Limbs Dance Company

Press, 5 March 1984, Page 8

Limbs Dance Company

Limbs Dance Company, at the James Hay Theatre, March 4. Running time, 8 pan. to 10 pan. Reviewed by Heather Campbell The Christchurch Festival performance given by Limbs to a capacity house last evening left no doubt that Limbs’ reputation to entertain and exhilirate an audience remains intact

The company excels in finely detailed chorus work where a strong technique is sustained. A fine example of this is “Poi,” where seven dancers move in a complexity of contrasting patterns

and rhythms, giving to the work an authenticity. In her choreography, Mary Jane O’Reilly has been successful in making a beautiful tribute to New Zealand.

“Three Boxes,” a work choreographed by Ruby Shang, of New York, is simplistic and delightfully child-like — with 694 skips, what could it be? A fun and games piece, where Mary Jane O’Reilly invariably captivates her audience with the poise of her head or flow of her arms. Her sense of theatre is irresist-

Contrasting with the above work is “Study for Two Dancers,” superbly choreographed by Chris Jannides to the music of Barre Phillips and Wolfgang Reichmann.

fn this piece, Joanne Kelly and Susan Peacock, show a sensitivity to space and time as they change pattern, focus, and direction. In "Land of 1000 Dancers” Bruce Hopkins and Susan Trainor show their marked ability to communicate with and amuse their audience while performing.