Kevin Mansfield as Ihenga and Pauline Noorts as the Green Lizard in “Children of the Mist”. (Mr Mansfield, though not a member of the Maori race, was at one time, secretary of the Ngati-Poneke Social Club, and has since led Maori concert parties.) (PHOTO C. W. PASCOE) tunate in having his score played most expertly by an ensemble drawn from the National Orchestra and conducted by Alex Lindsay. But the full credit for a remarkable achievement must go to Miss Leigh Brewer as choreographer and ballet mistress to the whole ballet, and indeed, to the entire evening. She shows already a professional choreographer's skill in making her patterns of movement meaningful in the context of her theme; there was never the feeling that a dance solo or duet was merely a “turn”, holding up the action until it was over. All flowed, was smooth and sinuous, always expressing and propelling the story. The scene of the challenge on the marae was in my view the highlight of the ballet, because here the Maori theme and tradition seemed perfectly wedded to the technique of the dancers. Of some of the other choreography, the corps de ballet who represented the children of the mist, I remain still somewhat doubtful. Miss Brewer no doubt felt that in dealing with fairy folk she was free to give them the steps, style and attitudes she chose: who was to say that the patu-paiarehe did not dance on the ends of their toes? Nevertheless, for this reviewer, there remained a sense of incongruity The specifically European technique of dancing on the toes did not seem to spring out of the action as, say, the dancing on the marae so splendidly did. This may be merely the prejudice which comes from something unusual or unexpected. These reservations are minor, however. Miss Brewer and her colleagues produced together a ballet of considerable distinction of theme and imaginative power, produced with a professional finish, and it may be only the start of a truly national and indigenous ballet. B.M.