Jon Trimmer, KNZM, MBE, dancer with Royal New Zealand Ballet from its earliest days, who also performed with the Australian Ballet in the 1960s, has died on 26 October aged 84. An obituary from Jennifer Shennan will be posted on this website a little later. In the meantime Jennifer has sent this brief statement:
Jon Trimmer, New Zealand’s leading ballet dancer, joined Poul Gnatt’s New Zealand Ballet company in 1959. He performed in every subsequent artistic director’s term for decades, and his artistic contribution to dance and theatre in this country is close to incalculable. In numerous roles he portrayed the full range of noble through to naughty, mysterious, magical, marvellous, musical and more. He was not just a mighty totara, he was a forest of mighty totara. We will not see his like again. The New Zealand, and indeed the wider dance world, is in mourning at the loss of a very great artist. E te rangatira,haere, haere atu. Moi mai rā.
I have a very clear memory of meeting Jonty, as he was familiarly called, at a cafe in Wellington in 2019 to talk to him about his memories of working with New Zealand born designer Kristian Fredrikson. Some of what we talked about subsequently appeared in my book Kristian Fredrikson. Designer. I remember in particular his words about the costume made for Captain Hook, Trimmer’s role in the 1999 Russell Kerr production of Peter Pan. The costume, which he is wearing in the featured image on this post, had to be remade because (as was sometimes the case with Fredrikson’s work) it was a little too heavy in which to perform well. Trimmer said, ‘The jacket was very heavy and the choreography quite demanding. After the first tour Kris made a new jacket. It looked the same but was made from lighter material so I was able to move more easily.’
I also have fond memories of seeing him perform, along with William Fitzgerald, in Loughlan Prior’s short work Lark in 2018 when I delivered the inaugural Russell Kerr lecture. In the brief footage below Trimmer talks about that work.
Vale Jon Trimmer. As well as being a remarkable dancer he was, from my brief encounters with him, a kind and generous man and his death is deeply felt by many. I look forward to posting an obituary from Jennifer Shennan in due course.
Update: Jennifer Shennan’s obituary of Jon Trimmer is now posted. See this link.
Michelle Potter, 29 October 2023
For more about Jon Trimmer on this website see this tag.
After all the drama surrounding the life of choreographer Liam Scarlett, leading to his death by suicide in April 2021, what a thrill it was to see a restaging of his exceptional work, A Midsummer Night’s Dream—a joint production between Queensland Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet. It was first seen in New Zealand in 2015 and then in Brisbane in 2016. How lucky we are that Li Cunxin has seen fit to have it staged again by Queensland Ballet.
Scarlett’s work, somewhat rearranged from the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, juxtaposes two worlds—that of a fairy realm led by Oberon and Titania as King and Queen, who are squabbling over a changeling child; and a mortal world inhabited by rustics and a group of ‘explorers’ (so to speak) who enter a forest clearing inhabited by the fairies. The love lives of the ‘explorers’ become a little muddled when Oberon’s apprentice, Puck, receives instructions from Oberon to help with his squabble with Titania.
The forest setting is spectacularly designed by Tracy Lord Grant with strings of lights, stylised flora, a bridge among the tree tops, exotic tent-style dwellings for the fairy folk, and then some down-to-earth tents for the explorers. She is also responsible for the remarkable and beautifully coloured costumes. The work is lit with style by Kendall Smith.
Scarlett’s choreography is quite individualistic. It is beautifully musical with individual steps that are sometimes so small and fast that it is almost ‘blink and you miss them’. Then he invents lifts that are unlike anything we have seen before; he combines turns and jumps in unusual ways; he creates group movements that seem just perfect for the moment; and his choreography always matches the nature of the characters in the work. On this last mentioned issue, the group choreography for the rustics is a perfect example—it is, well, just rustically unsophisticated!
The dancers of Queensland Ballet danced brilliantly, as we have come to expect these days. Victor Estévez was a rather solemn Oberon but I loved seeing him lurking in the background (often on the treetop bridge) keeping an eye on what Puck was doing. Lucy Green handled the role of Titania with ease and the pas de deux between her and Estévez at the end of the work, when their differences had been resolved, was full of love and even a bit of sexiness. The four ‘explorers’, Mia Heathcote as Hermia, Alexander Idaszak as Lysander, Georgia Swan as Helena and Vito Bernasconi as Demetrius, engaged our attention throughout, while Rian Thompson as Bottom was memorable especially after the spell linking him and Titania had been broken and he struggled (choreographically) to understand what had happened.
