WOW 2011
August 24, 2011 at 7:30 pm | Posted in Dance Review, Show Review | Leave a commentTags: Aivale Cole, Ben Makisi, Billy Idol, Footnote Dance, Ginette McDonald, John Rowles, New Zealand School of Dance, Opera, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Wellington, WOW
I went to the 2011 Bancroft Estate World of Wearableart Awards Show (‘WOW’) last night.
Fantastic ! Worth trying to get some of the remaining tickets.
Warning: spoilers !
In a two hour dance and wow spectacular there were many highlights, but one of them was the Royal New Zealand Ballet dancing (classical) while partnered with life opera (Aivale Cole and Ben Makisi). Another was staging a dancing on a wall. There were four dance companies involve in this year’s production: the Royal New Zealand Ballet; New Zealand School of Dance; Footnote Dance; and the WOW Dance Troupe! Needless to say there was lots of movement – the models can all dance too !
The Children’s section was its usual youthful bright energetic display.
The UV section left me with a sense of Dance Macabre: dis-embodied legs, skeletons, and eyes.
The Microscope section cleverly created a microscopic world with chains of helium balloons – form a mass of cell like air mass. There were lots of wacky looking microscopic life form inspired garments.
The section changes was very cleverly done. The audience’s attention was dramatically shifted by lighting and staging a little segue piece at the ‘back’ of the auditorium – while on stage, in the dark, stage crew made the necessary changes.
The Open section was chock full of interesting and spectacular; all while dancers stood statute-like on stacked up chairs discarding what seemed like an endless supply of wraps from their bodies!
The Man Unleashed section opened with a large group brides and Billy Idol’s White Wedding! I think this section struck a cord with the ladies in the audience!
The Avante Garde section was just great. I feared that I was in danger of watching too much of the dancing (ballet with live opera), but WOW and anticipated this problem, and had cleverly set the choreography to not clash with the garments.
The ‘Kiwi Icon’ section hit the spot: with the surprise appearance of an iconic comedienne (Ginette McDonald), iconic New Zealander, and an iconic kiwi singer (John Rowles); all to kiwi music. Apparently the iconic New Zealander will change every night; on this night it was Tim Shadbolt.
Well worth the ticket price.
Tutus on Tour 2011
March 6, 2011 at 8:21 am | Posted in Ballet Review, Show Review | Leave a commentTags: Ballet, Blue Fairy, Cat, Lucy Green, Maree White, Opera House, Pinochio, Review, RNZB, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Tour, Tutus, Verdi, Wellington, Yang Liu
I went to the last Wellington performance of this last week, at the Opera House. I was seated up in the ‘Gods’. The view was quite good; though, you did loose a little perspective on the jumps and leaps.
This year’s Tutus on Tour performance consisted of two pieces: Verdi Variations and Pinochio. The former sparkling white tutus – for the Ballerinas – and sparkling white jackets – for the male dancers. Pinochio was a character morality piece aimed at the young at heart.
Verdi Variations was classical ballet – the ballerinas were en pointe and the men leapt and turned. Lucy Green tossed in some fouettes (including a double); Yang Liu was graceful – she would later dance the part of the Blue Fairy in Pinochio; and Maree White impressed me with turns that I had never seen before – they looked like a fouette, but with very little whip of the non-supporting leg. There was a lovely short segment in which the five couples demonstrated a classic danish style of partner dancing – fast, the couple almost at the run, with the women executing split leaps in rapid succession, with their arms in the air, while the man supporting/holding his partner when they were at the apex of their leap.
Verdi Variations was not too serious – there was a frosty pas de trois where each ballerina competed for the limelight, and dancers male and female sought time on stage by themselves. As the name suggests this piece is set to music by Verdi.
Pinochio is of course about the boy made from wood. It has lots of moral messages: work hard; study hard; money doesn’t grow on trees; beware of strangers who promise great returns on investment. Yang Liu as the Blue Fairy and Lucy Green as the Cat both stood out.
