YOUNG DANCERS FOLLOW THEIR DREAMS
Auckland Youth Dance Company presents PRISM

When he launched the fledgling Auckland Youth Dance Company in February 2012, the Mayor of
Auckland, Len Brown, speaking of AYDC’s Artistic Director, Elizabeth Harvey, said: “One person with a
dream can make a difference in our community.”

Now the dream has become a reality – just one year later, Auckland Youth Dance Company will be
presenting its second season Prism during the Auckland Fringe Festival, in February 2013. The previous
season has already stirred up a lot of interest, with one reviewer remarking:
“This is a company of enthusiastic and promising young dancers who clearly love what they are doing and
demonstrated this on the night.” (Jacqui Cesan, 4 Aug 2012: https://www.theatreview.org.nz/reviews/review.php?id=5017)

The Company currently consists of ten young dancers from all over the Auckland region. They are
promising performers in their teens and early twenties who have been selected for the Company through
an audition process. The dancers have been working with professional choreographers during the summer
holidays to create and rehearse several new works, by Artistic Director Elizabeth Harvey and
choreographers Carl Myers, Mary-Jane O’Reilly and Geordan Wilcox.

The works will comprise one classical ballet work choreographed by Carl Myers to Mahler’s Symphony #1
(2nd Movement); two contemporary-dance works choreographed by Elizabeth Harvey to the music of
Douglas Lilburn and Geordan Wilcox to the music of Fourplay; and one contemporary/classical fusion work
by Mary-Jane O’Reilly based on Giselle Act II.

The works are demanding and as such they challenge the young dance-artists to work to the highest
possible level to achieve the standards of artistry and technique that are necessary to succeed in the
profession. In performing this material over a season of four nights, the dancers of the Company will be
exposed to the rigours of professional performance and learn valuable lessons that will equip them for
their possible future careers as dance artists.

“When I was a young girl I was given an opportunity like this” says Artistic Director, Ms Harvey. “Russell
Kerr invited me to join his Company and it prepared me for a lifetime career in dance” she says, “so now I
am committed to giving young dancers similar assistance.”

PRISM plays: 13 th – 16 th February, 6:30pm
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Venue: Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen Street, Auckland CBD
Tickets: Adults $20, Concessions $15, Children $12
Bookings: Q Theatre – 09 309 9771
For more information contact:
Elizabeth Harvey
09 534 1795 or 027 230 7381

75 mins