DANZ QUARTERLY No 6 December 2006

Reviews

Fluid (Karen Barbaur, Kristian Larsen) reviewed by Sue Cheesman
Requiem (Lemi Ponifasio and MAU) reviewed by Moana Nepia
Tempo 06 roundup by Marianne Schultz, Julia Milsom, Raewyn Whyte, Francesca Horsley and Alexa Wilson
Highlights from The Body 06 by Carolyn Cairns
The Nature of Wishing (Alyx Duncan) reviewed by Francesca Horsley
Shree Ram Katha (Vivek Kinra and MUDRA Company) reviewed by Ann Hunt

Fluid
Academy of Performing Arts, Waikato University
29 September 2006
Reviewed by Sue Cheesman

Three different works consisting of a duet Arriving at the Point of Leaving, framed by two solos Fluid and You are Not Alone, You are Just in New Zealand gave a sense of balance and cohesion to this programme I saw at dress rehearsal.

A water creature, seated on a rock combing her long braids, caught in a moment of contemplation, was Fluid’s opening image – it reminded me of the statue of Pania of the Reef. Karen Barbour’s hair whipped and traced the movements of the head like an echo, while her fishtail-like legs trailed behind. She circumnavigated the floor with unusual movement, arms rotating, capturing a sea serpent quality.

At one point I contemplated an empty stage for too long, before the curtains upstage peeled back to reveal a stunning pivotal image of a seated bathing female; hand stretched out into the hot water that cascaded into a large tub, steam blurred the half-naked female form, the play of light on the hand was golden. The public domain clashed with the private in this intimate moment and the audience became voyeurs of this bathing ritual.

However the transitions between sections were problematic; consequently the solo seemed like a series of almost unrelated vignettes. 

The duet, Arriving at the Point of Leaving, captured the sense of strangers waiting for transport, distant yet connected. Articulate, gestural language, a suitcase and striking costumes encapsulate the somewhat sombre atmosphere. Hannah May and Patti Mitchley imbrue this contemporary dance with clarity and style.

In You are Not Alone, You are Just in New Zealand, the suited Kristian Larsen’s adeptness in going in and out of the floor with such fluency and the defined rectangles of white light caught my attention. This solo improvisation seemed to be more hard-edged, with serious undertones, than previous works.

I left for Auckland as they were rehearsing their finishing bows, musing over many of the strong images imprinted in my memory.

Requiem
Lemi Ponifasio and MAU
Sky City Theatre, Auckland
17 September 2006
Reviewed by Moana Nepia

Lemi Ponifasio’s Requiem is a haunting procession of sculptural images within a dark and cavernous space. The sounds of puoro and water dripping, crickets chirping and traditional Maori chant echo as ghostly figures appear then fade into blackness. The pace is very, very slow.

Two giant posts reach upwards framing a single shaft of light. Oblique shadows fan out across the dark and dusty floor.

A young man leans to one side and then the other. His arms reach out, fingers tense and soften. Muscle and bone stretch sensual shadows across the surface of his naked torso. Another man strains to lean back, looking up til sweat drips from the back of his head.

Above a distant and watery churning, two kai karanga recite names of ancestral women. They move toward us, fanning themselves, drawing the past and present together, but remain hidden in shadow. Slowly they move away.

Three men with white powdered faces glide swiftly across the stage in perfect unison with rapid steps and sharp changes of direction. Another man bids the dead farewell. He asks, what is the most important thing in the world? And answers… tis man, tis man.

A young boy crosses the stage. A large cylinder is lowered from the ceiling. An elderly man shuffles from one side to the other, tapping the floor with his stick. An army of obedient souls swiftly respond to his barking commands… to stand up, lean back and form a semi-circle… again and again.

A tiny blue lamp held high on a pole moves slowly across the stage. A flock of silent birds congregate and glisten eerily. Three men dip their hands into perspex pools of water. The play of light on rippling water is mesmeric.

The noise of a distant discotheque rumbles from the casino below as women lay mats on the floor. Young boy puts them back into a pile, and stands in a shower of blood. He is carefully wrapped in a fine mat.

The juxtaposition of imagery is stark and ceremonial. An aesthetic austerity here resonates with all the liturgical solemnity of a requiem mass. And just as a congregation can be left awestruck by the sounds of Mozart or Fauré, this audience was both perplexed and moved by a visual feast of imagery in which the bodies of the living are also made vessels for representing the past. But this work spoke less about the horrors of hell and the fear of damnation fumed across the pulpit by self-righteous zealots and more of the stillness and beauty in spiritual communion, and confronting our own sense of mortality while also remembering those who have gone before us.

Helen Todd, lighting designer, Ponifasio and all the Mau team travelled this production to Vienna in November where Requiem was commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.

