The Wellingtonista

Random stuff about Wellington since 2005

Dance

Kia Mau Festival week two

by librarykris June 14, 2021

What a joyful privilege to experience week one of the Kia Mau Festival. I made it to six events. Visually gorgeous work with strong themes of connection/disconnection from culture, the necessity of transformation, and response to new situations building off the work of the ancestors. Each had layers referencing the past and future, woven through […]

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Kia Mau festival!

by librarykris June 8, 2021

The Kia Mau Festival started last week and is already racing along. It’s a treat to see Māori and Pasifika excellence in live performance – here’s what’s on this week. All I See at Circa Theatre The explosion of grief causes memories to ricochet around her. Memories begin to bleed into her reality. Time collapses. […]

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Giselle by the Royal New Zealand Ballet

by Joanna May 18, 2021

Giselle is a ballet I know very little about, aside from one episode of Angel and reading the synopsis on Wikipedia: The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl who falls for the flirtations of the deceitful and disguised nobleman Albrecht. When the ruse is revealed, the fragile Giselle dies […]

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Preview: The Slutcracker

by librarykris November 19, 2020

From School For Gifted Children, and the creator of Change Your Own Life comes a new queer ballet for Christmas. Loosely based on the classic Tchaikovsky ballet The Nutcracker, The Slutcracker tells the story of a queer chosen family Christmas gathering, and a romantic whirlwind night through the queer streets of Wellington. Director Jean Sergent says “I […]

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Preview: Ecology in Fifths

by librarykris August 18, 2020

Award-winning director and performance designer Sam Trubridge is bringing a bold new performance to Te Whaea this August. Taking inspiration from H Guthrie Smith’s ‘Tutira: The Story of an NZ Sheep Station’ (1921), Ecology in Fifths enacts this obsessive account of NZ ecology — now a recognised classic in environmental science worldwide. Piece by piece, the […]

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Interview Feature: Venus Rising

by Emma Maguire August 10, 2020

I sat down with Katherine Minor, a soloist with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, to discuss rehearsing during COVID lockdown, what it’s like being back in the studio, and the RNZB’s upcoming Venus Rising tour.  The Royal New Zealand Ballet will be one of the first dance companies in the world to return to the […]

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Review: Pōhutu

by librarykris June 7, 2019

Pōhutu is a multidimensional contemporary dance piece that thrives in liminal space. Drawing parallels between Choreographer Bianca Hyslop’s grandmother’s diagnosis of Alzheimers and the geothermal landscape she grew up in, it’s an unsettling and utterly beautiful work. The beginning and end sequences draw gasps from the audience. The middle sequences contain some of the most […]

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Review: System

by librarykris March 21, 2019

A sparse set – two walls, some tape on the floor –  is given character by lighting (Natasha James) and projection effects (Jason Wright). Flickerings along the edges of furniture, spinning triangles, water on the base of the wall, clearly defined shadows. A light rectangle becomes something to investigate. The score (Jason Wright) is an […]

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Review: STOA

by Jess June 29, 2018

A stoa, in Greek architecture, is a portico used as a promenade or meeting place. For the NZ School of Dance, it’s a place to bring people together for exploring new ideas and challenges. Well, technically two places. We returned to our seats after intermission only to be lured into a new space. (pro tip: […]

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Review: Meremere

by Jess June 25, 2018

Simply put, Meremere is a memoir come to life. I don’t feel qualified to ‘review’ the piece and the rich layers of culture, history, identity, and art contained within. It’s not quite dance, nor a film or a play – there’s a rawness that will appeal to those well-versed in the performing arts as much […]

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