TE MANU AHI (The Firebird)
ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, Auckland
22/10/2014 - 22/10/2014
Production Details
Te Manu Ahi (“The Firebird”) marks the fourth year of the APO’s widely-praised Auckland Dance Project, where more than 150 dancers of all ages, from schools across Auckland [James Cook High School, New Lynn Primary School, Northcote Intermediate, Saint Kentigern College, Freemans Bay Primary School] come together to dance in concert with the APO.
In 2014, after a six-week choreography development and rehearsal period led by Moss Patterson and dancers from Atamira Dance Company [Gabrielle Thomas, Mark Bonnington and Bianca Hyslop, and Unitec tertiary students], Te Manu Ahi is presented to schools, as a highlight of the annual Kiwi Kapers concert. The public is invited to the 1pm performance.
The music for this year’s project is Stravinsky’s famous FirebirdSuite. With swirling woodwind, grand brass chords and rich orchestration, this delicate, lively and rousing orchestral work with original choreography will create a powerful visual and musical extravaganza.
I am very much looking forward to the combination of Kiwi Kapers and the APO Dance Project in one concert – Te Manu Ahi. I look forward to sharing this spectacle with you, the audience. You are in for a treat indeed!
– Catherine Blomfield – Education Supervisor
Te Manu Ahi (Kiwi Kapers) programme 2014
Prepare to be Entertained, Sarah Fox
‘Hedwig’s Flight’ from Harry Potter, John Williams
‘Aviary’, from Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saens
‘Birdcatcher Aria’, Papageno, from The Magic Flute, Mozart
From Flying Birds, Dylan Lardelli
‘I Danced with a Mosquito’ #4 from 8 Russian Folk Songs, Liadov
Flight of the Bumble Bee, Rimsky-Korsakov
Firebird Suite (1919) – 23 minutes (with 150 student dancers)
Concert duration – 55 mins (including narration)
SYNOPSIS: Te Manu Ahi
There once lived a young boy Matatu and a young girl Hine Ariki. They were best friends. Both Matatu and Hine Ariki belonged to a village of tūrehu, or fairy people, and they lived peacefully in the middle of the forest. One morning when they were out gathering firewood Hine Ariki and her tūrehu sisters were captured by Whiro te tipua, an evil sorcerer, and taken to the cloud kingdom. He placed them under a magic spell, which made them unable to sleep and prevented them from escaping. Whiro te tipua had also previously stolen the sacred mauri stone of the village which was the source of power and magic of the entire kingdom.
Matatu was terrified of Whiro te tipua and all the scary creatures of the cloud kingdom but he set out to rescue Hine Ariki. Before he left on his quest, he was gifted a magic karakia – a prayer – and a magic feather by Hine Ariki’s grandmother Matakerepo. She was an old blind seer who was very wise and magical herself.
Matatu set out and began climbing the huge toi huarewa, the long vines that hung far below the cloud kingdom. As he ascended, Whiro te tipua saw him and sent out a swarm of bees, locusts and spiders to make him fall. To save himself, Matatu chanted the ancient karakia and a huge whirlwind arose and swept them away. He completed the climb to the top, and reached the entrance to the cloud kingdom.
Whiro te tipua was furious.
When Matatu arrived at the marae atea – the courtyard of the cloud kingdom – he saw Hine Ariki and her captive sisters, and was met by Whiro te tipua and all the dark creatures of the kingdom. As Whiro te tipua started to chase Matatu away the young boy picked up his magic feather and waved it in the air in a special double spiral pattern. There was a great flash of light and Hine Ariki began to transform into the most amazing firebird, TeManu Ahi. Once fully transformed Te Manu Ahi rose with feathers the colour of fire; she was so tall and regal that she shone like the rays of the sun.
Whiro and the creatures were overwhelmed by this, and they tried to chase and capture Te Manu Ahi but she was too fast and too clever. She led them in a chaotic spiraling chase, and they eventually fell to the ground, exhausted and confused. At that moment Matatu discovered the sacred mauri stone, which was also the source of Whiro’s power. When he touched it a great beam of light shone out, breaking the spell over all the creatures in the cloud kingdom. Whiro was unable to counter its magic and perished under its beauty and light. Te Manu Ahi then opened her magnificent wings and carried her sisters, Matatu, the sacred mauri stone and all other creatures back to the village, leaving behind the cloud kingdom forever.
