I review ballet
A friend sent me a review of the Royal NZ Ballet's current piece Peter Pan. I went along to it while it was here, and thought it was great. I can highly recommend checking out one of the upcoming performances if it's coming your way.
Reading this review also reminded me of a review of a ballet performance I wrote several years ago. Not your typical review I should add. I basically took proper reviews and re-jigged them to make fun of the overly-fluffy and woo-woo language ballet reviewers love to (perhaps need to) use. It cracked me up reading it again so I'll reproduce it here below...
BALLET ASTOUNDS AND AMAZES PEOPLE
The Royal Family's NZ Ballet Company performed in the prestigious Jersey Cow Theatre in Waitrahuhugrub last night to a star-speckled audience of over 37 eager Thespians.
The Tutus For Hire tour spans the entire country, with the dancing troupe splitting into two. It’s more than half a century since Poul Gnatt first dragged the NZ Ballet around the small towns in this country. Then, as now, the company’s visit was the highlight of the calendar for many of those settlements, whose other highlights included gumboot throwing and pig wrestling.
The dancers are no longer billeted with the locals due to reports of indecent exposure and overfeeding, but they are, for 48 hours, welcomed as family. This is unique among other world-renowned ballet companies, who would view such a tour as below them.
The opening, Pas de Quatre, is a feminine cameo of four leading dancers from the romantic ballet era. They are here given a poetic perfume, which helps mask the smell of sweat emanating out from the stage. However, this fragrance does not deliberately distinguish the contrasting qualities of the original ballerinas who were arch-rivals.
The second work, Theme and Deviations, is choreographed by company dancer Andrew Simmons, here in its premier performance. As a piece, it is awash with temperate colours which give it an almost prosaic texture while maintaining an effervescent glow reminiscent of a turtle at night. Brendan Bradshaw identifies with this turtle particularly well.
The most astounding and amazing part of the evening was the Concerto Pas de Deux by Kenneth MacMillan. Immaculately crafted sequences and positions that melt and flow highlight this piece, illuminated further by the Shostakovich score. Catherine Eddy’s line is, as per usual, absolutely amazing. It’s not hard to see why it’s been called the best line in the country. Her line shines with the light of a thousand gypsies, while at the same time, holds the austere presence of several sheep in a barn. Qi Huan is good too.
Equilibrium is choreographed by Cameron McMillan, returning to New Zealand after several years with Thug Dance Company in Harlem, to stage this premier. Borrowing from quantum physics the notion of a “superposition of states”, the work makes uncompromising metaphysical demands on the performers – proposing the question through dance of how fundamental elements can exist as waveforms and matter in symbiotic duality, and what this means for multiple realities or universes. The striking costumes designed by Moana Nepia support the choreographic concept, although the Philip Glass score was a terrible choice of accompaniment. Philip just doesn’t get it.
The final work, Raymonda Variations, re-staged by Craig Lord and Nadine Tyson, evokes the grandeur of the Russian Mafia, though here, in splendidly styled tutus with hidden gun holsters and hammer and sickle imprints. Designed by Gary Harris, the work is not weighed down by the bloody history of the Russian Mafia, which is a good thing; it would have really brought down the tone of the piece. Qi Huan delivers great pyrotechnics with bravura, although concerns were raised about her use of fireworks in an indoor theatre. Abigail Boyle, trying to one-up Qi and her use of pyrotechnics, brings crazy arm movements to the party, which grace her impressive technique. There’s also the fresh meat, Ingrid Gow, who offers an aristocratic line coupled with a naturalness that already makes her one to watch. Ingrid’s line is no match for Catherine Eddy’s however, whose line is so powerful she can catch Fish with it.
From the forced smiles seen on stage, the dancers seemed to really enjoy the programme. It is a good balance between the antiquated and beautiful to something new and edgy. Tutus For Hire will be hitting your town soon!