The Secret Lives of Dancers #5
October 31, 2010 at 11:57 pm | Posted in TV Review | Leave a commentTags: Artistic Director, Brad Thorne, Canterbury Rugby, Dan Carter, Ethan Stiefel, Lucy Balfour, Lucy Green, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Yang Liu
The Company complete their Triple Bill tour.
As usual it was mainly a human interest story – who is broken up with whom, and how are the dancers coping with injuries – continuing on from episode 4. Oh there was some rugby.
While the Company was in Christchurch, they did a promo for their sponsor – who also sponsor the Canterbury Provincial Rugby Team. So, a very exited Lucy Balfour got to spend time with Dan Carter; and Brad Thorne got to use a ballerina for weight training.
We also find out that Lucy Green and Yang Liu were give full contracts for the year. This is great news, especially, when the documentary producers tried to generate some suspense by showing her being told-off for being out of time with the music.
I discovered that there is an equivalent programme on the Australian Ballet; I wonder if it will show here, and what mix of dance and gossip it will have.
PS: Ethan Stiefel has been appointed as the new artistic directory for the Company!
The Secret Lives of Dancers #4
September 29, 2010 at 12:26 am | Posted in TV Review | 1 CommentTags: Abigail Boyle, Ballet, Dunedin, Jaered Glavin, Katie Hurst-Saxton, Lucy Green, Regent Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet
The Company travel to Dunedin – the opening city of their Triple Bill tour.
As usual it was mainly a human interest story – who is broken up with whom, more of the threads started in episode 3. Great stuff if you are interested.
I found the way the management staff of the Company deal with injuries much more interesting.
There is a reason why there are two – maybe three casts for any piece. That way, if someone in the first cast gets injured, someone can step in – very sensible succession planning. Abigail Boyle sprained her ankle in episode #2 and it is still healing. Yet, against the advise of the Company’s physio and doctor, she will perform. The only mitigation is that she will dance in one piece of the Triple Bill -not all three!
In the rehersals at the Regent Theatre, in Dunedin, the same male principle dancer is involved in two separate ballerinas getting head and other injuries. Though there was first aid, there did not seem to be any medical follow-up to check for concussion. Nor was there an investigation to see if the incidents were preventable in future. It seems to be the accepted that people occassionally get dropped or kneed in the head!
The show this week, centred around: Abigail Boyle, Jaered Glavin, Katie Hurst-Saxton and to a lessor extent Lucy Green.
The Secret Lives of Dancers #3
September 15, 2010 at 1:41 am | Posted in TV Review | 1 CommentTags: Abigail Boyle, Ballet, Gary Harris, Jaered Glavin, Pierre Doncq, Reality TV, Royal New Zealand Ballet, TV Programme
Having watched episodes 1 and 2, made sure to be home to watch episode 3.
We are now into the second week of the 2010 Company year. We get: more gossip; Gary Harris giving sound bites – “thats the cast … get over it and get on with it!”; tears and joy with the cast lists; and dancers getting injured (Abigail Boyle and Pierre Doncq).
It is looking more and more like a reality TV show.
On the plus side, at least four of the dancers live in nice apartments – not the slightly grotty garrets sterotypes of old.
And it is not just about dancing – there are photo shoots for women’s magazines. Jaered Glavin is particularly pleased with his pictures! I wonder if the dancers get paid extra, or does their contract with the RNZB cover it?
The Secret Lives of Dancers #1 & #2
September 10, 2010 at 1:49 am | Posted in TV Review | 1 CommentTags: Abigail Boyle, Ballet, Beijing Dance Academy, Gary Harris, Greg Horsman, Lucy Balfour, Lucy Green, National Ballet of China, Reality TV, Royal New Zealand Ballet, TV Programme, Yang Liu
Having watched episode one of this last week, I managed to catch episode two this week. The half-hour-long episodes take you for behind the scenes look at the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Episode one was centred on the annual open auditions, and Gary Harris -the Artistic Director, who has the final say on who is in, and who is out. There are the usual interviews with the candidates before and after the day-long audition. The format is pretty standard for a behind the scene look at any enterprise that holds selections for a limited number of places – the candidates could have been models or circus artists or rugby players.
