KEY POINTS:
Organisers of the AK07 Arts Festival, who were mortified by the picture of a performer without an audience in Red Square this week, will be buoyed by numbers for the opening night of Les 4 Saisons by French dance company Ballet Preljocaj.
Fonterra hosted an intimate pre-show VIP gathering with plenty of its award-winning Kapiti cheese, but admitted it usually did this sort of thing before the rugby.
Upstairs, meanwhile, festival trustee Victoria Carter held her own meet and greet while a sizeable house swarmed into the theatre below.
The dance, performed to the music of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, a highly commercialised piece of music, is intended to connect with the audience without them thinking of the National Bank TV adverts.
Preljocaj is not about tutus and tiaras; it is a thoroughly modern dance troupe, with plenty of nudity, laughter and silliness - happily surprising the local audience, which is used to more traditional ballet fare.
This is the first time internationally respected choreographer Angelin Preljocaj and his company have performed in New Zealand. You can catch the last two performances tonight at 7.30 and tomorrow at 5.30pm.
