The wages of sin

Press, 26 March 1986, Page 22

The wages of sin

1986 marks the tenth year of Paul Jenden’s professional dance career. To celebrate he has created “Sin,” a display of costume, humour and dance. “Sin,” which had its world premiere in Wellington during the International Festival, is scheduled for a six night season at the Southern Ballet Theatre from Tuesday, April 8.

“Sin” is the common theme of the two new dances that make up the programme. "Cheek to Cheek” is a comment on male competitiveness. To the jazz saxophone of George Howard, two men engage in an unusual contest that mixes athletic competition with the suave charm and elegance of Fred Astaire. As the struggle brings the competitors closer together, the boxing-ring sparring is transformed into an unconventional display of ballroom dancing.

“Seven Sins” uses masks, and movement to summon up Jenden’s bizarre images of the Deadly Sins: sloth, avarice, anger, gluttony, lust,

envy and pride. “Seven Sins” is Jenden’s most lavishly costumed dance to date, and the designs, inspired by the paintings of an American artist, Paul Cadmus, show that the wages of sin can be both frightening and very funny. Jenden and his partner, a New Yorker, Louis Solino, have returned to New Zealand after a successful European tour of their memorable “Dead Ballerinas” which premiered in New Zealand last year and was later filmed by television.

This visit, their fourth annual tour, is part of an international circuit that Jenden and Solino travel each year. After New Zealand, they will return to New York for possible summer performances of “Sin,” followed by further touring in Austria, Germany and Italy. Jenden has remained a recogniseably New Zealand artist in spite of constant travel. He choreographs most of his new dances here and premieres them in his Wellington season each March. “I’ve been influenced by

my American training and all the European theatre I’ve been seeing lately, but my ballets are still created for a New Zealand audience.”

However, Jenden is critical of the tendency to polarise the roles of New Zealand and overseas artists. He emphasises that performing outside one’s native country is integral to most artists’ careers, financially and artistically. Christchurch audiences will see more of Jenden’s choreography this year. He has collaborated with the musician, Peter Dasent, on “An Evening To Remember” for the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s “Festive DaNZes” programme which opens in Christchurch one week before “Sin.” Louis Solino is reconstructing a work by the famed American choreographer Jose Limon for the New Zealand School of Dance, as well as rehearsing “Sin.” “Sin” will play at the Southern Ballet Theatre, Christchurch Arts Centre, from Tuesday, April 8 to Sunday, April 13.