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This heart-felt solo performance of Harrison Cook, who is Kai Tahu, takes viewers along his journey of exploration. Buried within the dancer’s psyche are ancient treasures of memories, stories, sounds, rhythms, movements, smells, sights and spirits of his ancestors. Keep Reading
A/MOTIONS’s debut work is a well-deserved and potent inclusion in this year’s Fringe Festival. It is enveloped in symbolic layers of meaning. Choreographer Aylin Atalay weaves her Turkish-and-Pakeha heritages into a veritable carpet of female wisdom, uplifting joy, camaraderie and spirited interdependence. It is danced across the breadth... Keep Reading
Bring all of yourself to this emphatically Kiwi performance of The Nutcracker Ballet; 99% just will not do! The beloved jewel in Ballet's European crown is revitalized, embellished, amplified and even perfumed with Aotearoa's splendour, vitality, beauty, whiff and cultural wealth. Keep Reading
Fifty years ago when Scottish Ballet last performed in New Zealand it was billed as the farewell tour of Dame Margot Fonteyn. To partner her in the Romeo and Juliet pas de deux was Valery Panov, a Russian Jewish refusenik. I attended that packed performance at the Wellington Opera House, was deeply moved to see Dame Margot, and overjoyed at... Keep Reading
Imprint is the first work in a stunning double bill. It is overwhelmingly satisfying; possessing complex indigenous symbolism, psychological profundity and movement vocabulary anchored in the depths of Aotearoa. Six dancers present a bravura performance. One cannot meet this work halfway; it invites complete self-immersion. Spoken comments,... Keep Reading
Two fully realized works on Darkness and Light were staged by Footnote. They were bold, assured, highly contrasting, youthful and compelling. Advance To Go, Holly Newsome’s choreography, was a stark interpretation of the Game of Life. Keep Reading
Emerging from the darkened stage’s primeval mist the imposing, noble figure of Sean McDonald, technically a towering dancer, appeared. His initial solo of majestic power and profound longing eloquently depicted the god Ranginui, the separated Sky father. His tender duet, developed as the work progressed, unfolded his love story with Earth... Keep Reading
Five dancers, three distinct choreographers, four visions, and a final work interwoven with contributions from five movement collaborators, all impacted by the potent force of COVID’s lockdown. The pandemic either prevented sufficient joint rehearsals on the one hand or permitted longer gestation of works pregnant with artistic possibilities... Keep Reading
Another triumph of ChoreoCo, the annual project of fresh, innovative choreography and Experimental Dance! This year, five highly trained, and particularly disciplined exponents of contemporary technique, were young, versatile dancers who presented myriad visual questions. The audience at that NZ Fringe Festival performance, which was... Keep Reading
The Noy family’s programme notes began with written greetings in Spanish, Hebrew, Te Reo and Hawaiian. Before the Dance performance began this immigrant family’s imported linguistic cultural wealth was interwoven with a respectful spoken address acknowledging the indigenous Maori ancestral claimants to the land on which the performance... Keep Reading
Accepting the challenge of a Fringe Festival performance, Otto Kosok conceived and choreographed a thought provoking work of immediate contradictions, baffling premise and dark menacing execution. Against a seemingly pointless existence, humans imbued with genius and courage manoeuvred to survive and triumph. Keep Reading
The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s The Sleeping Beauty. The Opera House, Wellington 29 October 2020 Reviewed by Mona Williams “Art is an act of defiance.” Thus, from pandemic dictated restrictions has emerged RNZB’s production of The Sleeping Beauty. To experience this elegant but deadly struggle between Love and Hate, Generosity and... Keep Reading
New Dance Group ChoreCo / Footnote New Zealand Dance New Zealand Fringe Festival 10 March 2020 Circa Theatre Reviewed by Mona Williams Under the auspices of Footnote New Zealand Dance five selected freelance dancers, worked for three weeks with two talented choreographers, Josie Archer and Kosta Bogoievski to mount a spirited, richly... Keep Reading
Infusing fresh vision, vibrancy and enjoyment into a well-known, gruesome folk tale, choreographer Loughlan Prior countered with a dizzying style palette; the 1920’s Charleston, a smooth waltz and flapper era vaudeville; he spiced it with can-can, chorus line routine, early Broadway sassy Jazz interpretations, and a sly, knowing touch of... Keep Reading
The ancient, high Art of the Bharatanatyam Dance tradition was richly expressed in a two-hour, evening interpretation of complex rhythmic and percussive sounds, expressive facial, body and hand movements; performance to music of voice, flute, sitar, ankle bells and tabla, and danced narratives of virtue, sacrifice, treachery, loyalty, magic,... Keep Reading
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