What I really wanted to know was how the candidates heard about the audition.
It is a bit brutal; as they say: Many are called, but few a chosen. Gary is quite blunt with his on air assessments of dancers – I hope the candidates signed waivers! This year ‘The Company’ accepts two: Lucy Green and Yang Liu. Lucy is from Australia and Yang is from China. It is pretty obvious that these two will be selected: Lucy is shown doing some killer fouetttes and Yang is shown doing some lovely leaps, while Gary can be heard say “what lovely lines”. Also, we are told that, Yang was hand picked by the chinese ballet system at an early age, trained at the Beijing ballet, and danced is a member of the National Ballet of China. I also could not resist looking up the company in the Carmen programme on my shelf!
Episode two is centred on the first day back from holidays – established Company members return and the new members turn up with some trepidation.
Greg Horsman, the ballet master, takes class and, he claims, works them real hard. Which I found a concern, if it was true. He and company management expect the dancers to be ready to work; yet they know that the members of the company have been resting and that the only way to be ready to train at the level he claims to be putting them through is if they did not have a rest (for their bodies to recover from last year), but found somewhere to train (hard) in the off-season! Professional sports teams would not do this – maybe professional sportman are harder to come by than professional ballet dancers!
Then it was some interviews with members of the company – Abigail Boyle and Lucy Balfour seem to get the most air time. There is some nice gossip.
We also reconnect with Lucy Green and Yang Liu; both of whom have relocated to Wellington. For Lucy it is her first time away from home (Melbourne). Yang, has come accompanied by her fiance – good man!
There is lots of human interest – direct interviews, gossip and filming of people walking around.
Carmen – The ballet
June 10, 2010 at 1:37 am | Posted in Ballet Review, Dance Review | Leave a commentTags: Abigail Boyle, Ballet, Billy Idol, Carmen, Christopher Hinton-Lewis, Didy Veldman, Don Jose, Escamillo, Jaered Glavin, Jose, Julia Migenes, Katie Hurst-Saxton, Michaela, Paul Mathews, Pieter Symonds, Plácido Domingo, rock star, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Toredor
I went to the opening night of the Royal New Zealand Ballet‘s 2010 production of Carmen, at the St James Theatre in Wellington.Warning: plot revealed.
I grew up listening to Carmen; its seemed like whenever dad had a moment he would put on a vinyl record of Bizet‘s opera. Being in a foreign language, it was years later that I found out what all of the drama and emotion was about. I watched: Carmen Jones many years ago; a DVD with Julia Migenes and Plácido Domingo singing the lead roles some years ago; and Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man a few years ago. So I was curious to see how it would all turn out.
Setting: definitely not Spain! a little bit of Havana and sports-bar blended together.
Main roles: Carmen – Abigail Boyle; Jose – Christopher Hinton-Lewis; Michaela – Katie Hurst-Saxton; and Escamillo – Jaered Glavin. Abigail Boyle was wonderful as Carmen: dangerously attractive, confident, strong, and very much her own women. Katie Hurst-Saxton in a very unflattering frock and hair-do, was every inch the homely jilted fiance.
The Ballet was in three short Acts. The First Act was a little slow, but sets the foundation for the other two Acts: Michaela, Jose (a factory guard), and Carmen (a worker in the factory) are introduced. Michaela’s devotion to Jose is obvious; equally, Jose’s is not so clear.
In the Second Act, Jose’s ordered world is turned upside down. He is led by Carmen off the straight an narrow path that he seemed destined for – corporal of the guard, destined for higher things; marriage and children. Jose has a wonderful sequence with Carmen in the bar where she gradually creates a connection with him, that sees him forsake his duty in favour of spending time with Carmen. The Second Act ends with a great love scene between Jose and Carmen, when he is hiding in the latter’s digs – having accidentally killed the Chief of Police (Paul Mathews).
