Ballet surpasses expectations

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33050, 18 October 1972, Page 20

Ballet surpasses expectations

Christchurch audiences were last evening treated to a taste of modern and classical ballet that, in terms of sheer skill and versatility far surpassed anything many people would have expected of New Zealand dance. Presented by the New Zealand Ballet, “Dance 72” is touring the country with two hours and a half of professional ballet, and the company’s principal dancer, Jon Trimmer. Three ballets were danced: the classical “Coppelia,” which took up most of the programme, a surrealistic piece on the creation, “The Children of Adam,” and a fragmentary study in three movements adapted from Debussy’s “En blanc et noir.” The James Hay Theatre was packed with a predominantly female audience—a sad commentary on the place to which New Zealand men have relegated ballet—and if the silence throughout the whole performance can be interpreted to .mean any-

thing, the audience was captivated. The three pieces were danced in marked contrast. “Coppelia” was a clever, light-hearted, deft piece of comedy that was also superbly well acted by the company’s full cast of 11 dancers. Its mood was completely different from the preceding “Children of Adam,” a dark, primeval, dramatic and almost frightening interpretation of the birth of life. Music and dance were in perfect accord, and duplicate movements by groups of dancers in obvious unison. Costumes in the first two ballets were simple. These two were also danced on bare stage. Backdrops only appeared on stage in “Coppelia” to give the ballet context. The acoustic facilities in the theatre lent themselves exceptionally well to the duet piano accompaniment, and especially to the electronic musical background of “The Children of Adam.” —B.K.C,