SMASHING THE GLASS CEILING |
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Tempo Festival of Dance 2008 Old Yeller 08 at The Auckland Performing Arts Centre: TAPAC, Auckland From 9 Oct 2008 to 10 Oct 2008 [50 min, no interval] Reviewed by Linda Ashley, 10 Oct 2008 |
"There are always ancestral footsteps behind me, pushing me, when I am creating a new dance." ( Martha Graham, 1998).
In the last four years, Old Yeller has established a reputation for showcasing a diverse range of niche works from mature dancers threatening to raise the glass ceiling of retirement age, a generally accepted 35 years. However, Old Yeller also provides opportunity to view dance heritage works as living treasures. In this year's programme we see both new and old works; ancestral footsteps are sometimes lived and other times lie in the shadows.
This year, for the first time, curators Anne Dewey and Liz Kirk perform together. Before the house lights dim, their brief whimsical, skilful and absurdly comic duet Oi Oi Savaloy, in a way encapsulates past Old Yeller programmes and, as it transpires, works from the eclectic current programme.
The horizon of the future curves back to intersect with what went before in the lived modern legacy of Jenny De Leon's duet with Sjouke van Houten, Trust and Iris Wegmueller's solo, The Lure. Both of these works resonate with a modern tradition in their choice of technical vocabulary, themes, gender relationships, costuming and so forth. This modern tradition is recognisable to many regular dance theatregoers.
On a personal note, stating the date of first performances in programmes gladdens the heart and, I think, adds substance to establishing a credible dance heritage. In this regard, Susan Jordan's 1986 Holy Women - Softly Wakes My Heart, performed by Melanie Turner and Becca Wood, is an important glimpse into New Zealand's dance past. Reconstruction rocks!
The comic in dance requires finesse, timing and rigour at the high end the skill range for performer and creator. In Knobbly Witches Knees, Charlotte90 performs her twelve-year-old solo and meets the demands of comedy in movement and voice with aplomb. I note that Jack Gray was rehearsal director and perhaps detect his incisive sense of comic timing in the witches' deranged and hilarious ramblings. Spike Milligan's Bad Jelly Witch would have found a soul mate here.
Old Yeller makes flesh the notion that Once a dancer always a... and this is presented in Moana Nepia's short film and in the last work of the evening in two different ways. Firstly, Nepia's delightful short biopic confirms that even when dancers move on into other employment their dance training and inspirational qualities make a difference in other parts of society. Secondly, embodied living dance history is evocatively depicted in the new choreography of Fetish Effigies (Tim Gordon; Dancers: Juliet Fisher and Izumi Griffiths). Echoes of Graham's modern footsteps in post modern minimal choreography brings the evening to a suitably esoteric end - smashing the glass ceiling.
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