Southern Ballet season

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 24

Southern Ballet season

Southern Ballet and Dance Theatre will add four new works to its repertoire in its new season which opens on October 8. Three guest choreographers have been commissioned to contribute to the season: Louise Hawke, revisiting the company from Hong Kong; Jamie Bull of Christchurch and Liz Davey from Wellington. Russell Kerr, the director of Southern Ballet and Greer Robertson, tutor of the Southern Ballet Senior School, have also created works for the season. Louise Hawke describes her “Easy Pieces” as a choreographic style somewhere between “Swan Lake” and “Dirty Dancing” set to music by Bizet.

Greer Robertson has named her abstract ballet, “Tarot.” It is loosely based on five tarot cards of the major arcane. “The work has a mediaeval atmosphere and is visually entertaining,” she says. “Choreographer and dancers perform for the pleasure of the audiences with only just a slight message, rather than being all message and very little entertainment.” Jamie Bull and Liz Davey have called their contribution “Ations,” from a poem by Shel Silverstein which is based on eight works ending in “ation” from “salutation” to “civilisation.” This is the first time the pair have created a work in collaboration as choreographers only. Both young women are freelance choreographers and teachers based in Wellington and both are tutors at the New Zealand School of Dance. Russell Kerr has choreographed “Journey,” which is set to music founded on popular folk melodies of the Japanese people, coloured by Western harmonies and instruments. The title relates to a journey of communication between two Japanese dancers in the company, who speak very little English, and the choreographer, who speaks no Japanese. They have communicated entirely through dance movement. The ballet emphasises the meeting of two very difficult cultures in the universal language of contempor-ary-classical dance. The new progamme has been developed with funding from the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. The season will continue until October 15.