New Zealand School of Dance: "45th Anniversary Graduation Season" -
Te Whaea: National Dance and Drama Centre, Wellington, 23 November 2012 -
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the New Zealand School of Dance, and the high standards evident in this year’s combined graduation program for classical and contemporary streams show that it’s an institution that is going from strength to strength.
First up was Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie (1967), set to Glinka’s music, and featuring a couple and four female dancers. In the performance I witnessed, Sarah Linden and Oscar Hoelscher danced the pas de deux with joyousness and impressive partnering, the former exhibiting nice ballon and expressive arms, the latter terrific deportment and batterie. At times the whole cast were guilty of insufficiently pointed feet, but otherwise the supporting dancers danced with precision and musicality.
Next was the opening sequence from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, a work inspired by Nijinsky and the animalistic aspect of human movement. Due to an injury to the first cast member, Emma Dellabarca stepped into the role and danced as if it were made on her, capturing the sensuous abandon and the innocence of a young animal beautifully.
Excerpts from Garry Stewart’s deconstruction of Swan Lake, Birdbrain, followed. I must admit to feeling some trepidation as to how the dancers would handle Stewart’s highly acrobatic choreography but Craig Bary, who staged the work on behalf of Stewart, had done a terrific job. Not only had the students mastered the lightning quick tumbling and partnering, they attacked the work with a mighty energy and obviously enjoyed dancing it hugely.
An ensemble piece, Pic Nic Party Prison Pack, by local choreographer Claire O’Neill, alternates slow motion movement with jitterbugging in an exploration of group dynamics. The work is enjoyable but not particularly memorable. Verse, a solo choreographed by Loughlan Prior to baroque music, allowed Luis Piva Junior to shine; his lyricism and control were truly beautiful to watch.
Next up was a duet, Brunhilde Observing Gunther, by alumni Mia Mason, in which Simone Lapka and Andrew Miller circled each other tentatively, with moments of contact quickly undercut by withdrawal, mimicking the oscillations between trust and suspicion at the heart of relationships. Parrish Maynard’s Fractals was then given a sassy performance by eight of the classical trainees. Clearly influenced by the Forsythe’s In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, the work's skewed classicism and sexy moodiness was caught well by the young dancers.
Czech choreographer Ivica Novakovic’s contemporary piece, Odem, has the eight dancers emerging from constricting red corsets and repetitive robotic movement like newly hatched creatures stretching out in the warmth of the sun. This is an interesting work that contrasted nicely with the classical pieces on either side of it.
Rounding out the evening, Edmund Stripe’s Symphony No. 1, opus 25, set to Prokofiev’s music, was a delightful ensemble piece danced by the whole classical stream. Stripe, who is on the faculty here, created it for Singapore Dance Theatre in 1993. It has been in the repertoire of West Australian Ballet for many years but has been revised for this season and looked stylish and fresh. Mirroring the four movements of Prokofiev’s symphony closely, the work is lively, fast-paced and joyful, and the twelve students danced it with excellent timing, musicality and aplomb, making a strong finale to a varied and extremely demanding program.
This season gave the classical students greater opportunity to shine compared to previous programs I’ve seen, but both streams undisputedly performed at a professional level. Indeed, many of the graduates have already been offered contracts from companies as wide a field as ADT, the Houston Ballet, QBT, and the San Francisco Ballet. On the strength of this program, it’s not surprising that the school is fast achieving the reputation of being one of the best training institutions in Australasia.
- Maggie Tonkin
NZSD's "45th Anniversary Graduation Season" runs until 1 December. More info here.
Top photo: Chloe Einicke and Stefaan Morrow in Symphony No. 1, opus 25 by Edmund Stripe. Photo: Stephen A'Court.