While it is a hard task to single out individual performers in a show where the standard of performance is so high, Kohei Iwamato as Puck needs a special mention. Apart from the fact that he danced with spectacular leaps, great turns and detailed choreographic focus, the facial and physical expression that he used to give depth to his character was remarkable. I also found Georgia Swan truly engaging as the slightly crazy Helena. There was a lovely moment, after she and Demetrius had come together, when Demetrius took out a pair of glasses to show Helena that he too wore glasses.
This was my second look at Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream after seeing it in Brisbane in 2016. As often happens with dance productions, the second viewing brought out things that I hadn’t noticed to such an extent the first time. Apart from the comic angle which hadn’t seemed so obvious before, I was entranced by the way every single character had an individuality, even when dancing as a group. The fairies and the rustics brought this out really well.
A truly unmissable show and I look forward to another viewing.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream continues at the Canberra Theatre until Saturday 28 October. If you miss it in Canberra, it is part of Queensland Ballet’s 2024 season and plays at Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Playhouse from 12–27 April. See this link for more information about that 2024 season. It will also be restaged by Royal New Zealand Ballet 24 October–14 December beginning in Wellington. See this link. Update: Here is a link to my second viewing in Canberra.
Michelle Potter, 26 October 2023
Postscript: At the post performance event following the opening night of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Canberra both Alex Budd, director of the Canberra Theatre Centre, and Li Cunxin mentioned in their speeches the move currently underway to build a new and enlarged theatre space for the Canberra Theatre Centre. Both spoke of the size of the current main stage and the difficulties associated with staging some performances on it. The size of the Canberra stage has been an issue for some time now and a new stage is a terrific development. But I have to say that Li Cunxin managed to fit Midsummer onto the current stage just brilliantly even though he admitted there had to be some adjustments. He said when asked that he never says ‘No I can’t do it.’ He always finds a way. Well that’s Li. He succeeds where others can’t be bothered trying.
Li also seized the opportunity to speak about another important issue—government funding for Queensland Ballet, which he says is minimal compared to funding for other major dance companies in Australia. This is a situation that needs to be changed. Under Li Cunxin and Mary Li the company has grown in size; has become more adventurous than ever; has built new and hugely responsive audiences; has brought major sponsors on board, has built a new home for Queensland Ballet (including a theatre), and now the company has a standard of performance that is hard to beat anywhere. That it has been unable to garner funding that recognises its place as a world class company is outrageous. We need to lobby those who are in a position to bring about change.
Queensland Ballet has unveiled its plans for 2024 and those plans suggest that the year will be a magnificent parting gift to audiences from outgoing artistic director Li Cunxin AO. The works come from a range of choreographers, including Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Ben Stevenson and Liam Scarlett, along with the company’s own Greg Horsman and Matthew Lawrence and a number of other Australian artists, including Jack Lister and Wakka Wakka/Kombumerri choreographer Katina Olsen.
Perhaps the most intriguing work in the season is Coco Chanel. The Life of a Fashion Icon, intriguing perhaps because its choreographer, Belgian-Columbian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, is not so well-known in Australia, despite the fact that she has worked for a myriad of companies in the northern hemisphere. It will be seen in Brisbane from 4–19 October and is described by Queensland Ballet as ‘transporting audiences back to Jazz Age Paris’ and as ‘a full length narrative ballet steeped in realism and beauty.’
Li Cunxin remarks that he has been an admirer of Ochao’s work for some time. He has seen her works in many situations and on many companies and especially recalls being thrilled watching one of her productions in rehearsal in Cuba on a visit there a few years ago. At my suggestion that Chanel was often a controversial figure, he says, ‘I am familiar with how Annabelle shapes and layers her works and Coco Chanel explores more than Chanel’s career as a fashion designer. But it does not glorify her work and is more a reflection of the times in which she lived.’ Li also admires her approach to collaboration saying, ‘She is daring when it comes to collaboration and is always seeking new talent in different areas.’
Coco Chanel is a joint production between Queensland Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. Others of the 2024 offerings are also joint productions, including a much-anticipated revival of Liam Scarlett’s astonishing and truly beautiful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (12–27 April), ‘brimming with mischief and mayhem’ as the media release rightly says; and Greg Horsman’s Australianised production of Coppélia (7–22 June).
Li is enthusiastic about the advantages of of joint productions. ‘It’s a win/win situation,’ he says. ‘It is a sharing of costs and it also develops the spirit of collaboration with artists being exposed to different practices, different approaches.’
