‘Duets for my Valentine’ dance program available online through Sunday  

When the founder of the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company debuted “Duets for My Valentine” last year, she was expecting it to become an annual event.

The performance, at the Crown Uptown Theatre in Wichita, came “right before things shut down” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“There was mumbling and rumblings of something going on,” Klenjoski recalled.

Although audience limitations keep a live performance from happening, Klenjoski and other Wichita-based choreographers are keeping the show going on virtually.

Klenjoski and five other choreographers are creating a film version of their work, which will be available 8 p.m. Friday through midnight Valentine’s Day.

Given only the theme of “Duets for My Valentine,” the choreographers had carte blanche in what they created, Klenjoski said.

Other choreographers on the project are Cheyla Clawson, a choreographer at Wichita State, who will be performing with cellist Susan Mayo; Mina Estrada, managing director of the Klenjoski dance company; married couple Nick Johnson and Sabrina Vasquez, he a dance program director and she a dance educator at Wichita State; and Andrea Vazquez, director of the ballet program at Friends University, who will be joined by Wichita poet James J. Kaufmann.

All of the performances are recorded. Klenjoski, who taped hers outdoors in downtown Wichita last week, said it was a different feeling choreographing for a camera than for a live audience.

“It’s a whole other language than live dance,” she said. “I knew going in what I wanted to do, strictly for camera. I created the dance as a continuous piece from beginning to end, but I knew how I wanted it cinematically to work and how I wanted to piece it together.”

Editing adds another dimension, she said.

“With film you can cut and splice and bring dancers in, fade them out, make them transparent, turn them upside down,” she said. “Film adds another choreographic opportunity.”

Before the dance performance is an optional “Opening Night Cocktail Social on Zoom,” where guest mixologist Stephen Schmidt – Klenjoski’s husband – will instruct how to make a specialty drink. Ingredients will be listed for those who registered for the party.

“None of the ingredients are outrageous or unusual,” Klenjoski said.

The rest of the performances will be as much of a surprise to Klenjoski as they are to the audience, she said. She knows, trusts, and hand-selected the choreographers, she said, and is sure all will be entertaining.

“They’re going to express the theme in their own way, and it’s all a surprise to me as well. I cannot wait to see the work,” she said. “I have no doubt we’ll be in for a varied, fun, eclectic, thought-provoking evening.”

‘DUETS FOR MY VALENTINE’

When: 8 p.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 14

Tickets: $25 suggested donation for the performance and $35 for the cocktail social (7:15 p.m. Friday), available at rkdc.org or by calling 316-302-4560

This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 5:01 AM.