Tempo Round-up
Five writers give their impressions of Tempo 06

Tempo 2006 will be remembered, if not for its virtuosic performances, for its diversity. Three diametrically opposed evenings of dance presented by Rapa Dance Collective, The World Dance Showcase and Company Z Dance, highlighted the spectrum of dance that is present in Auckland 365 days a year.

Rapa Dance Collective is comprised of dance majors from Te Wananga o Aotearoa, under the direction of Moss Patterson. Their programme at TAPAC showcased a range of works from the students in addition to a new work-in-progress, Te Whenua, from Patterson.  Jimmy Ngapera’s Mocean demonstrated a choreographic sophistication which bodes well for future work from this young, raw talent.  The ensemble proved their stamina and commitment by appearing in every work, and all were performed with utmost honesty and verve. 

Company Z Dance presented an altogether different type of dancing over two nights. Though it too featured young performers, the choreography was by elder statesmen and women; the respected English choreographer Siobhan Davies, our own Mary Jane O’Reilly and expatriate Timothy Gordon.  Gordon’s career with iconic European choreographers such as Maurice Bejart and William Forsythe is evident in his use of classical ballet vocabulary mixed with floor work and flexible upper backs. Company dancer Benny Ord was awarded the inaugural Peoples Choice Award for Best Male Dancer.

However, the performance which proved most popular with audiences was The World Dance Showcase. In less than two hours we were transported, via inspirational dancing, from Aotearoa and the Pacific region (Rapa again), to Argentina, India, Turkey, China, and Guinea.  An uplifting and eye opening trip.     
by Marianne Schultz

Backlit Productions (formerly known as In Flight Productions) succeeded in presenting Fuzzy Reception, a highly professional triple bill plus short film, for Tempo this year. This was acknowledged with the Spirit of the Festival Award going to this tight-knit bunch of fresh graduates.

The show was “Unitec” in style but it is clear that Backlit are no longer students. They have all clearly matured as performers and choreographers and also as costume designers. Contemporary dance is difficult to costume thematically and performance-wise, but Backlit created appropriate costumes that were works of art in their own right.

The show opened with the cheeky and playful Threads by Georgie Goater and Tracey Purcell. This was followed by Janine Parke’s dark and highly charged Shift. Anabel Harrison’s short film was imaginative and quirky which at first glance was light relief but dark warnings simmered just below the surface. The show ended ironically with an up-beat piece DANCE-mart by Colette Arnold. It was a light-humoured look at how the company members work days in low-paid jobs in order to pursue their dance careers.

It is difficult to work as a collective but Backlit are proving that they are serious about attacking this challenge head on. Fuzzy Reception was an extremely professional production and performance. We wait with baited breath to see how they face the challenge of longevity and pushing themselves creatively in the future.
by Julia Milsom
 
Tempo 06 offered a wide range of experiences and approaches to dance, opportunities to sample work by companies from outside Auckland, and projects that are off to one side from the regular productions companies undertake.
 
The community-based performance group Soul Speed from Whaingaroa made a terrific Auckland debut with their beautifully designed, costumed and lit Awe Wai Wai: Ancient Essence. Collectively created, the production was set to live music featuring taonga puoro, vocals and the sounds of whales and dolphins. Of paramount importance, though, the production communicated their intense commitment to ecological protection of the ocean and its life forms, and a holistic vision of life.
 
Triple8Funk joined with The Company of University Dancers to present Blacula, a funky/spoofy and wittily enjoyable production with a cast of around 45 integrated into a single ensemble. Following along with Jessamine Jansen's  speeded-up/slowed-down/set-in-multiple-locations video, the story was easy to follow and it was evident that the cast were having as good a time as their audience.
 
Choreographic Showcase 2 opened with a spirited and polished polycultural Maori/Pacific and street culture welcome from Torotoro and closed with improv from Touch Compass, andbetween these two featured new choreography by Suzanne Cowan and Chris Jannides. Cowan's Rite of Passage featured three Touch Compass men   reflecting on issues and experiences in their lives, using movement and text, and sought a particular balance for each voice.  Jannides' compelling nok nok turn looked very much like a Fashion Week event, but the movement was much more complex andmore intriguingly textured than any catwalk delivers, and is part of an ongoing research project.
by Raewyn Whyte


Old Yeller, a celebration of the mature dancer, was an entertaining evening, full of wit, endearing moments and fine dancing. The show revealed a selection of bodies in various stages of middle-age and beyond, setting out to prove that while the art form may champion the sleek and flexible, artistry can be found in rounded flesh and dodgy knees. Not that the sleek and flexible were missing from the line-up. Striking performances were Marieke Marygold’s clown solo Swan Song; with hands in “en pointe” shoes she performed hilarious extracts from Swan Lake and Offenbach. A serious solo, Felicity Molloy’s Mute, was in relationship, almost a secret dialogue, with projected giant line-drawn figures that slowly traversed the screen. The work was characterised by eloquent sweeping movements and fluid transitions in and out of the floor.

