The end of year performances by the students of the New Zealand School of Dance are an opportunity to see the young dancers before they emerge into the profession.

The seven works culminated in Paul Taylor’s Airs (1978) restaged by Richard Chen See. Jana Castillo and Robbie Curtis stood out in a strong cast, and were so much fun to watch.

In the classical works Kathryn Botica as Marie Taglioni in Pas de Quatre and Andre Santos in the Paquita Pas de Trois displayed outstanding technical clarity.

The stand out work for me was Sarah Foster’s Crossed Fingers pas de deux. The choreography let Katherine Grange and Loughlan Prior indulge in unexpected and very demanding movement. Great to see a contemporary work made en pointe and danced with such assurance.
Haere by Cathy Livermore started strongly and Jana Castillo, Gina Andrews and Lucy Marinkovich gave compelling performances but needed to define their differences for more dramatic effect.

Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete made He Taonga – a gift and indeed it was a gift to the all male cast as an ensemble work with power and pulse. Shona McCullagh revisited her duet Love from Quick (1988) for Emmi Coupe and Florian Teatiu and this had moments of breathtaking beauty.
All credit to the staff of the school and director Garry Trinder for an adventurous programme and a real commitment to New Zealand choreography.
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Eight contrasting works performed by svelte and enthusiastic young dancers. Fit, strong, beautiful, musical, committed, spirited youngsters remind their audience of many good things in life.

Pas de Quatre, staged by Lidiya Klymenko, was most lyrically and musically danced, even if the interaction of dancers’ personalities was only lightly sketched. Haere, a new work by Cathy Livermore had a ceaseless flow of connecting movements themed for the stages of a woman’s life. A duo, Love, performed with feeling by Nicola Leahey and Robbie Curtis, an excerpt from Shona McCullagh’s choreography, Quick, made in 1998, brought back memories of that impressive narrative work.

The pas de trois from Paquita staged by Yuriy Klymenko, had élan and excitement, from Haruka Tsuji, Anna Ishii and Andre Santos. There was drama and atmosphere in X300, originally from Bangarra Aboriginal Dance Theatre, based on secret atomic tests in the 1950s Australian outback. Crossed Fingers, an astonishing duo by Sarah Foster, to Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. was given an electric performance by Katherine Grange and Loughlan Prior.

Airs, by Paul Taylor, to music by Handel, staged by Richard Chen See, is indeed a classic from the prolific New York choreographer whose company still remembers the stellar career there of Douglas Wright. Airs’ many musical and technical challenges were met with courage and verve by these young dancers who seemed airborne and joyous throughout. A master dance-maker with such command of his craft, touches all our senses and lifts spirits.

In He Taonga, choreographed by Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete, ten male performers moved from an ancient forest into movement of different life forms. To evocative sounds from Whirimako Black, Royal sourced the gravity and force of haka, though not its unison or aggression. In Mete’s section, to striking music by Vrebalov, individuals made natural, shall we say free, movements yet stayed within tight forms of traditional dance groups. By some alchemy, small motifs from Māori and contemporary dance combined into a powerful dance of great wairua / spirit.
Royal and Mete are to be saluted, Garry Trinder for commissioning the choreography, and the dancers for its burning bright performance. He Taonga could and should travel elsewhere – to the RNZBallet repertoire? onto film? into every New Zealand school classroom?
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There is great pleasure in seeing how the works of New Zealand choreographers shine brightly in the Graduation Season of the New Zealand School of Dance; their dances hold their own against the international heritage pieces on show in this uplifting performance.

Pas de Quatre was originally choreographed by Jules Perrot in 1845 and then reconstructed by Anton Dolin. Here it is delightfully staged by classical tutor Lidiya Klymenko. With great delicacy the dancers imbue the lovely choreography with the appropriate softness of the Romantic style. This work was created for the four great Romantic ballerinas Lucile Grahn (Emmi Coupe) Fanny Cerrito (Stephanie Blumer), Carlotta Grisi (Victoria Bennett) and Marie Taglioni (Kathryn Botica). It caused a sensation when it previewed in London. In 2009 on the other side of the world these beautiful young dancers evoke a bygone era with softly rounded arms, a demure tilt of the head, whispering bourrés, gentle arabesques and deep plies conjuring a tantalising mix of earth and air. I am not familiar enough with the work to pick who was who but Kathryn Botica gives a particularly authentic rendering of Marie Taglioni. A repeating circling motif draws the four dancers together and charming curtsies to each other lead into well executed solos.

Haere by Cathy Livermore is an homage to the Feminine and has an all female cast with solos from Lucy Marinkovich, Jana Castillo and Gina Andrews: all dance with commitment and grace. The music, Hinerukaturi by Gillian Whitehead, provides a strong framework and mobile flax screens are used to create an environment where the moving figure is concealed then revealed. Orange costumes with feathered accessories adorn bodies that swirl, support and sway into moments of caressingly lit form. As the music and dynamic energy builds, choreography for the chorus gives the work a stronger shape with interesting use of the floor and original torso movements. Overall the work needs more spatial and dynamic design with clearer definition of the roles and relationships of the central characters of Crone, Mother and Maiden. The final repeating sounds, made by the chorus of a thump to the floor and claps, were compelling.

