Public figures on the move

Press, 2 May 1984, Page 17

Public figures on the move

Paul Jenden and Louis Solino’s dance concerts in Wellington and Auckland grew almost overnight into a national tour. The New Zealand Students Arts Council

offered sponsorship for a six-centre tour when another act withdrew at the last minute. The two dancers played concerts in the North Island centres last year and Paul

Jenden was determined to return to his home city of Wellington for further concerts. “I lost money coming to New Zealand last year but I want to keep coming to

New Zealand. I am investing in a career here. If I don’t come back that is wasted,” the young dancer and choreographer said. Mr Jenden left New Zealand for New York in 1980 with- the help of a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council study grant. A founder member of Wellington’s Impulse Dance Theatre, he also formed and directed the Gallery Dancers under the auspices of the National Art Gallery. He met American-born Louis Solino at a dance course and the two began working together in 1981. The duo has performed widely around the world, with Mr Jenden choreographing all the dances. For the New Zealand tour the dancers, have added New Zealander Christina Asher to dance in “Love Songs,” a piece written especially for her by Mr Jenden. The tour opened in Wellington on April 11, and ends in Palmerston North on Friday. The Christchurch performances were last week at the Great Hall in the Arts Centre. Paul Jenden describes his

dances as entertaining, catholic, contemporary — “actually there is no single term. The style is not limited,” he said. Themes for the dances come from personal experience, literary sources, anything that provides suitable material. The tour has seen the premiere of “Public Figures,” a dance inspired by the majestic stone monuments and fountains of Europe. Paul Jenden was struck by the way people lived and worked surrounded by the statues and developed a dance using music by Boccherini and images conjured up by the monuments. “We don’t stagger about like statues, however,” he quickly pointed out. The music for the dances is pre-composed and prerecorded. A I can’t afford live musicians so I use the music of other composers. ‘Love Songs’ is danced to Ike and Tina Turner and is an affectionate tongue-in-cheek about groups such as theirs.” As well as choreographing the pieces, Mr Jenden

designs and makes the costumes for the dancers. Louis Solino’s background in dance includes work with some notable New York groups. He has also taught in New York, San Jose and Albuquerque. He has no ambition to

choreograph but simply wants to dance, he said. The two men enjoy dancing together and find that they balance one another in their dancing. "A duo with two men is not as limiting as a male-female duo, I think,” Paul Jenden said.

“With a male-female duo the audience expects the dancers to stick to those roles. We are free to change roles. With lifts we can also do more as either of us can lift the other.” Once the New Zealand tour has finished they will return to New York, Mr Jenden spending some time with Limbs Dance Company in . Auckland first. Both dancers believe there is an audience for dance in new Zealand but acknowledge the greater audience available overseas. “New York is the home of modern dance and 1 per cent of the New York audience is far greater than 1 per cent of the New Zealand audience but a market does exist here. I would like to keep coming back. Last year I couldn’t afford to cross the Cook Strait to Christchurch,” Mr Jenden said. The Students Arts Council sponsorship has made crossing the strait possible this year but financing tours is often difficult. “That is part of the reason for a duo. It is easier for two to travel in financial terms than a larger group.”