DANZ QUARTERLY No 10 December 2007

Reviews

One Night Out Dancing
The Playhouse, WEL Academy of Performing Arts
University of Waikato
15 September 2007
Reviewed by Francesca Horsley

Driving from Auckland to Hamilton to see Karen Barbour’s annual show held at Waikato University has become a pleasurable springtime event.

First up on the programme, Sue Cheesman’s “Fragmented Time Re-versioned” had a quirky aquatic theme. In bright primary colours and bathing caps, the three dancers appeared as slightly off-key synchronized swimmers or beach bathers. It was a light-hearted play of innovative body motifs – legs moving in the air from shoulder stands; heads bobbing and turning; arms swinging or curving.  The trio, Emma Goldsworthy, Hannah May and Heidi Vit, established a polished and cohesive rhythmic flow between them, and captured Cheesman’s original and distinctive imagination.

“If God, then…” a solo by Debbie Bright was an impressive display of strength and fluid movement by this mature dancer. She began dramatically cloaked in a swathe of purple velvet cloth, resembling an Old Testament or shamanistic voice, in an episodic work that stripped back layers to yield a primal identity.  Characterised by religious connotations and metaphors, it is a work in progress for the performance component of her PhD in dance. The movement structure employed an emotive expressionist frame that suited the theme of the work.

Karen Barbour’s ability to create powerful visual works was again confirmed in “One night out dancing”, a dance drama featuring Barbour’s past and present dance students. Described as an interrogation of identity through the medium of Hip Hop culture, the choreography was a clever blend of standard movement and kiwi localization, packaged in an authentic ‘night out’ show setting. The work was a high-energy mix of witty dialogue, breath-taking solo movement and group sequences that captured the street culture of Hamilton, together with mystic connections to whakapapa, near tragedy and the consolation of friendship.

Barbour has developed a unique voice, both as a dance academic interested in popular culture and as a choreographer capable of translating insight into articulate and accessible movement. Her presence on stage in the group sequences gave legitimacy to her commitment and enthusiasm for exploring contemporary dance culture.

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