2 July 2023. Lower Hutt Little Theatre Choreography: Vivek KinraReviewed by Jennifer Shennan Darpana is a retrospective program of excerpts from the past three decades of seasons choreographed by Vivek Kinra for his company, Mudra. It’s a garden of earthly delights with celestial resonance, story-telling laced with joyous cavorting. There are sudden flashes of fury whenever forces of evil are
This month’s dance diary has, unexpectedly, a focus on dance books. One book is quite new and is due to be released on 1 August. The others have already been published and their mention is a result of other, related news received during the month. A new book by Janet Karin OAM, The Art and Science of Ballet Dancing and
22 June 2023. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane Queensland Ballet’s latest triple bill, Trilogy, is quite simply an extraordinary collection of dance works. It consists of Jack Lister’s A Brief Nostalgia, a co-production with Birmingham Royal Ballet, first staged in Birmingham in 2019; Christopher Bruce’s Rooster danced to songs by the Rolling Stones and first staged in 1991 in
20 June 2023 Li Cunxin, artistic director of Queensland Ballet for the past 11 years, today announced that, due to ill health, he will retire at the end of the 2023 season. At the same time, his wife Mary Li, also with health concerns, will retire from her role as ballet mistress and principal repetiteur with the company. Li’s contribution
Some time ago, Tatiana Leskova, former dancer with the Ballets Russes and with a significant career after those experiences, sent me a copy of her biography, Tatiana Leskova. Uma Bailarina Solta No Mundo. It was the original edition written in Brazilian Portuguese by Suzana Braga. Eventually an English edition was released, Tatiana Leskova. A Ballerina at Large, and I gave
3 June 2023. Michael Fowler Centre, Wellingtonreviewed by Jennifer Shennan Marc Taddei, music director of Orchestra Wellington (OW), has made the band a major fixture of Wellington’s music scene. A heartily large number of subscribers means there is always a capacity audience in place and the Michael Fowler Centre is no small venue. Typically, Taddei chooses a theme to connect
I didn’t post a review of the Australian Ballet’s Sydney season of George Balanchine’s Jewels. Somehow I just wasn’t inspired to do so. The way Balanchine groups corps de ballet dancers in many of his works, and has them join hands and weave in and out of linear patterns, is starting to look a little out of date to me.
27 May 2023. Hunters & Collectors Gallery, Wellington reviewed by Jennifer Shennan Hunters & Collectors is a well-known vintage clothes shop in Wellington’s favourite inner city Cuba Street. Chrissie O, the proprietor, had the wit to instal a mezzanine gallery within the high stud of the heritage building so that small scale art exhibitions and related gatherings can take place there
18 May 2023. Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre Communicate, the latest production from Canberra’s youth group, Quantum Leap, gave me something of a jolt. There were, for example, a few changes to the structure we usually see from the group. But more than that, this current group of dancers aged from 13 to 23, who were joined for this production by
13 May 2023. Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House ‘Paragon’ is a noun that means ‘a model of perfection and excellence’. The Australian Ballet’s resident choreographer, Alice Topp, set out in her latest production, named Paragon, to demonstrate something of the excellence and perfection (or attempts at perfection perhaps since perfection is something that we can only hope to achieve),