They were never again afraid of or troubled by the evil sorcerer Whiro te tipua.
Te Manu Ahi (“The Firebird”) marks the fourth year of the APO’s widely-praised Auckland Dance Project, where more than 150 dancers of all ages, from schools across Auckland [James Cook High School, New Lynn Primary School, Northcote Intermediate, Saint Kentigern College, Freemans Bay Primary School] come together to dance in concert with the APO after a six-week choreography development and rehearsal period led by Moss Patterson and dancers from Atamira Dance Company [Gabrielle Thomas, Mark Bonnington and Bianca Hyslop, and Unitec tertiary students].
60 mins
Celebrating dance and live music
Review by Dr Linda Ashley 22nd Oct 2014
Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (APO), Moss Patterson and Gabrielle Thomas (Atamira Dance Company), 140 school children from five Auckland schools and Unitec contemporary dance students bring a fourth celebration of dance and live orchestral music to a lucky matinee audience. This year’s APO Auckland Dance Project maintains the quality and power of the previous ones. Performed for a full house of 1,500 school children and 500 public this matinee was an absolute treat, proving the force of the APO’s educational initiatives in dance and music to inspire and empower audiences and artists of the future.
Opening with seven short avian-themed orchestral pieces the musically literate audience, especially the children, enjoy a guide to all the instruments by light-hearted presenter, Owen Clarke. Armed with an essential guide to the orchestra we then plunge into a vortex of movement that calls upon our dance literacy and takes our imaginations into a world of textual literacy – fairytale.
The Russian fairytale, The Firebird and Stravinsky’s 1919 score, shorter than the original one that accompanied Fokine’s 1910 ballet, provide the launch pad for Patterson to write a new Māori story Te Manu Ahi from which he composes a narrative contemporary dance. It features an evil sorcerer, scary creatures living in a cloud kingdom, abduction of young girls, and their rescue by a young boy aided by the firebird.
Performed and choreographed in a true spirit of collaboration and co-operation, everyone is a star. Even though the more experienced dancers from Atamira, Mark Bonnington and Bianca Hyslop alongside the Unitec tertiary students standout technically, it is the children from James Cook High School, New Lynn Primary School, Northcote Intermediate, Saint Kentigern College, Freemans Bay Primary School who captivate. Sometimes when we think about dance as a school subject we might imagine children running rampant. Patterson and Thomas in their skillful choreography, however, show how dancing children focus completely, give wholeheartedly, understand how to work together and reach levels of skill, control and teamwork that are way beyond their years; qualities that the New Zealand Curriculum framework is charged with nurturing.
Organising 140 children to enter and exit a stage once would be impressive but this dance relies on continual smooth transitions between a plethora of different groupings, and there is not one collision to be seen. Slowly forward moving rows of dancers, whirling circles, clusters using dancers on high, low and medium levels as if molten liquid glues them together. Also in the dancers’ timing, the trademark throws and catches amongst the groups, the various lifts and duet balances are carefully set-up amongst the waterfall of other movements so that they seem to appear from nowhere. Much of the large group vocabulary is undoubtedly simple running, jumps to falls, crawling, slithering, distorted creature shapes, side-to-side reaching, stretching up and down but wholly appropriate for the range of ages and abilities.
A huge single helix steel-frame stringed helix, (or is it an orchestral metaphor?) (Robin Rawstorne) divides the stage across left to right lending imagery of above and below the clouds, layering foreground with background groupings and effortlessly adding to the narrative. Standout moments are the smallest children tightly curled up, like eggs balancing on nests made of feet, and the hero’s struggle to climb to the cloud kingdom against the grasping tendrils of the vines and swarms of spiders and insects. Then, of course, the finale of a whole cast grouping in the formation of the firebird, its feathers alight with the wiri of hands.
The movement whirls around in endless spirals covering every part of the stage, dancing the orchestral score note for note. Conductor Prieto and the musicians are really in the spirit of the venture, providing the light and shade of this great score for the dancers. How lucky are these performers to be dancing to a full live orchestra, something that many professional dancers may never experience. Lighting (Jeremy Fern) and costume (Marama Lloydd) add finesse in the finishing touches of this spectacle.
The teachers, parents and schools who support this project, including the ones who brought along the 1,500 children to the audience and a similar number to the morning dress rehearsal are also stars in this truly educational and heartwarming venture. An initiative with which the funders must all be proud to be associated.
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