By Brian Rudman
The Royal New Zealand Ballet goes in search of new audiences next year with a bloodthirsty ballet version of Dracula.
Based on the classic Brad Stoker gothic masterpiece, it will appeal to a huge cross-section of people, says Ballet publicist Jane Wynyard.
Also being staged in 2000 will be a triple bill showcasing works by Douglas Wright, Mark Morris and Eric Languet, and a return of perennial favourite Cinderella.
The ballet year begins in Auckland on 15 March with a season of the triple bill, named after Douglas Wright's newly commissioned piece halo.
Wright begins rehearsals soon for halo, which Wynyard describes as a whimsical and surreal exploration into the landscape of the human spirit.
Wright, who danced solo in the company's Mad Angel tour last July and is one of New Zealand's leading choreographers, uses dance, slapstick humour, the spoken word and images of innocence lost and found in his work.
Also featuring in the triple bill is New York choreographer Mark Morris's Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes.
The Mark Morris Dance Company was one of the hit acts of the 1998 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. Drink was acclaimed by critics after its premiere with the American Ballet Company in 1988, the New York Times writing "The love Morris has for dancing as a discipline and for dancers as a holy breed infuses his new work and warms its formidable intelligence."
The ballet is performed by 12 dancers in uniform white, performing around a pianist in the middle of the stage playing 13 piano etudes by the late Virgil Thomson.
"Mark Morris is very fussy about who will perform his pieces so was we're quite lucky," says Wynyard. The choreographer will arrive in February to oversee the production.
Also in the triple bill is Eric Languet's Drifting Angels which is set to music by Arvo Part and was last performed here in 1997.
Dracula, which begins in Auckland on 22 June has been greeted with sold-out signs in England and Atlanta since its premiere at the Northern Ballet Theatre, Leeds in 1996.
A piece of total theatre, it was choreographed by Michael Pink to music by Philip Feeney. "It's a hit wherever it's been performed," said Wynyard. "There is classical dancing, but it is obviously a thriller and probably not aimed at our traditional market."
Wynyard says it will appeal to all Dracula fans but insists it's neither gruesome or ghoulish. The Auckland Philharmonia will accompany the Aotea Centre performances.
Beginning on December 6, the popular Cinderella, this version designed by Kristian Fredrikson and choreographed by Jack Carter, will show at the Aotea Centre accompanied by the new 26-player New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players.
Prokofiev's classic orchestral score will be adapted for this smaller group.
Blood on the stage
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