The paper below was meant to be given as a talk as part of the 2024 Russell Kerr Lecture series, which took place in Wellington on 25 February 2024. I had a misadventure with the plane that took me to Wellington (which ended up in Auckland) and in the end did not get to Wellington to deliver the talk in
24 March 2024. Hannah Playhouse, Wellingtonreviewed by Jennifer Shennan This dance work is choreographed by Jan Bolwell and performed by 35 members of Crows Feet Dance Collective, an ensemble of mature dancers, marking 25 years since the formation of the group in 1999. ‘Anyone can join Crows Feet—you just have to be a woman over 35. There are no auditions’ reads the program note. It’s a courageous undertaking to put trained
27 March 2024. The B, Queanbeyan Arts Centre Below is a slightly expanded version of my review of Awkward published online by Canberra City News on 28 March 2024. In just one performance in The B, a former Bicentennial Hall renovated to become a theatre space, the Newcastle-based Catapult Dance Choreographic Hub presented Awkward, a work with a focus on ‘The
22 March 2024. St James Theatre, Wellingtonreviewed by Jennifer Shennan Paradise Rumour, commissioned by Sharjah Festival in UAE (now that’s different), has toured in USA, and also performed in Auckland and Christchurch. This single performance in Wellington marks the end of its current season though further performances in Australia and the Pacific—Noumea? Suva? Honolulu? would make a lot of sense. The Black Grace team is on top of their game—producing a printed program which
14 March 2024. St James Theatre, Wellington reviewed by Jennifer Shennan Belle—A Performance of Air is a theatrical event of monumental proportions. The stage is mostly a launching pad for take-off from gravity, with high-flying spinning aerialists and moving sculptures that evoke time past and time future in a range of astonishing ways. There’s a striking opening image—backlit figures wired into a ground control centre, they’re there then
14 March 2024. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre Stunt Double is a jaw-dropping immersive theatre experience bringing audiences inside the filming of a 1970s Aussie action flick. So goes one encouragement to attend a performance of Stunt Double, the latest production from the Gold Coast based dance-theatre company The Farm. The work of The Farm, going by the previous productions
The annual Russell Kerr Lecture for 2024 took place in Wellington on Sunday 25 February. The lecture honoured Sir Jon Trimmer, esteemed artist who made a huge contribution to ballet in New Zealand, and who died last year. I was to give a short talk in which I planned, by focusing on images including some costume designs, to show how
23 February 2024. St James Theatre, Wellingtonreviewed by Jennifer Shennan A fascinating in-depth interview late last year on Radio New Zealand between Akram Khan and Kim Hill—(which of her interviews has not been deep and fascinating?)—is well worth accessing in RNZ archive. It’s no surprise to learn there that the bright mind and ferocious drive from Khan’s youngest days has
24 February 2024. Te Raukura, Kapitireviewed by Jennifer Shennan The two recently appointed directors at RNZB, Tobias Perkins and Ty King-Wall, express in the program’s introduction their hope that the national Tutus on Tour production will leave the audience captivated, moved and wanting more. It did and we do. The program opens with a set of excerpts from Swan Lake,
Artistic Direction: Tānemahuta GrayKapa Haka choreography: Wētini Mītai-Ngãtaiat Tawhiri in Wellington. 20 – 24 February 2024 and following tour to Auckland, Christchurch & Rotoruareviewed by Jennifer Shennan It’s always a special moment for an audience when the poster image for a production is revealed in the course of play—only fleetingly, there it was, but we recognise it instantly since we