Forget Radio City Music Hall, the best in local chorus dancing is tap-tap-tapping right in your backyard. Enter the Kansas City Canaries — KC’s one and only chorus line troupe since their inception in 2015.
Their specialty routines have taken them everywhere —from historic former-speakeasy The Phoenix to a residency at VAMP Kansas City to a performance with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra. Amanda Bernice, founder and co-director of the troupe, says there’s big plans as the group nears a decade of dancing: “We plan to put on our own cabaret towards the end of the year and then we’re going back to our roots + finding a new residency, preferably in a jazz club.”
You can step in on the magic this weekend by attending the Canaries’ all-levels-welcome Chorus Girl Workshop on Sunday, Dec. 17 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. The class is inspired by Consuela Harris, “a Black originator of jazz dancing + the best of the shake, hot, swinging dancers in the 1930s.” Heels are preferred, but never required — so bring your best dancing shoes (whatever they may be).