BWR hires Stas Kmiec as new artistic director

Staff report

Youngstown

Stas Kmiec has signed a two-year contract as artistic director of Ballet Western Reserve.

Kmiec temporarily served in that capacity in 2011 and impressed the BWR board.

“The impact Kmiec made three years ago, and again during the recent spring season, prompted the board to seek his expertise to rejuvenate, redesign and reimagine BWR,” said Sabrina Shapiro, board president.

Kmiec had been serving as interim artistic director at BWR since the spring before being hired last week. “During his time at BWR, Stas has taken the organization to new areas of creativity, public awareness, visibility and community involvement,” said Shapiro.

His extensive resume includes dancing with the Boston Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Ballet and Stars of American Ballet, and touring with Rudolf Nureyev. His credits also include work on Broadway, in national tours and on television and film.

As a featured performer with American Dancemachine, he worked with choreographers Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Tommy Tune and Agnes DeMille.

For four seasons he has been on the voting committee for Broadway’s Tony Awards.

Kmiec founded and headed two dance ensembles as artistic director and has choreographed in a multiple of styles.

The Massachusetts native is a graduate of Tufts University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree with highest honors and a master’s degree from The University of Marie Curie Sklodowska in Poland (ethnography, dance pedagogy and teaching methodology).

Kmiec has a teaching certification from the New York City Ballet; he was a guest instructor at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA); and was on the faculty at the Ballet Arts in New York.

The motto he established for BWR in 2011 — “Inspiration, Professionalism, and Dance Education” — is still inscribed on the main wall of the school and dance company’s space in the Morley Building, 218 W. Boardman St., downtown.

During his previous stint at BWR, the school was given an interior renovation and exterior branding, groundwork for outreach and adjunct programs were established, and a series of “Let’s Move Youngstown” dance-fitness programs were initiated.

In July he won the Excellence in Choreography Award for his work in the New York Musical Theater Festival’s new musical, “The Mapmaker’s Opera,” which featured BWR alumna Natalia Lepore Hagan, He also served as a judge for the International Ballet/Dance Festival in Europe.

At BWR, he has named Hayley Platt as the school director and Elena Cvetkovich as company ballet mistress. He established a new pre-professional ballet program for career-seeking students and a modern dance track.

“New programs and collaborations will offer more performing opportunities for the BWR company, which will be expanded in scope,” said Kmiec.

BWR dancers will appear in the Opera Western Reserve’s November production of “Don Giovanni,” as well as with upcoming projects with the Youngstown Playhouse, the Oakland Center for the Arts, Liz Rubino Studios and the Youngstown Symphony.