DANZ Quarterly Issue 24 - July, August, September 2011

Dear Readers

After watching the opening night of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s inspiring new season, The Stravinksy Selection, I am marvelling at the wealth and talent the generation of ‘elderly’ artists created or performed in the season.

To begin with, the choreography for Petrouchka was recreated by Russell Kerr
after the original Fokine. Russell’s career dates back to the 1950s, with a travel grant to study and dance in London. He worked with ballet masters associated with the original Diaghilev ballets which gave equal weight to dance, design and music. Russell brought these insights back to New Zealand, working with the
RNZB from 1959 onwards and has produced almost 700 works for the
company, spanning 50 years.

The set designs by Raymond Boyce likewise reveal a remarkable
lineage. His collaboration with Russell also spans half a century, and
he has designed more than 250 productions for the company, since
1959. Like Russell, he had an early association with the Russian
artistic legacy, learning the method of scene painting from Diaghilev’s
designer.

Sir Jon Trimmer has a 53 year association with the RNZB, and remains
a mainstay for the company. His career has been one of remarkable adaptability, moving from celebrated title roles to character roles over the last two decades.

The genius behind the current RNZB season, Igor Stravinsky, lived for 89 years, visiting New Zealand in 1961, when he was 79. One of the most influential composers and pianists of last century, his legacy with dance has few peers, and his ballet collaborations were revolutionary, changing forever the artistic association of dance and music.

These luminaries teach us a great deal about the human spirit and its potency. Age is not a slowly dimming light. Rather, it is an affirmation that life is - and should be - fully lived and creative.

Keep dancing.
Francesca Horsley, Editor

Cover photo: RISE commissioned as a STAB show by BATS Thetare.
Dance: Rosie Christie
Choreographer: Sacha Copland