For the reviewer and her driver, ‘Finding Precious Things’ was the title of a misadventure that featured a flat cell phone, an empty petrol tank, a missed turn-off, another missed turn off, poor visibility on a dark rainy night,  all  fortunately overlaid with a good dose of humour. however, we missed the first half of the show. 

At the start of the second half of the programme,  our thoughts quickly turned to the high standard of dance being showcased by the fourteen to eighteen year olds who form the ‘One Step Beyond’ youth dance company. 

The theme of Precious Things saw articles being placed on a table at the front of the stage as each item progressed, providing a link throughout the programme. The dance Precious, choreographed by Janine Parkes, was a highlight of the second half with the dancers moving fluidly through a series of trust motifs designed to demonstrate the fragility and preciousness of life itself.  The ensemble work was strong and provided opportunities for the dancers to display their technical skills.

Emma Barnes and Sacha Rennie-Cook displayed a maturity in a duet which they both choreographed and performed. The literal moments were contrasted with more sophisticated movement vocabulary suiting their theme of needing to appreciate what we have in life.

Dynamic Unity was the title of Sasha Rennie-Cook’s choreography exploring people’s differences.  There were four dancers in this piece and much of the work involved skilled duet work.

Memory was choreographed and danced by Grace Woollett, who is an ex student and currently a third year Unitec student majoring in choreography.  It speaks to the loyalty of the ex-dancers to the company that Grace chose to be involved in this performance as did choreographer,  Gemma Herbison, who is currently studying medicine at the University of Otago. She travelled back to Auckland in her holidays to work with the company.

The evening finished on a high note with Cappolea, a high energy piece where the dancers appeared to be having a great deal of fun. They demonstrated the very  spark, the love of dance and a real enthusiasm that will serve them well should they choose to go forward to take their dance on to a tertiary level,  as studio teachers, or just to keep dancing.  At the close of the evening it was possible to recognise that many of the students were relatively young and this reinforced the view that what had been presented was of a particularly high standard.

Good luck and congratulations to the One Step Beyond Youth Dance Company.

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