KEY POINTS:
Mark Morris is the acknowledged master of melding movement and music. When the music is Mozart there is no great passion or fire involved, the magic coming instead from an almost courtly embodiment of every possible nuance of every musical phrase.
It is a mesmerising spectacle, like being lost in a kaleidoscope of choreography that turns to Mozart's own bidding.
Eighteen dancers of strikingly individual physicality provide the constantly evolving, revolving, clustering and spinning pieces in the patterns. Costumes are soft in texture, subtle in hue but cleverly hint at the rococo/classical period: a flaring three-quarter coat, the men's pants cut snugly to just below the knee, and the women in little more than bras and briefs beneath diaphanous floaty things still conjuring a whiff of elegance and flirtatious decollete.
Backdrops, one each for the three parts of the programme, are huge, spare and again softly coloured brushstrokes on otherwise blank screens leave no doubt that this is a contemporary response.
The choreographic patterns bear strong witness to Morris's roots and continuing interest in folk dance, with lots of circling, weaving, straight lines and promenading and an almost exclusively ensemble approach. Breakout solos are rare, significantly showcasing just two dancers: the diminutive and hugely expressive Lauren Grant and alpha male Joe Bowie - husky, bandy, sickle-footed and gorgeous.
There is no lack of personalities in the proceedings, though, with each dancer claiming a place in the spotlight through the sheer force of an individual, unmistakably American presence.
Praise, too, for the rich excellence, as always, of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, under conductor Jane Glover, and for pianists Ursula Oppens and Amy Briggs Dissanayake.