Watching Shona McCullagh’s gorgeous duet Love,I am transported to the preview of Quick in 1998 (this duet is an excerpt from the larger work) and experience something akin to grief for all the marvellous works that are created in this country that only ever have one season. Here at least we get a taste of this choreographer’s repertoire again.

Emily Coupe lifts her fantastically arched foot then tips her partner Florian Teatiu into a startling upside down lift that seems to last forever before placing him in a shoulder stand that he suspends with great control. This is a huge statement and immediately we have equality between these two dancers – the tiny female and the tall male. This wedding duet has an exquisite spaciousness. It is a beautifully danced portrayal of love and expectation with stunning lifts and tender gestures.

Pas de Trois from Paquita Act 1 is staged by classical tutor Yuriy Klymenko after Marius Petipa and danced by Haruka Tsuji, Anna Ishii and Andre Santos, it premiered at the Bolshoi in 1881. This ‘bravura’ pas de trois is an appropriate vehicle for classical students to display their virtuosity in the French style. André Santos shows great balon in his variations and a cleanness of line. Haruka Tsuji meticulously executes her solo and with a little more relaxation Anna Ishii will find more flow and fullness in her steps.

Australian choreographer Frances Rings has staged Excerpts from X300 –Waterhole. The full version previewed in Melbourne Australia in 2007. The work explores the contamination by nuclear testing on the traditional lands of the Maralinga Tjarutja people and it is refreshing to see a political work and an indigenous work from Australia. Recently departed Head of Contemporary dance Tiina Alinen deserves mention here for her vision as the curator of the contemporary component of the 2009 programme.

A striking image opens the work and there is a satisfying build through a taut vocabulary to evoke the dusty expansive interior landscape with a sinuous solo from Gina Andrews. A solo from Shaughn Pegoraro is danced with commitment but the choreography is less successful here making it difficult for the dancer to find the weight and thrust of the movement. A lot of this section is laboured and overly derivative. Jana Castillo and Robbie Curtis shine in a duet that now portrays a land devoid of life and creatures/traditions struggling for survival. There is some pleasing symmetrical choreography with Lucy Marinkovich and Florian Teatiu as the other duet dancing with focus and skill. Here the work is most successful with some original partnering sequences, which lift it above the somewhat dated feel it generally has.

Sarah Foster goes from strength to strength as a choreographer and it is a brilliant move to have her choreograph a ‘classical’ duet. She really does remind me of Balanchine at times and this work is an absolutely original breath of fresh air. From the word go she engages us an audience with constant surprises, quirky use of arm phrases and devastating use of the strength of the Loughlan Prior and the jaw dropping extension and line of Katherine Grange. The school has made a commitment to Foster this year as an ‘artist in residence’ and hope this continues. She really should have the time and resources to make a large work on the students that could sit in pride of place where the imported works usually sit next year.

The evening lifts off with the next work from New Zealand dance royalty Tairoa Royal and Taane Mete – so fabulous to see another lot of graduates choreographing for the school. The dual authorship of the work is unique in itself and the result extraordinary. Here there is a payoff from the New Zealand School of Dance. Now with a ‘normalised’ practice of importing talent – currently with half its students from off shore – it means that Royal and Mete have the gift of working with a chorus of 11 strong males to create their gift to us: He Toanga.  

Arms uplifted in shadows form a butohesque forest as the bare-chested men in long black skirts converge on the solitary figure of Du Yan Hoa. To the sounds of tui and flute, intricate gestures are woven into a ritualistic prayer towards the light. The music, by Whirimako Black, is Torete Te Kiore. The dancers’ movements are strong and precise as the energy builds around this pulsating mass of bodies until they eventually explode into walking patterns with a fierce lightness. Figures like dynamos generate a force that catapults Du Yan Hoa into a frenzied solo thrashing his gorgeously extended limbs. The men disrobe, more flesh catches the light as two lines form at right angles to each other, creating an air of expectancy as one dancer moves in counterpoint to this. A beautiful sense of pace and form pervades the work; movements are unhurried in this middle section.

Bells ringing signify the beginning of the next piece of music by Aleksandra Vrebalov, Hold Me, Neighbour in the Storm. Arising from the provocation of this difficult yet satisfying music is a unique and fresh vocabulary as the dancers flail and thrust into the space, in flung jumps and full body grabs with the arms. As they gather together centre stage, once more at the end we are left breathless.  

Again I urge the decision makers to give these artists the time and resources to keep developing their work on students of this calibre; there is no denying the results are stupendous: a marriage made in heaven.

One of Paul Taylor’s seminal works, Airs from 1978 to music by Handel, concludes the evening; it is staged by Richard Chen See. A mixture of classical and modern students dance the work – they are wonderful. It is curious that this work now actually sits as a classical piece. With his characteristic walking and running patterns juxtaposed against conventional dance steps with surprising shifts of weight, this dance joyously makes love to the music as our eyes and ears feast on the precision, lightness and grace of the dancers. They give it themselves to it fully. It is a rare treat to see the work of this great modern choreographer.

Three elements distinguish this performance for me: as stated earlier, the strength of the New Zealand choreographers; how the modern/contemporary aspect of the performance is strongest; how the distinctions between classical and modern students is not so clearly defined these days.

The students deserve congratulations for their passion, one hopes for a long future for them in dance. The teaching staff also deserve congratulations for their commitment in staging and rehearsal direction, as do lighting designer Paul O’Brien and the entire production staff – it is a fine show. 
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