November 4, 2008

HITS FROM AUCKLAND DANCE FESTIVAL COME TO WELLINGTON

Here Now brings together acclaimed dance works on identity, migration and arrival by an exciting lineage of New Zealand dance makers.

Kilda Northcott and Lyne Pringle rekindle their award winning chemistry to present a teaser from their new dance work Lily.

This poignant piece orbits around the central character of Lily Stevens played with great sensitivity by Northcott. With their trade-mark hilarity these seasoned performers navigate a thread through preparation for dancing competitions into the catatonic state that ensues after Lily’s end of year recital and on into a vivid celebration of Barefoot dancing. In this sensuous scene to Chopin’s piano, Lily is joined by her ‘students’, an ensemble of young local dancers choreographed by Deirdre Tarrant.

"Presented by some of our most accomplished performers…providing a heady and hilarious insight into the life of long-serving Dunedin doyenne and ballet teacher Lily Stevens." New Zealand Herald

Following their October performance in TEMPO, Auckland’s Festival of Dance, Northcott was awarded the Tempo Supreme Performance Award. Adding this to previous TEMPO Awards for Choreography, Performance and Production, Northcott and Pringle prove they can refreshingly and expertly draw in their audience:
"One of the highlights of the show has to be the image of Kilda [Northcott] as a collapsed Lily, completely transformed by the crown of a tiny tutu – a tragic portrait of theatrical, owl-eyed exhaustion… Lily is a work of beautifully inter-woven narrative and great comedic timing." 

Liana Yew was named Best Female Contemporary Dancer 2006 by the Listener for performances with Black Grace, Alexa Wilson and Chris Jannides: "Liana Yew was outstanding: her integrity and technique allowed her to perfectly execute the choreographer’s intent, yet create a distinctive presence in demanding works…."

Yew’s work Kiwi (TEMPO 08’s Best Choreography by an Emerging Artist) follows the story of her grandfather’s migration from Guangzhou, China to New Zealand and the subsequent process of assimilation and loss of identity. This solo is an uncompromising, provocative and emotional look into cultural misconceptions and the multiple identities of a 2nd generation New Zealander. Combining movement, text and video, Kiwi includes original music by Josh Rutter and footage filmed during Liana’s return to her mother’s village in rural China.

Claire Lissaman’s recent performances include Michael Parmenter’s latest work TENT, Malia Johnston’s Dark Tourists and Raewyn Hill’s White and Angels with Dirty Feet. Theatreview commended her performance in Dark Tourists; "Claire Lissaman brings a quiet beauty and luminous grace. She is the innocence of the work and we are grateful for her presence. She dances with feeling, fluidity and gorgeous pathways through space."

With "…mesmeric purity and authenticity…" Landing, by Lissaman, maps three concurrent journeys that converge in the present, involving loss and ignorance, reinvention of an ancestral migration, and the contradictions and confusions of knowing whether one has at last arrived. It is motivated by curiosity with the process of mapping — remembering and forgetting, recognition and translation, transformation and exchange. Landing is performed with live music by Wellington musicians The Turns.

Don’t miss this revealing offering of dance by some of our most accomplished performers.

Here, now is presented with support from Wellington City Council’s Creative Communities, DANZ’s mentoring programme, Big Image Print, EdgarSt Productions and Framework Solutions.

What: Here, Now 
Where: Wellington Performing Arts Centre, 36 Vivian St 
When: 7.30pm 21 & 22 Nov; 5pm 23 Nov 
Cost: unwaged/waged – $15 / $18 
Doorsales only, Cash only

youtube clip of Lily <http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fh1_pyjL768>