KEY POINTS:
The dancers of the Royal New Zealand Ballet have their work cut out for them in their new season's triple bill, Red. At the centre of the programme is the highly combustible abstract work Plan to A, by Jorma Elo.
Elo, from Finland, but based in The Hague and Boston, where he was recently appointed resident choreographer at the Boston Ballet, is creating a significant buzz on the international dance scene. One reviewer described his style as a "high-intensity fusion of classical and contemporary movement that is physically demanding to the extreme, as it hurtles along at warp speed".
Plan to A is crafted in characteristic Elo fashion and courts the element of fire, with ravishing violin music by Heinrich von Biber and scarlet costumes: slinky textured body suits for the women, tuxedo-style suits for the men.
But the choreography has not been so easy to slip into.
"They are very young," says Elo's partner, Nancy Euverink, of the New Zealand company.
"The sense of speed has been difficult for them. The work requires the quality of speed without force. You first think that you have to punch the movement to get that speed. But it is not like that. It is fast, but soft.
"The music is so thrilling, so fast, so intense, so refined and Jorma's inspiration for the work was to make movement that perfectly matched that energy and spirit."
Euverink arrived in New Zealand early in January to begin the restaging process, Elo just days before opening.
"I was a little tough on the company in the initial stages," she says. "But Jorma is not one of those critical choreographers. Everyone loves working with him. He has the attitude that nothing is written in stone."
The couple first met a decade-and-a-half ago, when both were performing with the Netherlands Dance Theatre, a company that frequently featured the choreography of its then artistic director Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, and the quirky Matz Ek. Elo made a gradual transition from dancer to choreographer four years ago, as his dance-making gathered a growing and glowing reputation. Euverink continued dancing until March last year.
Her career flourishes today as an expert in restaging the works of Kylian, and Lightfoot and Leon, another highly successful choreographic partnership forged at NDT, as well as her role as muse and translator of Elo's work.
"Jorma," she says, "is not a man of many words." But his work speaks volumes in terms of extreme energy and musicality. "He always makes such a connection with the music, in the patterns, in the continuity of the movement. We have a Dutch word which I cannot properly say in English. 'Van zelf sprekend' - it means something like 'self-spoken'.
"He has a wonderful affinity with both contemporary and classical movement, and loves to work with classically trained dancers who can perform all the thrilling kicks and tricks that frequently stud his works.
"There are not many contemporary choreographers out there who can make something truly new in classical dance. Too many are still stuck with Balanchine. There just haven't been that many breakthrough choreographers. Yet."
New Zealand choreographer Adrian Burnett's work Abhisheka was created for the RNZB in 2004, part of the highly successful Saltarello season, and is seen again in Red.
With music by John Psathas, it is also an abstract work, which begins with the theme of ritual cleansing and opens with a dramatic pouring of salt from high in the roof of the stage on to the figure of "the chosen one" far below.
Spilling and pouring become a stylistic theme throughout the work.
Young choreographers don't get many opportunities to restage work but Burnett was initially hesitant to step up to the line. "It was made so specifically for the people in the company at the time that I worried it wouldn't work with new dancers. You can teach the roles but at some point the dancers have to inhabit the movement for themselves. That is when you get the real connection.
"At first you just see it emerging out of the mists of the past, then those glimpses link up. Then it becomes truly alive."
Burnett will return to the company this year to help stage Don Quixote.
The third item in the Red programme is a newly designed Paquita, a classical showpiece from the full ballet of Marius Petipa, and dressed for the occasion by company artistic director Gary Harris, in gorgeous crimson tutus.
"People want to see tutus, even in a more contemporary programme," he says. "And I wanted some tutus in Red."
His inspiration for the high fashion, elegantly corsetted cocktail look came from a visit many years ago to Florence, when the gallery that housed Michaelangelo's David was also hosting a Valentino exhibition.
"I went to see the David but it was the image of all these high-couture dresses all lined up and all in that wonderful Valentino red, that stuck with me," he confesses.
Then, on the company's tour to China last year, he came across "the ultimate warehouse to bling - a six-floor establishment that featured a different style of jewellery on each level, including the crystal necklaces, earings and headdresses that give this Paquita an extra sparkle."
What: Red, with the Royal NZ Ballet
Where and when: Aotea Centre, Feb 14-17
