Jig (2011)
December 5, 2011 at 9:35 am | Posted in Dance Review, Film Review | Leave a commentTags: Brogan McCay, Dance, Documentary, Film Review, Irish Dancing, Jig, Joe Bitter, John Carey, John Whitehurst, Julia O'Rourke, Paramount
I missed this at the International Film Festival, and so was keen to catch it when it came on regular release at the Paramount theatre.
Jig, as its name suggests, is about Irish Dancing. It follows a number of contestants as they prepare for the 2010 world championships in 2010. Sue Bourne has done a good job of showing the human side of and the hard work put by dancers. The support and sacrifice of the dancers’ families is also revealed : the mother who works extra to support his son; the mother who has mortgaged her house twice to finance one more year; and the family who moved from California to study with one of best instructors in the world.
The dresses the girls wear are so expensive that one mother went into business making them to cut down on costs.
Joe Bitter’s family moved from sunny California to Birmingham, so Joe could take classes with John Carey – eight times world champion.
Also at John’s school is 10 year old John Whitehurst – who comes from a family of soccer playing boys. It is his mum who works extra hours to pay for the lessons and competitions. It is his dad who sums up the quirky image of Irish Dancing: “it was like a Shirley Temple convention” of their first competition.
Irish dancing is shown as a global activity: New York, Birmingham, Derry, London, Moscow, and Rotterdam. There is the team of dancers with high hopes from Moscow; and the trans-atlantic (friendly) rivalry between two 10 year old girls: Brogan McCay and Julia O’Rourke.
The dancing itself is superb. This style of dance does not use the hands, so many of the bio-mechanical techniques available in other dance styles is not available; dancers must somehow maintain control during turns and jumps with only their legs. This combined with a very turned out foot position and fast percussive moves must be very stressful physically.
Good little documentary. The story is told through the dancers’ perspective – speaking frankly and with a quiet charm.
Every Little Step (2008)
November 27, 2011 at 7:04 am | Posted in Dance Review, DVD Review, Film Review, Musical Review, Show Review | Leave a commentTags: A Chorus Line, Adam Del Deo, Audition, Bob Avian, Broadway, Dance, James D. Stern, Jazz, Marvin Hamlisch, Sing
I was hoping to catch this at the annual International Film Festival (in Wellington, New Zealand), but missed it. So I was really happy to find it on DVD.
Every Little Step is a documentary film is about the 2006 revival of the Broadway hit 1975 A Chorus Line.
Inevitable it is also the story of the original cast and production. From watching the DVD, I found out that the original production was based on the stories of the original cast. This documentary film is interleaved with footage from the original show and the dancers/singers/actors trying out for the characters.
Even though you never see very much of the production, singing and dancing is fantastic. These must be some of the best proponents of musical theatre that one might see anywhere.
The documentary does a great job of showing the story behind A Chorus Line, as well as opening a window into the harsh world of a professional dancer. The story is at two levels; everything in this film is at two levels: A Chorus Line is about dancers auditioning for a show (based real stories), while the DVD is about dancers auditioning to play dancers auditioning! The documentary follows some of the hopefuls as they go from the public open auditions to the final call-back.
The audition process is harsh: relentless and in the full glare of everyone. There must be few professions where you go through an eight month long audition process and then endure another eight month rehearsal period before you get to do it ‘for real’.
The documentary interviews members of both the original cast and crew; and the revival cast (and some of their families) and crew. Bob Avian, the director of the revival gives quite a bit of his time to the documentary – and comes across as a genuinely caring for all the dancers he see. Marvin Hamlisch who wrote the original music is also interviewed.
Directors Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern have done a great job.
NZSD Graduation Season 2011
November 18, 2011 at 8:46 am | Posted in Ballet Review, Dance Review, Recital Review, Show Review | Leave a commentTags: Andrews Sisters, August Bournonville, Ballet, Company B, Contemporary Dance, Dance, Emeralds, Gareth Okan, George Balanchine, Graduation Season, Jason Carter, Jesse Scales, Napoli Divertissements, New Zealand School of Dance, Paul Taylor, Pennsylvania Polka, Rebekha Duncan, Recent Bedroom, Rum and Cola, Sum, Te Whaea, Whispers from Pandora' Box
I went to the second night of the New Zealand School of Dance’s 2011 Graduation Season.
