your mother's back"
Almost every child plays this game. Skipping to the bus stop, children instinctively hop over sidewalk imperfections in the superstitious belief that treading on them would inflict harm on the backs of their dear mothers. Although most children would not wish such a gruesome fate on their moms, some may have different feelings when it comes to new stepparents.
"Step on a Crack," an original children's play by Susan Zeder, addresses those feelings. The play, performed by KU students and directed by Rena Cook, assistant professor of theater and film, will be presented by the University of Kansas Theater for Young People Sept. 20-25 in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
Jeanne Klein, head of the children's theater program at KU, said "Step on a Crack" broke new ground for young audiences when it was published.
"Step on a Crack" tells the story of Ellie, a 10-year-old girl who turns to imaginary friends to help her deal with her fears, jealousies and insecurities about her new stepmother. As her emotions unfold through her fantasies, Ellie realizes that she really does want a mother.
"Step on a Crack" was first staged in 1974 at Southern Methodist University. It won the 1976 Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award for excellence in play writing and went on to become a classic in the children's repertoire. It was first staged at KU in 1980.
"It's a pretty loaded issue," she said. "About 50 percent of young people deal with it directly, and everyone deals with it indirectly."
Cook said the play effectively addressed the concerns of children who have stenoses.
"This play dares to treat a difficult subject, close to the hearts of many children, but untouched in any other children's script," she
said. "The play is a challenge for a young audience because it deals with both real and imagined action and an emotional topic."
The children's theater program at KU was founded in 1954 by Sally Six Hersh, a drama teacher who recently retired from West, Junior High School in Lawrence. It sponsors two performances for children every year. Fourth, fifth and sixth graders from Lawrence and Douglas County will be bussed to Murphy Hall to watch the productions. The play will be performed for them at 1 p.m. from Sept. 20-25. The public performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 25.
Cook said another challenge of the play was that adults play children. The six-member cast, led by Piaf Latham-Winter-Green, Lawrence senior, as Ellie, has succeeded in making the characters believable, she said.
"Susan Zeder is the top playwright in the children's theater genre in this country." Cook said. "There's always an element of fun and whimsy in her work, and she doesn't talk down to children."
Cook, who directed a children's theater troupe in Tulsa, Okla., before coming to KU three years ago, said these challenges, in addition to the author's reputation, had convinced her to do the play.
"The kids are going to look at that stage and say, 'That's me, or that's my best friend,'" Cook said.
"The problems are extremely real and extremely painful at times. Anyone who's in a family will relate to it," she said. "There's a lot of insight and understanding to be gained from this play no matter what the age."
Cook said the hour-long play dealt with issues that students and adults could relate to as well as children.
film
*Tickets for the public performance of "Step on a Crack" are $3 and are on sale in the Murphy Hall and Lied Center box offices.
Romance flick entertains you with violence
At first "True Romance" is disgusting. The violent scenes are too long, too violent and too detailed. Actually, they are so repulsive a few people left the
the preview. In this film, it is no longer a question of shooting your enemies, it is a question of perforating them.
So this movie is definitely not for viewers who cannot stand watching violence on
the big screen. But those who can stand violence, even those who generally don't like violent movies, should give this movie a chance. Because as the movie continues, the violence becomes ironic. The violence is mixed with a warm sense of humor, and it is partially a sad parody of violent society.
Clarence, played by Christian Slater, is a lonely guy who gets a call girl, Patricia Arquette, as a birthday present from a friend. They fall in love and marry after knowing each other less than a week. Suddenly, by mistake, they become owners of a suitcase crammed with cocaine. The case could be their ticket to wealth, but it also causes trouble, because the mob and the police are interested in the cocaine.
Arquette is perfect as Alabama, the blond prostitute who is smarter than she looks. Even her voice fits the character.
Quentin Tarantino, the author of "Reservoir Dogs," wrote "True Romance." He filled it with vulgar words unprintable here. Most sentences in "True Romance" contain at least three of those forbidden words. But between the obscenities, Tarantino has created a remarkably dynamic script. The movie also contains a few screaming funny but bizarre situations. The action doesn't build up until later in the film, as does the plot, and by the movie's end, the plot is truly thrilling. True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, stars Christian Slater, Patricia Arnette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt and Christopher Walken.
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
NIGHTLIFE
Benchwarmers Sports Bar & Grill
1803 92rd st
Benchwarner Sports Bar & Grill
1601 W. 23rd St.
The Cuddies, 9 p.m. Thursday
Mountain Clyde, 9 p.m. Friday
Lonesome Hound Dogs, 9 p.m. Saturday
The Crossing
The Crossing
12th and Oread
Bubble Boys, 9 p.m. Thursday
Tenderloin, 9 p.m. Friday
Spam Skinners, 9 p.m. Saturday
The Jazzhaus
Dos Hombres
815 New Hampshire St.
Eight Men Out, 9 p.m. Friday
926 1/2 Massachusetts St.
Living Proof, 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Common Ground, 8:30 p.m. Friday
Crap Supper, 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Granada Theater
**1020 Massachusetts St.**
Ben Graham Band, 8 to 11 p.m. Thursday
Blues Jam; 8:30 p.m. to midnight Friday
Rick's Neighborhood Bar & Grill 623 Vermont St.
Timber Rattlers, 9:30 p.m. Saturday
Free State Brewing Co.
636 Massachusetts St.
Bill Crahan Trio, 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday
Free State Jazz Quartet, 7 to 9 p.m. Friday
Paradise Cafe
728 Massachusetts St.
So What Jazz Band, 10 p.m. to midnight
Thursday
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire
Jack O'Pierce with The Young Johnny Carson
Story, 9 to 10 p.m. Thursday
Caribe, 9 to 10 p.m. Friday
Pumpkin Head, 9 to 10 p.m. Saturday
Hockenbury's Tavern
1016 Massachusetts St.
Ricky Dean's Sinatra with Eudora's, 10 p.m.
Thursday
Kelley Hunt with Mustang Lightning, 10 p.m.
Friday
Salty Iguanas, 10 p.m. Saturday
Salty liguans, 10 p.m. Saturday
Acoustic open mike, 10 p.m. Sunday
Blues, Brew and Barbeque
1910 Haskell Ave.
Guest DJ, 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and 6 p.m.
Sunday
See CALENDAR, Page 10.