Horsman’s production of Coppélia was first staged in 2014 and is a joint production with West Australian Ballet. I didn’t see it in 2014 but Li tells me it is an innovative work that connects to Australia’s migrant history. Set in Hahndorf, South Australia, in the late 19th century, it tells the story of a German migrant—he represents Dr Coppélius—who has lost his daughter on the boat trip from Europe and who tries to recreate her in Australia. But, Li tells me, ‘Greg is respectful to the Coppélia we all know and keeps a number of the classical parts of the original choreography.’
Queensland Ballet’s seventh Bespoke season will take place 25 July–3 August and will comprise works by Katina Olsen, Milena Sidorova (a Ukrainian-Dutch choreographer), and Jack Lister, while the company’s Queensland Ballet on tour will be expanded to include Queensland Ballet at home. The ‘at home’ season is a new initiative given that the company now has its own home in the Talbot Theatre. It will feature a work by the current ballet master, Matthew Lawrence, with the somewhat surprising title of Tchaikovsky Mash. Lawrence’s work was first shown at the Noosa Alive Festival 2023 and Li speaks enthusiastically about it saying that Lawrence has creative ideas and is very musical. The ‘at home’ show will include Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes, the pas de deux from Le Corsaire and Horsman’s A Rhapsody in Motion.
The year will conclude with the Christmas favourite Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker. But as a bonus extra Queensland Ballet is presenting Derek Deane’s The Lady of the Camellias performed by Shanghai Ballet in Brisbane 5–8 December.
Artists of Shanghai Ballet in The Lady of the Camellias
Li’s replacement as artistic director has not yet been announced but the news of who it will be is likely to be known in the not too distant future. Of the future of Queensland Ballet Li has remarked: ‘I look forward to witnessing the journey of this aspirational company as it continues to share the beauty of dance with as many people as possible throughout Queensland and beyond.’
19 October 2023. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Chi Udaka was an outstanding collaborative venture between Lingalayam, a company directed by Australian-Indian dancer Anandavalli, and TaikOz, an Australian music group co-founded by Ian Cleworth and Riley Lee and currently directed by Cleworth. The show focused on Anandavalli’s interest in the two Indian classical dance styles of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi, and the intrinsic interest of TaikOz on drumming but with that interest extending to other instruments, especially the shakuhachi and, on this occasion, to the sounds of the cello of John Napier. Chi Udaka is not a new production but this 2023 presentation was part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Sydney Opera House. And the show itself was beautifully celebratory in its inspiring combination of music and dance.
‘Chi’ means earth in Japanese and ‘Udaka’ means water in Sanskrit so the production juxtaposed these two ideas with the story taking place within one day from early morning to late evening, although the focus was not really on a strong narrative structure but rather, at least for me, on artistic collaboration. Nevertheless, it began with a kind of meditation in the early light of morning, with a rare and welcome appearance by Anandavalli who introduced a rhythmic element with chanting and the playing of small hand held instruments, and who eventually rang a bell to announce the beginning of the day. It concluded with Anandavalli closing the show with a gathering together of the cast in a kind of closing communion, accompanied by singing from vocalist Aruna Parthiban.
Between these opening and closing moments the dancing and music were exceptional. The dancers, stunningly dressed in saris designed by Anandavalli, moved with close attention to the detailed movements of bodies, hands and feet of the classical Indian styles, and with extraordinary lyricism between individual movements. A highlight was a duet between one dancer and Riley Lee on the shakuhachi, but every combination of dancer and musician, and there were many different combinations, was transforming to watch and hear.
And can drummers dance? They certainly can. They were completely involved both in the very physical way they engaged with their instruments, and in their awareness that they were part of an overall production. They were just brilliant. But then so was Riley Lee with his shakuhachi and other flute-like instruments, as was John Napier with his cello.
A scene from Chi Udaka. Photo from the TaikOz website. Photographer not identified.
The overall ambience of the work was quite evocative of time and place, changing as the work progressed with a particularly strong contribution from lighting designer Karen Norris. It was in all a show that brought huge pleasure and a renewed interest in what dance and music can achieve together.
The complete work (from a 2016 production) is available on Vimeo at this link.
Michelle Potter, 23 October 2023
Featured Image: Promotional image for Chi Udaka from the Sydney Opera House website. Photographer not identified.
14 October 2023. The Long Hall, Roseneath, Wellington report by Jennifer Shennan
On Saturday 14 October, this past weekend, a gathering at The Long Hall in Roseneath marked the birthdate of Douglas Wright, arguably the most remarkable dance artist this country has ever known. Douglas died on 14 November 2018. Here is a link to my obituary.
