View from 'the gods'

Whitireia Polytechnic: Behind Closed Doors

November and it was Whitireia Polytechnic’s Commercial Dance graduates end-of-year show.

This show goes from strength to strength and this year’s was fantastic. The class of 2015 are a hugely talented and precise group: watching the pieces, I could not see anyone lagging behind or standing out for the wrong reasons. Anne Gare and the other lecturers have done a fantastic job. The show had a very contemporary / lyrical feel to it, even the hi-hop piece – Let’s Get Ruckus – was softer than the hard crumping of other years.

The pieces that stay in my mind are:

• Welcome to the Asylum
• Ding Dong – Mormons
• The Argument
• The Office
• Cinderella’s Ballroom
• 13 Disturbia Lane
• The Ritz
• The Club

Welcome to the Asylum and 13 Disturbia Lane were contemporary works that dealt with the subject of mental illness. These were powerful, yet entertaining works, that required the dancers to dance and act.

Ding Dong – Mormons comes from the musical of the same name. It was funny and gave door-to-door missionaries a gentle send-up. It was funny and a little challenging.

The Argument was another contemporary work that revolved around two friends having an argument. It was raw and compelling.

The Office was fun. There is little opportunity to see tap dancing in Wellington, and this little number showed that tap is not just dance, but also something that can be central to a story: Sophia Ristossa’s shoes provided the sounds for the typewriter of her harassed personal assistant character.

Cinderella’s Ballroom showed that most if not all of the graduating class come from classic ballet backgrounds. This was a fun piece – formal ball and crass wicked sisters – with good mixture of pointe work, classical technique, and character work. Michael Sinnung was outstanding as the Prince.

The Ritz  was all energy and theatrical dance at its best.

The show felt more coherent this year, and the standard of student choreography seemed higher; and as I have already mentioned the execution was clean and tidy; with the energy and joy that is commercial dance.

The show ended with The Club – an extended burlesque piece. Clean technique, good characterisation, introduced by Cher’s “Welcome to Burlesque”; another great show.

The evening ended with Leigh Evans – the show director – and Anne Gare – the head of faculty – go  well deserved gifts from their dancers.

I hope the student, in crutches, who joined the curtain call, gets better and that her injury does not prevent her from graduating.

[Dancers listed in the foyer tagged to this article.]