View from the Gods by Jack Gray was the most provocative work in the festival. A collaboration involving Gray, composer Eden Mulholland and videographer Ron-London Haretuku, it was an abstract work, with five 12 minute sequences that slid and merged into each other. Three dancers, Kylie Harris, Adrian Smith and Megan Smith, were engaged in a constant flow of movement, creating inter-connected patterns and kinaesthetic relationships. A suspended Manu (bird) kite projected over the rear wall screen was the backdrop for a video of complex visual rhythms, excerpts of te reo, Len Lye-inspired ribbons of light, galactic suns, set to a soundtrack that pulsated like a dance-floor heart beat. The unrelenting momentum challenged an audience more accustomed to a discernable movement narrative, and pushed the boundaries of acceptability.  

In choreographic Showcase 1, Moana Nepia’s Manohi – on the other hand was a visually rich and musically passionate work that engaged dancers in a subtext of intricate patterns. Mother-to-be Emilia Rubio danced a delightful visual exposition in Templo; curiously yet reverently marking the changes to her body and forthcoming role. Disabled dancer/choreographer Bronwyn Hayward solo’s Broken Free was an ironic deconstruction that quietly lampooned synchronized water ballet. Jenny de Leon never fails to impress with her agility and strength; her Comme Il Faut (As it should be) was brave, if not a little risky, as she pitted her experience against the natural effervescence of her ensemble.   
By Francesca Horsley

Fishnet was an inspiring, moving and powerful dance-theatre duet by veteran NZ dancers Kilda Northcott and Lyne Pringle (Bipeds Productions) and the highlight of Tempo this year. Years of investigation created a lively, highly developed, skillfully crafted and performed deconstruction of both female stereotypes as experienced by two stunning and feisty aging dancers and a patriarchal NZ dance culture which has seen them ‘invisible’ and without voice for years. More importantly it reclaimed power, visibility and voice through the embodiment of women’s wisdom, courage, integrity, intelligence and sexuality. Though subversive in content it was delivered in such cleverly constructed and inviting theatrical ways that it completely charmed its audience, entertained them and often moved them to tears.

In No Added Sugar, Transit by Rachel Atkinson cleverly strung together a series of solos, duets and group sequences of movement co-constructed by the dancers with a focus on questioning internal/external transition and female repression. With a strong cast all unique in presence and movement, evocative lighting by Sean Curham and powerful sound score by Charlotte Rose, it gently deconstructed meaning and struggle by presenting isolated and conflicting individuals engaging with each other and token props - signs of empty containment, all with intriguing questions around hope to discover truth, ever hidden, ephemeral, fleeting, inside transition. Women and Honour by Clare Luiten was a brave, evocative solo starkly and darkly interweaving different media to express personal and universal issues imbued in intimate relationships around manipulation, guilt, honesty and freedom. Each image presented was highly considered, clear, beautiful and haunting within slow, internal and increasingly dynamic twisting movements, projected photographs of herself naked in contortionist positions in an empty pool, pre-recorded confessional texts by another female voice and aided by a stunning sound score by Charlotte Rose.
By Alexa Wilson

Highlights from The Body 06
Christchurch’s Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre
Reviewed by Carolyn Cairns

What a treat to be able to pick and choose from such a sumptuous buffet during Christchurch’s Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre.  From September 15 to October 1 the table was heavily laden with a rich variety of workshops, film and performance.

My first snack was Before I Say I Do from the Scrambled Legs Dance Theatre Company.  Fleur de Thier’s work presented the fragile hour before the nuptials with a marriage that seemed doomed from the moment we meet the bride. Danced by Julia Sadler, her reluctance was palpable. The groom’s melancholy attitude, danced by Toby Behan, didn’t increase our confidence in this union, nor did the entanglements of the attendants. The choreography and the dancers’ interpretation ably portrayed the lack of enthusiasm for the marriage, with each character having their own little quirky repetitious moves. A contrasting moment from the doldrums to wonderful lightness was the groom and bestman’s dance. Can we hope to see ‘Part Two: The Wedding Breakfast?’ Just imagine the in-laws!

Moving onto a rather hot dish, Rush Hour from the Java Dance Company, brought high paced action with strong displays of physicality. The work, choroeographed by Sacha Copeland, showed us three civil servants caught up in the daily grind of mindless tasks and endless monotomy. You couldn’t help but feel for the new age Cinderella, so laden down under the weight of the never-ending chores written on copious post-it notes, she missed her one social event – a tightly scheduled lunch date with a friend passing through town. A well performed piece, with a highlight being the solo at the end - simply beautiful to watch.

