December. Jake Silvestro
…r on this item of circus paraphernalia and his whirling and spinning while inside the wheel are breathtaking. In another he adds a brightly coloured shirt to his rather workman-like costume (that of someone who has been fighting the fire perhaps), picks up some brightly coloured hoops and proceeds to engage us with a brilliant display as he manipulates the hoops, letting them play up and down and across his body. It is a particularly joyous moment…
Mā. Choreography by Kelly Nash. Atamira Dance Company
…ssion. Her experience as an actor, dancer and spirit-healer gives her much insider knowledge as to how to do this. Her performance stays etched in the memory. If we cannot speak up about this work, support a project to make a film of it, and encourage performance in galleries and museums, then we don’t deserve the cameras, the email address list, the technology, or the right to review performance. The choreographer’s statement is at this link. Je…
New Zealand School of Dance Graduation Season, 2018 (2)
…eir repertoire. Music by Xenakis was the water they danced in. Huri Koaro (Inside out), by Gabrielle Thomas, assisted by Megan Adams, is a work from Atamira dance collective’s repertoire. It brought a welcome and convincing Maori female presence to the stage, with patterns suggesting taniko and kowhaiwhai, then moves to a driving pate rhythm. There was an unusual and welcome stillness and silence for some of the groupings, then poi swinging across…
7 Deadly Sins. Expressions Dance Company
…mpeting for dominance. And remarkably this competitive sparring took place inside, on top of, and around one of the boxes. The duet was a powerful display and something of a tour de force with the tall, narrow box tilting alarmingly at times. It was, nevertheless, beautifully manipulated and managed by the dancers. This is an interesting work from Weir who most often deals with storytelling in which people are at the centre of the work. With 7 Dea…
Kaguyahime. Paris Opera Ballet
…ells of Kaguyahime, the moon princess who comes to earth—she is discovered inside a stalk of bamboo—and astounds everyone with her radiant beauty. Many vie for her attention but she eventually and reluctantly takes leave of her adoptive parents and returns to the moon. The work is divided into scenes that reflect the story: the descent of Kaguyahime from the moon, the dance by the village men who compete for her attention, the celebration of her c…
Olga Spessivtseva in Australia
…different version of events. Writing from Melbourne on 2 December 1934 his inside information is that Spessivtseva had already left for Europe: We’ve had rather a blow as Spessiva is ill and although it is no known publicly, she’s sailed for Europe. She has promised to rejoin us some months hence when she is better.’ Dolin, however, gives a quite different account of Spessivtseva’s movements. He maintains that Spessivtseva was sent to recuperate i…
Vaslav Nijinsky’s costume for Le Dieu bleu. Some comments
…e make-up Nijinsky wore as the Blue God can still be found as marks on the inside the costume. But we also know that the ballet was not a major success and was given very few performances after its 1912 premiere and quickly disappeared from the repertoire. That there were only a few performances of the ballet is both a blessing and a curse. From a positive point of view it means that the costume, designed by Léon Bakst one of Diaghilev’s best know…
News from Meryl Tankard
…estival. She has published five books of poetry. Sandy Jeffs in Meryl Tankard’s short documentary, MAD Tankard says she is thrilled that her first documentary has been chosen to be screened at the Festival. She says: ‘I hope this documentary will give viewers a glimpse inside the schizophrenic mind. I have been inspired by Sandy’s works and by Sandy herself, in particular the way she deals with her inner voices and the way she articulates her feel…
Anna Karenina. Eifman Ballet
…) their feet. Pointe shoes look ghastly if the foot isn’t working strongly inside them and often it wasn’t, which totally destroyed the line of the leg in my opinion. Scene from Anna Karenina, Eifman Ballet, 2012. Photo: © Cynthia Sciberras What I really didn’t like was the Tchaikovsky mash-up to which the work was set musically. In particular, there were some musical selections that are so closely identified with other ballets as to detract from…
R & J. Expressions Dance Company
…rate her from Romeo and, as Act II comes to a conclusion, he lights up the inside of the box that acts as a final tomb. Samantha Mitchell and Benjamin Chapman, R & J Act II, Expressions Dance Company. Photo: © Chris Herzfeld, Camlight Productions, 2012 Act III is ‘Devotion’ and is set in the 1950s. ‘Devotion’ is perhaps the cleverest of the three stories and shows us a routine of life and love that is interrupted by the inevitability of an end to…