If you google the name Douglas Wright, you find 92 million hits. They’re not all for our Douglas of course—though they could be, so prolific was his choreographic, literary and visual arts output.
Google cites: Douglas James Wright MNZM (14 October 1956–14 November 2018) was a New Zealand dancer and choreographer in the New Zealand arts establishment from 1980.
The arts establishment? It’s s surprise to read that since I doubt many, including Douglas, would see him as a member of The Establishment, whatever that means. (It sort of implies someone on salary in a sinecure job in arts administration, which Douglas certainly never was. All his work lurched from one project to another, and unbelievably his company was never offered secure funding. That was everybody’s loss).
Just as hard to fathom is an ACC listing (that’s Auckland City Council, not Accident Compensation Commission) of rooms for hire: ‘The Douglas Wright Room, which faces onto the carpark at the back of the building, can be booked in combination with the Leslie Comrie room.’
Who is Leslie Comrie, you ask. Born in Pukekohe 1893 (where Douglas was also born, 56 years later), Comrie, a University of Auckland graduate, became an astronomer and pioneering computer engineer. He died in London in 1950, 9 years before Douglas was born, I am not making this up. Perhaps we should hire both rooms for an Auckland party sometime to celebrate both Douglas-es?
The entries for others with the same name include an agricultural researcher, an American playwright, an experienced graduate architect with a passion for narrative design approaches, a commercial cleaner, a professor of medicine at Harvard specialising in Anaestheology and Perioperative Medicine. and a senior lecturer in Actuarial Science and Business Management in London. Perhaps the strangest of all is a 2009 listing in The Times of India ‘Douglas Wright, New Zealand dancer—a surprise seminar for teachers’ (I think the surprise would have been Douglas’), and the linked profile of someone appointed chief judge of a forthcoming Bollywood dance competition.
‘Enough’ I hear you cry. But the best of it is that Douglas would have been quite pleased to be listed alongside these illustrious others, since there’s a little bit of each of them in him, and the themes in his many works covered or referenced each of their callings, well, most of them.
Thanks to the kindness of Megan Adams, fastidious executor of Douglas’ choreographic legacy, we were able to watch video of The Kiss Inside, the last of his full-length works, made in 2015. Recognisable in it are many motifs referencing others of his choreographies so in a sense he is archiving himself as he goes,.
All the cast are knockouts—but Sarah-Jayne Howard, Craig Bary and Luke Hanna, all graduates of New Zealand School of Dance, were just as astonishing as we remember them eight years ago. The film is archival quality only, since there would not have been budget to make that broadcast quality. Here’s where the value of dance reviews come in—after the viewing we read Bernadette Rae’s very fine review from NZ Herald (it’s on line), and my own review at this link. You could also treat yourself to the astonishing photographs by Pippa Samaya of the work. (Two images from Pippa Samaya’s exceptional work are below.)
Leanne Pooley’s documentary, Haunting Douglas, (the word is verb, noun and adjective) is a fine record of Douglas’ life and work to 2003, when it was released. It’s up to us to remember the works made after that date. Black Milk, fortunately for us, is documented by Douglas in his book Terra Incognito, and also in the superb collection of photographs from the work, by the same name in a handsome edition by Potton Burton publishers.
Tessa Ayling-Guhl was smitten by seeing Black Milk as a youngster. Years later, when studying photography in Berlin, she was driven to request of Douglas that she might photograph him. He eventually agreed, and danced for her in the garden of his Mt Roskill home in 2015, the same year The Kiss Inside was made. The resulting images capture his body and his spirit. A set of these photographs were exhibited, as Geist Dance, in Hunters & Collectors shop gallery in Cuba Street, owned by Chrissie O, long-time friend of Douglas from the years before he became a dancer. Tessa’s photographs were again exhibited at The Long Hall so we felt Douglas’ presence at the gathering. We are inviting koha towards the purchase of one of the images for permanent display.
Robert Oliver (viola da gamba) Noelle Dannenbring (piano) and Lucas (violin) made special music, David Long and Prue (mother of Lisa) Densem spoke tributes, and messages were read from Roger Steele, Patricia Rianne, Raewyn Hill, Taiaroa Royal and Sean Macdonald.
It has been an easy decision that we should mark every 14 October from now on with a gathering to explore different aspects of Douglas’ choreographic legacy. We’ll call it Many Happy Returns, Douglas. Please save the date.
