Kevin McKenzie (dancer)
The youngest of 11 children, McKenzie began dance lessons at the urging of his father, who was eager to see his son become the next Fred Astaire.
That training sparked and nurtured Kevin's interest in storytelling and character development, which led to a nearly lifelong fascination with ballet theater.
[1] After his win, McKenzie joined The Washington Ballet, making his professional debut at the Kennedy Center in Les Sylphides.
As a principal, he took on the 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, the male lead in The Garden of Villandry, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, the male lead in The Leaves Are Fading, the Friend in Pillar of Fire, the male lead 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 male leads in Other Dances, Paquita, Les Sylphides, the Sylvia Pas de Deux and Theme and Variations.
For American Ballet Theatre, he choreographed new productions of The Nutcracker (1993), Don Quixote (1995, in collaboration with Susan Jones), Swan Lake (2000), Raymonda (2004) with choreography by Anna-Marie Holmes, and The Sleeping Beauty in 2004 with Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov.
[9] The new versions of The Nutcracker and Don Quixote, as well as the arrival of Paloma Herrera, strengthened the company's fortunes[10] and Angel Corella[11] 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 the company's ongoing rise.
[12] Though a few dancers, such as Gillian Murphy, David Hallberg, Marcelo Gomes, and Herman Cornejo, were promoted through the ranks, the more typical star-casting scheme had the unfortunate effect of suppressing opportunities for an upcoming generation of dancers[13] 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.
[14][15][16][17] 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.