With completely different flavours, the last dish featured Fishnet from Bipeds Productions. Starting their national tour, Kilda Northcott and Lyne Pringle took us on an extra-ordinarly creative journey in the examination of the mature female form and its place in our society. Reminding me of the comic powerhouse duo of French and Saunders, they took the audience on a wild ride.  All clucking aside, these two ‘chooks’ could run circles around many of the younger chicks out there!

Many more morsels were on offer during the Festival. Full credit to the organisers for providing such a hearty programme, and here’s hoping for another feast in 2007.

The Nature of Wishing
Alyx Duncan Director
St James, Auckland
Reviewed by Francesca Horsley

Set in this dark old theatre, the St James provided the director Alyx Duncan with a raft of theatrical elements; complete with giant creaky door adding to her plethora of props - string of lights, steel table, toy box and suitcases. Live music using vocals and instruments supported and enhanced the atmosphere and at times drove the narrative.

Surreal, bizarre, Dickensian and somewhat burlesque, the show looked back, capturing snippets of a woman magician’s life, embodied competently by Felicity Molloy.  Seated in front of her changing-room mirror, dreams, desires, reflections appeared and faded like memories. At one point these seem to fracture into odd angles and different sizes; we caught peculiar expressions in these dancing mirrors as the metronome ticked on.

At another point, giant white antlers became extensions of the dancers’ bodies as they whipped the space. I was precariously perched on seats stacked three high, often lurching towards to the front row - completely in fitting with this show – nothing was what it seemed in this world of magic.

Vaudeville characters appeared and no magician’s show could be complete without someone sawn in half; a dancer was dismembered, body, head and legs still moving independently. The seedy, sexual movement softened as dancers curled and entwined themselves around each other, reminding me of insect behavior.

Experienced dancers stylistically enriched the movement sections scattered throughout, giving strong performances. The disheveled stage manager, Maaka, danced a solo; from expansive movement, to momentary posing with arms out-stretched like a winged warrior, to contrasting fine circling hand gestures - a tiny white feather drifted from his hand. At different points throughout the piece white feathers returned, forcing the audience to ponder on their symbolism.

A clever poignant twist at the final curtain revealed this theatrical world’s cast and audience to be on stage. The audience was seated upstage, and looked through the performers down stage, towards a sea of aquamarine empty seats. The magic was gone and the theatre empty.

Shree Ram Katha
Vivek Kinra & Mudra Dance Company
The Opera House, Wellington
August 19 2006
Reviewed by Ann Hunt

This stunningly lit and richly costumed traditional Bharata-Natyam dance drama is based on the Hindu epic tale of the Ramayana. It tells the story of Lord Ram, exiled to the forest for fourteen years, accompanied by his loving wife Sita and his courageous brother Lakshman. The evil King Ravan abducts Sita, but with the help of the resourceful Monkey God, Ram rescues her and kills Ravan. He is then restored to his rightful place on the throne of Ayodhya and order is restored to the kingdom.

This much loved and revered legend is one of the foundation stones of Indian culture.  For choreographer Vivek Kinra, it is the culmination of a five-year dream to bring this allegory to fruition on stage.

It is by far the most ambitious production by the Mudra Dance Company.  Four professional dancers from Chennai, India, were brought out to dance leading roles. Gayatri Balagurunathan, T.K. Thiruchelwam, K.B. Madhusudhana and Aadith Narayan are all highly respected dancers in India and the production gained immeasurably from their dynamic presence. Members of the Mudra Dance Company and younger students from Kinra’s Academy of Bharata-Natyam supported them. Additionally, the splendid music was especially recorded for the company in Chennai.

But in spite of these obvious assets and some very fine dancing, the work’s fragmented structure made the length of two hours twenty five minutes seem longer. Many scenes were quite short and somewhat static, with lengthy passages of exposition and traditional mime and gesture.  Nevertheless, there was still much to enjoy.

Kinra, as Ram, invested the role with true nobility and command. His fine technique, somewhat held in check by the work’s structure, still shone. It was a pleasure to see him and Balagurunathan dancing together. The latter is a lovely Bharata-Natyam exponent, soft and fluid, with beautiful clear movement.

The trio of Kinra, Balagurunathan and Madhusudhanan (as Lakshman,) also delighted.  Their exemplary Kalakshetra schooling was very apparent.

As the wicked Ravan, Narayan with his heroic height and command was a formidable presence indeed. 

Thiruchelwam as Hanuman, the Monkey God, was outstanding. Another Kalakshetra trained dancer, his bounding elevation and charismatic personality lit up the stage each time he appeared.

Also noteworthy were Shrividya Ravi as a crazed Shoopanakha and Farhana Khan. Bambi you have competition!

So in spite of some production criticisms, this was still a production to enjoy. For a short time, it enables us to slough off the burdens of a complex world and embrace a more innocent and simpler time.

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