The programme was varied and rich; two classical ballet pieces, from choreographers who have a big influence of the Royal New Zealand Ballet; and some cutting edge contemporary dance pieces.
There were two classical pieces: Napoli Divertissements and Emeralds. The former was choreographed by August Bournonville, the latter by George Balanchine; a rare opportunity to see exemplars of two differing classical styles – fast foot movements and a quick tempo versus something lyrical.
The third ballet piece was Company B a contemporary ballet by Paul Taylor. That used classical technique to provide an alternative perspective of the times that spawned the music of the Andrews Sisters. The dead bodies and solemn marching in the background really drove home that young men were dying behind the facade of cheer and longing. Jesse Scales and Jason Carter did a delightful pas de deux to Pennsylvania Polka. Rebekha Duncan danced a memorable saucy solo to Rum and Cola.
The three contemporary dance pieces – Whispers from Pandora’ Box, Recent Bedroom, and Sum – really pushed the boundaries: what is dance ? how much communication is possible in the performance alone (without the context of a title and commentary) ? All of the dancers put their bodies into their performance. In the last two pieces, Gareth Okan really stood out.
The programme alternated the ballet with the contemporary; starting with Bournonville and finishing with Taylor. I found it mentally and emotionally exhausting.
Another well produced production with high technical standards.
Swan Lake (Graeme Murphy)
September 23, 2011 at 10:18 pm | Posted in Ballet Review, DVD Review | Leave a commentTags: Ballet, Dance, Danielle Rowe, Graeme Murphy, Madeleine Eastoe, Robert Curran, Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky, The Australian Ballet
Warning: Plot elements revealed.
I found this DVD in the library the other day, got it out and took it home. To my surprise it was a very different take on Swan Lake. For a while it looked there would be no swans at all!
Graeme Murphy has done away with the whole birthday and forrest plot devices, and jumps straight to the wedding of Odette and Prince Siegfried – yes wedding. There is no Odile, her role is effectively taken by a reformatted Rothbart – now a baroness! The wedding feast starting off well, but Siegfried encounters the Baroness, a former lover, now married with children, and their feelings for each other are revived – most unfortunate. From then on, to misquote a personality from the last century, “there were three in the marriage.”
Watching this version of Swan Lake it is impossible not to draw comparisons with the situation that Charles, Diana, and Carmilla found themselves in last century.
Murphy’s choreography is excellent and in places very innovative: the pirouettes and fouettes used in the original to denote joy and happiness, at the engagement party, are repurposed to denote confusion and dismay at the wedding. What Odette does with her weeding dress train is very well thought out and executed. Swans do eventually appear, but in a dream / fantasy sequence. For traditionalist, the cygnets are there !
The dancing is all classical technique and many of the dance sequences in the original are there – just in a different order to fit into the ‘new’ story. Murphy has firmly put the story in a modern setting. But without loosing the essential tragedy of the original, nor loosing the uplifting power of Tchaikovsky’s music.
The costumes are rich and complement the choreography.
Madeleine Eastoe, as Odette; Danielle Rowe, as Baroness von Rothbart; and Robert Curran, as Prince Siegfried all give superb performances – both from a dance perspective and an acting perspective. The choreography calls on Curran to do some very innovative lifts and holds.
The DVD, produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, is from a life performance by the Australian Ballet in 2008 at the Sydney Opera House.
The Adjustment Bureau
April 13, 2011 at 8:35 am | Posted in Dance Review, Film Review | Leave a commentTags: Adjustment Bureau, Anthony Mackie, Dance, Destiny, Emily Blunt, Film Review, Free Will, John Slattery, Matt Damon, Mystery, Terrance Stamp, Thriller
I went to see The Adjustment Bureau the other day, being not sure what to expect, but intrigued by the idea of the an exploration of pre-destiny.
So Matt Damon plays David Norris – a man seemingly set on the road to be the President of the United States – if only he could control his impulses and win a term as a Senator. Then into his life come Elise Sellas, played by Emily Blunt, and he feels fulfilled and wishes to spend the rest of his life with her. But, ‘The Plan’ says that they do not spend their lives together: he becomes senator and eventually President; she becomes the contemporary ballet dancer of her generation and eventuallys the choreographer of the age.
So begins a series of attempts – by the shadowy Adjustment Bureau – to keep them apart. But eventually they end up together.