In the Third Act, Jose’s world falls apart completely: he burns his bridges with the unfortunate Michaela, and finds that he has lost Carmen to Escamillo – a rock star! The end is very tradgic – as always; maybe a modern feminist ending would see a slightly different result.
The re-mix of Escamillo (looking like Billy Idol) as a rock star (a modern day toreador) is an inspired adaption by Didy Veldman. All of the traditional toredor scenes are set to an electric rock rendition of the traditional music. Jaered Glavin’s hip swinging portrayl drew many warm responses from the crowd.
All-in-all quite good: really enjoyed the second and third acts.
I went on opening night and found that Pieter Symonds was not dancing; so that was a little disappointing. What was also disappointing were the seats: the sets have a definite house-right bias, and I ended up in seats that favoured a house-left bias. Consequently, I missed some of Carmen’s entrances in the First Act, and the (clever) video clip at the beginning of the Second Act – showing Carmen’s flight and subsequent re-capture.
Oh yes; or rather no; no pointe work, and no singing or vocals.
Peter Pan
November 2, 2009 at 2:57 am | Posted in Ballet Review | Leave a commentTags: Abigail Boyle, Alessia Lugoboni, Ballet, Ballet Review, Captain Hook, Catherine Eddy, Lucy Balfour, Neverbird, Paul Matthews, Peter Pan, Rory Fairweather-Neylan, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Sir Jon Trimmer, Tiger Lily, Tinkerbell, Wendy
I went to a performance of Peter Pan put on by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Warning: plot revealed.
I went to see the the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 2009 production of Peter Pan, at the St James, in Wellington; they have made some changes since I last saw it in 2004.
There were lots of children in the audience, and one little girl even gave a big cheer part way through! There were even boys in the audience.
Alessia Lugoboni, was wonderful in the part of Wendy; she was by turns a light little girl; and a girl on the verge of womanhood (she mothers the Lost Boys and unknowlingly gets into a three way tustle for Peter’s affection).
Sir Jon Trimmer seems to have found a fifth or sixth wind; his portrayl of Captain Hook was brilliant – better than when he last danced it. He even did a little Michael Flattery sequence when he thinks he has won – poisoned Peter, and about to make the Lost Boys, Wendy and her Brothers, walk the plank
Rory Fairweather-Neylan danced Peter, bringing energy and boyish charm to the part.
The fly-out-the-window sequences have rally come along since 2004; it really does seem like they are flyiong out the window and climbling up towards the “Star on the right.” In terms of flying, the additional use of projection really gives a sense of flying to and from Neverland.
But, the Company should ditch the dummies on poles. This is the 21st century, and they should either be bold enough and put in aerial dance trained dancers; or just let the dancers dance – afterall Swan Lake is able to carry off the swans swimming on a lake without recourse to painted decoy ducks pulled by ropes.I really liked the end of the Second Act, when Peter and Tinkerbell danced together. It wasn’t quite a pas de deux, but the nature of their relationship is explored and exposed.
Catherine Eddy took on the challenging role of Tinkerbell; Tink, must be light (she is a fairy after all), fun loving (that is why she is jealous of Wendy – because she sees that Peter will ave fun with the latter rather than with her), impulsive (short the girl-monster boys!), and given to displays of emotion (fist pummeling empty air and the odd swipe at the Lost Boys and Peter). The displays of anger and frustration seemed out of place in a fairy; aren’t they
suppose to be happy creatures – isn’t that why clapping revives them? Hopefully the choreograper gives Tink some other motif next time.Lucy Balfour made the most of her Tiger Lily role.
Abigail Boyle gave a delightful protrayal of the Neverbird, who rescues Peter from the rock; her wonderful costume was very eye catching.