Terrance Stamp, John Slattery, and Anthony Mackie are members of the bureau who try to keep things to ‘The Plan’. Stamp is the trouble shooter brought in to ‘fix’ things, when Mackie and Slattery are unable to keep things ‘on track’.
Mackie is disallusioned – hints throughout the film that he killed Norris’s father and brother – and ends up helping Norris. This was a concept that was explored: if you ‘believe’ what won’t you do? It is Mackie’s character who helps Norris.
The Adjustment Bureau seems to be a thinly disguised body of angels. And ultimately the film lets the viewer down: there is no confrontation with the ‘Planner’ – no confrontation with God. There is a message from the ‘one who writes the plan’ saying that ‘The Plan’ has been amended to let Norris and Elise stay together. What niggles, is that they were suppose to stay together in all previous iterations of ‘The Plan’: the film sidesteps the ‘infailability of the planner’ corundum. The closing final message is a statement about free-will.
The special effects are very good, and everyone puts in a good performance. There is even some chemistry between Damon and Blunt. I felt Blunt was perfectly cast as Elise; even her dance sequences seemed ‘real’.
Black Swan
February 24, 2011 at 4:53 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a commentTags: Ballet, Black Swan, Dance, Darren Aronofsky, Film Review, Madness, Natalie Portman, Nina Sayers, Odette, Odile, Pyschological Thriller, Swan Lake, Vincent Cassel
I went to see Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan the other week and found it intense.
This is not a ballet movie. It starts out like most ballet movie, with some very nice dancing and the obligatory pointe shoe scene. But, the movie is about one woman’s descent into madness. Had I know this before hand I think I would not have gone – I prefer less depressing and shocking subjects and story lines. The film and Natalie Portman do an excellent job of portraying a ballerina’s mental breakdown during a production of Swan Lake. Ballet and the Swan Lake story merely provide the backdrop.
Natalie Portman reportly spent six months preparing for the role by taking daily ballet lessons. She appears to have done much of her own dance work, and most certainly helped her fit into the part of Nina Sayers – a dancer chosen to play the parts of Odette/Odile in her company’s new production of Swan Lake.
The Film turns the focus of Swan Lake on its head, usually Swan Lake is decribed in terms of the Prince. Instead, the story revolves around the Odette/Odile – white/black swan – perspective. In the film, the artistic director is confident that Nina can portray the Odette, but is not sure that she can portray the darker Odile.
It is the artistic director pushing Nina to access something within herself that is outside her normal controlled emotions that drives Nina slowly mad.
The Film is so well done, that in the last third, I was not sure what was real and was was Nina’s projected self-delusions. The audience not so much sees Nina’s descent into madness, but accompanies her. It got a bit much for me at times.
If you like intense pyschological films this is for you.
The film is an R16, and there are some graphic scenes between Nina and another ballerina. I wondered and still wonder if they were strictly necessary. It is certainly not a film youtake enthusiastic 10 year old ballet pupils to. Nina is shown throwing up, starving herself, and enduring the kind of workplace bullying from the artistic director (dramatically played by Vincent Cassel ) that in any other workplace would lead to court action.
Wellington Performing Arts Centre: Amazon
December 6, 2010 at 12:24 am | Posted in Dance Review | Leave a commentTags: 2010, Amazon, Bat, Commercial Dance, Dance, Fireflies, Glow Worms, Graduation, Panther, Recital, Snake, wellington Performing Arts Centre
I went to the opening night of the WPAC Commercial Dance Graduates 2010 graduation shows, last Friday night.
As the name suggests the theme of the show was flora and fauna one might found in the rainforest.
There was a balletic feel to the show – in contrast to the more broadway themed of past shows. It got quite physical at times – swim-throughs, backward walkovers, etc.
There were 24 dance sequences ! This gave the 15 graduates solo (or small group) dances, which were intermixed with a dances involving all of them.
I liked: Bat, Snake, Panther, Fireflies, and Glow Worms. Fireflies used little lights to light up the three dancers and to enhance movement. Glow Worms cleverly used ventilating tubes to create giant orange worms – the clever choregraphy produced a quirky humourous and entertaining dance.
All the dancers seemed to be enjoying themselves; poured lots of energy and enthusiasm into their performance; and acquited themselves well technically.
The audience was very receptive and got quite vocal at times.
I hope lots of people got along to see it. I think the WPAC graduation show is an undiscovered dance gem. Maybe when they move into their new facilities next year, they will get more publicity.
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