The costumes were great. The pirates have been spruced down, and now look like the crew from “Pirates of the Caribean” – I swear that there is a Johnny Depp look-a-like! The Lost Boys look like playful squirrils – lots of rolling around on the ground in their furry costumes!!
Paul Matthews makes the most of sequences as Mr Darling: with some funny ‘do as I say, and not what do as I do’ parenting at the beginning of Act I.
All-in-all quite enjoyable.
The music was clever; each group got a separate tune; the Darlings/Family got the best – it sounded like a variation of the Kermit-the-frog’s dream song.
0.3
Roll on 2010 and Carmen!
La Sylphide: revenge of the witch
August 4, 2009 at 1:09 am | Posted in Ballet Review | Leave a commentTags: Adriana Harper, Antonia Hewitt, August Bournonville, Ballet, Dance, Dances from Naploli, Danish Style, Effie, Emma Brown, James, La Sylphide, Madge, Marie Taglioni, Michael Braun, Review, Rory Fairweather-Neylan, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Sir Jon Trimmer, Sylph
I went to a performance of La Sylphide put on by the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Warning: plot revealed.
Having read about the Danish style of ballet, I looked forward to seeing a quitissential Danish ballet work. (Actually, the Royal New Zealand Ballet was founded by a proponent of the Danish style, so I should have noticed the jumps and active male partnering long before this!)
The programme:
- Dances from Napoli
- Pas de Six
- Flower Festival
- Tarantella
- La Sylphide
- originally choreographed by August Bournonville.
I was struck by Flower Festival – Michael Braun brought lift and a sense of (his) enjoyment.
Then it was onto the main fare: a man – James – about to get married falls in love with a Sylph (a spirit). Who said the Scots were a dour lot! So off he goes – following his heart – leaving his own wedding celebration. It all ends badly: not the least because he humiliates the village hag (‘Madge’ – played by Sir Jon Trimmer, with a real feeling for the part). Michael Braun is James, and the Sylph is danced by Antonia Hewitt. Braun is powerful and controlled, and yet able to project the emotions going through the James character.
I liked the wedding – people enjoying themselves – with the Sylph fluttering in and out when only James could see her. The Sylph is very much the marriage wrecker – James trys to resist her, but he is just a foolish man. The wedding is made much more 3-dimensional by the prescence Effie’s little sister – danced wonderfully in character by Emma Brown. The Company is precise as ever, but a ‘little’ girl has shorter legs, so must occassionally run to keep up with the dancers in the reel – wonderfull.
Rory Fairweather-Neylan, as Gurn, was at times quite funny: “I saw a fairy – right there!”. In fact there is quite a bit of humour in the ballet; it is a pity that it turns out to be more along the lines of a Greek tragedy.
Antonia Hewitt and the other sylphs are light and ethereal. It cannot be easy dancing the sylphs, as Marie Taglioni was considered by Bournonville as the quitessential sylph, and it cannot be easy living up to such a legendary ideal. Effie the jilted bride is ably danced by Adriana Harper; the plot does not have very much for her to do, which is a pity.
The two sets – castle and woods – were very good.
I found the two intervals – one after Dances from Naploli, and the second between the two acts from La Sylphide – had the effect of making the evening very ‘bitty’. The very traditional choreography also added to the sense that this was a series of dances – unlike ‘newer’ ballets which have smoother transitions between dances. It seemed a little 2-dimensional.
But I did get to see an example of the Danish style. There were a many jumps – particularly by the men – and in the pas de deux‘s the women were unsupported and their male partners had equal time.
Being a softy, I wish James and the sylph had not died. But he was a most ungenerous soul on his wedding day – casting out the village hag into the cold. And he did break his oath, so he certainly got his come uppance.
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I did not like the fact that the cast list is no longer handed out. The cast list from the web site differed from the cast list shown on the monitors in the foyer spaces.
Roll on the Company’s Peter Pan in October!
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